SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 623

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 10, 1887

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XXIV., No. 623.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

BENIER’S HOT AIR ENGINE.

The hot air engine, although theoretically recognized
for some time past as the most economical means of converting
heat into motive power, has up to the present
met with little success. This is due to the fact that the
arrangement of the motors of this class that have hitherto
been constructed has been such as to render them
but slightly practical. In the Benier hot air engine
(illustrated herewith), however, obstacles that were
once considered insurmountable have been overcome,
and the motor presents many advantages over all the
types that have preceded it. Among such advantages
we shall cite the possibility of utilizing air at a high
temperature (1,200 or 1,500 degrees), while the rubbing
surfaces remain at a moderate temperature (60 or 80 degrees).
The fire grate is placed in the interior of the
cylinder, and is traversed by the cold air forced by a
pump. The expanded hot gases fill the cylinder and
act against the piston directly above the grate.

The type herewith illustrated is of 6 horse power.
The motive cylinder, CC’, is bolted to the extremity of
the frame, A. Upon this latter is fixed a column, B,
which carries a working beam, E. This latter transmits
the motion of the piston, P, to the shaft, D. A pump,
G, placed within the frame, forces a certain quantity
of cold air at every revolution into the driving cylinder.
The piston of this pump is actuated by the connecting
rod, G’, jointed to the lever, F’, which receives its motion
from the rod, F. A slide valve, b’, actuated by a
cam, regulates the entrance of the cold air into the
pump during suction, as well as its introduction into
the cylinder. There is a thrust upon the piston during
its upward travel, and an escape of hot gas through the
eduction valve, h, during the downward travel.

The cylinder is in two parts, C and C’. The piston,
which is very long, rubs at its upper end against the
sides of the cylinder, C. The lower end is of smaller
diameter, and leaves an annular space between it and
the cylinder. The grate is at the bottom of the cylinder,
C’. The sides of the cylinder at the level of the
fire box are protected with a lining of plumbago. When
the piston is at the bottom of its travel, the eduction
valve closes. The slide valve, b’, establishes a communication
between the pump chamber and the cylinder.
The air contained in the pump is already compressed
in the latter to a pressure of nearly a kilogramme at
the moment of the communication. This air enters
the cylinder, and the communication between the latter
and the pump continues until all the air is forced into
the driving cylinder, the piston of the pump being at
the bottom of its travel, and that of the cylinder about
midway.

BENIER’S HOT AIR ENGINE.

The air forced by the pump piston enters the cylinder
through two conduits, one of which leads a portion
of it toward the top of the cylinder, and the other
toward the bottom. The lower conduit debouches under
the grate, and the air that passes through it traverses
the fire box, and the hot gas fills the cylinder. The
conduit that runs to the top debouches in the cylinder, C,
at the lower limit of the surface rubbed by the piston.
The air that traverses this conduit is distributed
through the annular space between the piston and
cylinder. The hot gas derived from combustion can
therefore never introduce itself into this annular space,
and consequently cannot come into contact with the
rubbing surfaces of the cylinder and piston.

As the quantity of air introduced at every stroke is
constant, the work developed at every stroke is varied
by regulating the temperature of the gas that fills the
cylinder. When the temperature falls, the pressure,
and consequently the work developed, diminishes. This
result is obtained by varying the respective quantities
of air that pass through the fire box and around the
piston. In measure as less air passes through the fire
box, the quantity that passes around the piston
augments by just so much, and the pressure diminishes.
A valve, n’, in the conduit that runs to the fire box is
controlled by the regulator, L’, in the interior of the
column. When the work to be transmitted diminishes,
the regulator closes the valve more or less, and the
work developed diminishes.

The coke is put by shovelfuls into a hopper, I. Four
buckets mounted upon the periphery of a wheel, I’,
traverse the coke, and, taking up a piece of it, let it fall
upon the cover, J, of the slide valve, j, whence it falls
into the cavity of the latter when it is uncovered, and
from thence into the conduit, c’, of the box, j’, when
the cavity of the valve is opposite the conduit. From
the conduit, c’, the coke falls upon the grate.

A small sight hole covered with glass, in the cover, J,
permits the grate to be seen when the cavity of the
valve is opposite c’.

As in gas engines, a current of water is made to
flow around the cylinder, C’, in order to keep the sides
from getting too hot.

In order to set the engine in motion, we begin by
opening the bottom, C, of the cylinder, C’, to clean the
grate. This done, we close C and introduce lighted
charcoal through the conduit, c’ (the valve being open).
The valve is put in place, two or three revolutions are
given to the fly wheel, and the motor starts. The feeding
is afterward done with coke.

The parts that transmit motion operate under conditions
analogous to those under which the same parts
of a steam engine do. The air pump sucks and forces
nothing but cold air, and nothing but cold air passes
through the distributing slide valve. The pump and
valve are therefore rendered very durable. The piston
and cylinder, at the points where friction exists, are at
a temperature of 60 or 80 degrees. These surfaces are
protected against hot gas charged with dust.

The hot gas, which escapes from the cylinder through
a valve, has previously been cooled by contact with
the sides of the cylinder and by expansion. The eduction
valve just mentioned works about like that of a
steam engine, and it is only necessary to polish it now
and then in order to keep it in good condition.—Annales
Industrielles.

YOUR FUTURE PROBLEMS.¹

By CHARLES E. EMERY.

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: It has
not been considered the duty of the speaker, in addressing
the graduating class, to dwell on the triumphs of
science or the advantage of a liberal education. These
subjects have already been discussed, in connection
with the regular courses of study, better, and more at
length, than he could do. We propose rather to try
and prepare the minds of the graduates for the practical
problems before them.

All young men are impressed with the consciousness
of higher powers as they increase their stores of
knowledge, and this feeling perhaps reaches its maximum
with those who have made a specialty of the investigation
and application of physical laws. Young men
who have learned how to harness the powers of nature
and guide them to do their will are apt to belittle the
difficulties they have yet to overcome, and have a false
impression of the problems of life. This feeling is
shown to a minimum extent by graduates of the Stevens
Institute, on account of their careful practical training,
in connection with the thorough study of principles;
but it has been thought best for one from the
outside world to supplement such teaching by calling
to mind instances which may have a useful counteracting
effect, and, like parables, serve the purpose of illustrative
instruction.

Gentlemen of the Class of ’87: It was the pleasure of
the speaker to address the class of ’79, under the title of
“How to Succeed,” some words of counsel and warning,
which, if they left an impression of severity at the
time, were apparently so well received afterward that
he has been tempted to continue the general subject,
with the title of “Your Future Problems.” The notation
of your future problems will not be found at once
among the known quantities, but with x, y, and z, at
the other end of the alphabet. Often word symbols
will be applicable, expressing at times disappointment
and pain, at other times renewed effort, and
finally the active phases of individual thought and exertion.

The first serious problem with many of you will be
to secure satisfactory engagements. This problem
cannot be illustrated by parables. It needs, in general,
patient, unremitting, and frequently long continued
effort. It may be that the fame of some of you, that
have already acquired the happy faculty of making
yourselves immediately useful, has already gone abroad
and the coveted positions been already assured. To be
frank, we cannot promise you even a bed of roses. We
have in mind an instance where a superior authority
in a large business enterprise who had great respect,
as he should have, for the attainments of young gentlemen
who have had the opportunities of a technical education,
deliberately ordered out a competent mechanical
engineer, familiar with the designs required in a large
repair shop, and sent in his place a young gentleman
fresh from school and flushed with hope, but who from
the very nature of the case could know little or nothing
of his duties at that particular place. He was practically
alone in the drawing room, and did not know
where to find such drawings as were required, and candor
requires it to be said that he desired to ask many
questions about those he did find. The superintendent
unfortunately had nothing to do with his appointment,
and rather resented it. So he did not trust any of his
work, and the new comer was obliged to learn his
practical experience at that establishment, where he
was known as the mechanical engineer, by having all
his work done over by the pattern maker or others, under
the eye of the superintendent or master mechanic, and
be subjected all the time to the jealousies and annoyances
incident to such a method of introduction.

His practical experience was certainly learned under
difficulties which I trust none of you may experience.
This statement is made that those of you who have not
yet obtained positions may not envy those who have,
and that each and all of you may be careful not to take
a position so far above your experience, if not your
capacity, as to become unpleasantly situated in the beginning.
The educational facilities you have enjoyed
are of such great value in some exceptional cases that
the parties thus benefited may do you an injury by
leading others to expect that you will be equally valuable
in performing duties which require much more
practical experience and knowledge of detail than it is
possible that you could have obtained in the time you
have been here.

The incident is ripe with suggestions. No matter
how humble a position you may take in the beginning,
you will be embarrassed in much the same way as the
young gentleman in question, though it is hoped in a
less degree. Your course of action should be first to
learn to do as you are told, no matter what you think
of it. And above everything keep your eyes and ears
open to obtain practical knowledge of all that is going
on about you. Let nothing escape you of an engineering
nature, though it has connection with the business
in hand. It may be your business the next day, and if
you have taken advantage of the various opportunities
to know all about that particular matter in every detail,
you can intelligently act in relation to it, without embarrassment
to yourself and with satisfaction to your
superior.

Above all, avoid conflict with the practical force of
the establishment into which you are introduced. It
is better, as we have at another time advised, to establish
friendly relations with the workmen and practical
men with whom you have to do.

You are to be spared this evening any direct references
to the “conceit of learning,” but you are asked
and advised to bear with the conceit of ignorance.
You will find that practical men will be jealous of you
on account of your opportunities, and at the same time
jealous of their own practical information and experience,
and that they may take some pains to hinder
rather than aid you in your attempts to actively learn
the practical details of the business. The most disagreeable
man about the establishment to persons like
you, who perhaps goes out of his way to insult you,
and yet should be respected for his age, may be one
who can be of greatest use to you. Cultivate his acquaintance.
A kind word will generally be the best
response to an offensive remark, though gentlemanly
words of resentment may be necessary when others are
present. Sometimes it will be sufficient to say, “I
wish a little talk with you by yourself,” which will put
the bystanders at a distance and enable you to mature
your plans. Ascertain as soon as possible that man’s
tastes; what he reads and what he delights in. Approach
him as if you had no resentment and talk on
his favorite topic. If rebuffed, tell a pleasant story,
and persist from time to time in the attempt to please,
until his hardened nature relaxes and he begins to feel
and perhaps speaks to others favorably of you. St.
Paul has said: “For though I be free from all men,
yet have I made myself servant of all that I might gain
the more.” This is the keynote of policy, and though
in humbling yourself you control and hide your true
feelings, recollect that all your faculties are given you
for proper use.

We have referred to some who have acquired the
happy faculty of making themselves immediately useful.
This is a much more difficult matter than the
words imply. If one of you should be so fortunate as
to be ordered to make certain tests almost like those
you have already conducted here, or to tabulate the results
of tests as you have done it here, or to make inspections
akin to those which have been fully explained
here, there is every probability the work would be
done satisfactorily in the first instance. But let a
much simpler case arise, for instance, if a superior hand
one of you a letter with the simple instructions, “Get
me the facts on that,” you may be very much puzzled
to know what is to be done and how to do it. It may
be that the letter is a request for information in
regard to certain work that was carried on in the past,
in which case it will be necessary for you to hunt
through old records, copy books, engineering notes,
drawings, and the like, and get a list of all referring to
the subject; to make an abstract of the letters and
notes if they are at all complicated; and finally to lay
the whole before the overworked superior in a business
manner, that he largely from recollection, aided
by the references and notes, can write an intelligent
answer in a very brief period. The way not to do it
would be to say, “Yes, sir,” very promptly, go off and
not more than half read the letter, do something and
be back in five minutes with some question or ill-digested
answer; then upon receiving a polite hint as to
the method to be employed, go off and repeat the
operation the next five minutes; then on receiving a
short reply, in what appeared to be an unnecessary
tone of voice, get a little flurried perhaps, do worse
next time, and in the end feel very unpleasant without
having accomplished much, and make the gentleman
seeking assistance lament the difficulty in teaching
young men practical work.

It is possible, on the contrary, for a young man to exceed
his instructions and volunteer advice that has not
been asked. If he has unfortunately gone too far for
some time and been sharply spoken to, he may fail the
next in not fully doing the work intended. Simply putting
down a column of figures would not necessarily mean
tabulating facts. The arrangement and rearrangement
of the columns aid in classifying such facts, so that the
results shown by them will be readily seen and a great
deal of labor saved in examination. A good rule in a case
of this kind is to try and find some work done by other
parties of a similar nature, and thereby ascertain what
is needed and expected. Reasonable questions to ascertain,
where records are to be found and the kind of
records accessible, are always proper if made at the
proper time without interrupting an immediate train
of thought; and with such information as a start, if a
young man will endeavor to imagine himself in a place
like that of the one who has finally to decide, and try
to ascertain just what information will probably be
required, then patiently go to work to find and present
it in condensed shape, he from that moment really begins
to be useful and his services will be rapidly appreciated.
It is a good rule always to keep the memoranda obtained
in accomplishing a result of this kind; so that if further
information is required, the whole investigation need
not be made over.

This remark suggests another line of thought. Some
young men with quick perceptions get in the way at
school of trusting their memories, and omit making
complete notes of lectures or of the various tests
illustrating their studies. This carelessness follows them
into after life, and there are instances where young
men, who can make certain kinds of investigations
much better than their fellows, and promptly give a
statement of the general nature of the results, have,
when called on afterward for the details, forgotten
then entirely, and their notes and memoranda, if preserved,
being of little use, the labor is entirely lost.
Such men necessarily have to learn more careful ways
in after life. It is a good rule in this, as in the previous
case, to make and copy complete records of everything
in such shape that they may be convenient for reference
and criticism afterward.

One of the important problems with which you will
have to deal in the future is the labor question, and it
is probable that your very first experience with it may
be in direct antagonism with the opinions of many
with whom you have heretofore been associated. It is
an honor to the feelings of those who stand outside
and witness this so-called struggle now in progress
between capital and labor, that they believe the whole
question can be settled by kindly treatment and reasonable
argument. There are some cases that will yield
to such treatment, and one’s whole duty is not performed
till all possible, reasonable, and humanitarian
methods are adopted. There has been an excuse for
the organization of labor, and it, to some small extent,
still exists.

Time was that the surplus of unskilled labor was used
on a mercantile basis to reduce wages to such an extent
that it was almost impossible to rear a well nurtured,
much less a well educated and well dressed family, and,
moreover, the hours of labor in some branches of business
were so long as to shorten the lives of operatives
and make self-improvement impossible. The natural
progress of civilizing influence did much to abate many
of these evils, but the organization of labor removed
sores that had not and perhaps could not have been reached
in other ways. Having then an excuse for organization,
and supported by the success made in directions
where public sympathy was with them, is it to
be wondered that they have gone too far in very many
cases, and that the leadership of such organization
has in many instances been captured by designing men,
who control the masses to accomplish selfish ends?
Whatever may have been the method of evolution, it is
certain that the manufacturing operations of the present
day have to meet with elements entirely antagonistic
to their interests, and in very many ways antagonistic
to the interests of the workingman. The members
of many organizations, even of intelligent men,
are blindly led by chiefs of various titles, of which
perhaps the walking delegate is the most offensive one
to reasonable people. This class of men claim the
right to intrude themselves into the establishments
owned by others, and on the most trivial grounds make
demands more or less unreasonable, and order strikes
and otherwise interfere with the work of manufacturers,
much in the way that we have an idea that the
agents of the barbarbous chieftains, feudal lords, and
semi-civilized rulers collected taxes and laid burdens in
earlier historical times. Necessarily these men must
use their power so as to insure its permanency. If
strikes are popular, strikes must be ordered. If funds
run low, excuses for strikes, it is believed, in many
cases are sought, so as to stir the pulses of those who
sympathize with the labor cause.

Co-operation has been suggested as a cure for the evil,
and there are cases where it has apparently succeeded,
in connection with the earlier forms of labor organization.
The ambition of later labor leaders almost prevents
this remedy being of effect. It may be possible
still with very intelligent workmen, isolated from the
large mass of workmen in the country towns, to feel an
interest in co-operation; but such inducements, or the
higher ones of personal kindness to employes or their
families, are not of much effect in large manufacturing
centers. As soon as dissatisfaction exists in one
mill or manufactory, all similar employes are ordered
out. The final result will be that combinations of employers
must follow the combination of employes, and
those who have always been strong in the past will be
stronger in the future, as has appeared to be the case
in many contests that have already taken place. If
there are any real abuses of power by the employers,
such as requiring work for unusual hours or at less
than living rates, the first thing to do is to correct these
abuses, so that complaints will not be upon a sound
foundation. Some men, when the labor epidemic
strikes their places, have sufficient force of character
and influence with their men to avert the blow for
some time. Others find it is policy to compromise with
the representatives until a plan of action, conciliatory,
offensive, or defensive, can be determined upon. The
whole matter must be considered one of policy rather
than of principles. The class of men to be dealt with
do not talk principles except as an excuse to secure
their ends.

In spite of everything, there will be times when no
compromise is possible and you will be called upon
to take part in defending your employers’ interests
against what is called a “strike.” You can do so with
heart when you know the employes are all well paid,
and particularly, as is frequently the case, when the
labor organizers and walking delegates claim that some
old, tried foreman shall be dismissed because they do
like him, really because he has not been a tool in carrying
out their plans, and they defiantly acknowledge
that their war is against non-union labor, and that
they have organized your men and forced a strike to
require your establishment to become as it is called a
“union shop.” If your deluded employes were permitted
simply to go away and let you alone, and you
were permitted to employ others at the reasonable
wages you were paying, the problem would be a simple
one. The principal labor organizations claim that everything
they do is by peaceable methods, but this, like
many things said, is simply to deceive, for if you attempt
to employ other assistants and carry on your business
independently, you will surely find that well known
roughs are assembled who never do anything without
they are paid for it by somebody, that your men are
assaulted by such persons, and while the labor organizers
talk about peaceable methods and urge them aloud
in public, in case one of the roughs is arrested, the loud
talkers are the first to go bail for the defender, and you
will feel morally sure that the sympathizing crowd
with the roughs who make the assaults are all part of
or tools of the organization.

At such times, you will find your old employes standing
around the street corners, persuading other men not
to go to work and thus interfere with what are called
the true interests of labor. Any new employe who
has to go in the street will be first met with inducements
of other employment, with offers of money,
afterward with threats, and, if opportunity occurs, with
direct assault. All the features of persuasion, intimidation,
and violence will be carried out as demanded, and
strangers to everybody in the vicinity, but well known
as experienced leaders in this kind of work in other
places, be brought in to endeavor to make the strike a
success. Then, young men, is the time to show your
pluck, and our experience is that educated young men
will do so every time. They can be depended upon to go
straight ahead with duty through every danger, bearing
patiently everything that may be said, defending
themselves with nature’s weapons as long as possible,
and without fear using reserve weapons in case real
danger of life is imminent.

In carrying through a very important strike against
a mere desire to control and not to correct abuses, your
speaker desires to pay the highest tribute to a number
of educated young men, mostly from the technical
schools, who fearlessly faced every danger, and by their
example stimulated others to do their duty, and all
participated in the results obtained by a great success.

We would not by such references fire your hearts to a
desire to participate in such an unpleasant contest. It
is the duty of all to study this problem intelligently
and earnestly, with a view of overcoming the difficulties
and permitting the prosperity of the country to go on.
While conciliation may be best at some times, policy at
another, and resistance at another, we must also be
thinking of the best means to prevent further outbreaks.
It would seem to be true policy not to interfere
with organization, but to try and direct it into
higher channels. Those of the humanitarians who claim
that the disease will be rooted out eventually by a
more general and better education are undoubtedly
largely in the right, notwithstanding that some fairly
educated men have acted against their best interests in
affiliating with the labor organizations. It seems to the
speaker that enough instances can be collected to show
the utter folly of the present selfish system, based, as
it is, entirely on getting all that is possible, independent
of right in the matter, and by demanding equal wages
for all men, tending to lower all to one common degradation,
instead of rewarding industry and ability and
advancing the cause of civilization.

Labor should not be organized for selfish ends, but
for its own good, so as to secure steady and permanent
employment, rather than prevent it by impracticable
schemes and unwise methods, which will cripple manufacturers
and all kinds of industry. The men should
organize under the general laws of the State, so that
their leaders will be responsible to the laws and can be
indicted, tried, and punished in case they misappropriate
funds or commit any breach of trust; and such laws
should be amended if necessary, so that wise, responsible
leaders of the organizations can contract to furnish
labor for a certain time at a fixed price, when manufacturers
can make calculations ahead as to the cost of labor
the same as for the cost of material, and have such confidence
that they will use all their energies to do a larger
amount of business and benefit the workingman as
well as themselves by furnishing steady employment.
Such a plan as is here outlined can readily be carried
into effect by selecting better men as leaders. It is well
known how well the organization known as the locomotive
brotherhood is conducted, and it should be an
example to others. It has had its day of dissensions,
when the best counsels did not prevail, which shows
that any organization of the kind, no matter how well
conducted, may be diverted by its leaders into improper
channels.

When organized under the laws of the State and under
by-laws designed to secure steady employment,
rather than any artificial condition of things in regard
to pay hours, and continuance of labor, the true interests
of the workman will be advanced. It may be that
some one of you will develop a talent in the direction of
organization and be the means of aiding in the solution
of this great problem. Please think of the matter seriously,
watch the law of evolution while you are advancing
your professional knowledge, and if the opportunity
offers, do all you can to aid in a cause so important
and beneficent.

One writer has criticised the technical schools because
they do not teach mechanical intuition. The
schools have enough to do in the time available if they
teach principles and sufficient practice to enable the
principles to be understood. The aptitude to design,
which must be what is meant by mechanical intuition,
requires very considerable practical experience, which
you will readily learn if you do not keep yourself
above it. If you have used your leisure hours to study
why a certain piece of mechanism was made in a certain
way rather than in another; if you have wondered
why one part is thick in one place rather than in another,
apparently in defiance of all rules of the strength
of material; if you have endeavored to ascertain why
a particular device is used rather than another more
evident one; if you have thought and studied why a
boss is thrown in here and there in designs to receive
bolts or to lengthen a journal, and if you have in your
mind, by repeated observation, a fair idea of how work
is designed by other people, the so-called mechanical
intuition will be learned and found to be the combination
of common sense and good practice.

You will observe that some details have been copied
for years and years, although thoughtful men would
say they are not the best, simply because they are
adapted to a large amount of work already done. This
is particularly true of the rolling stock on railroads.
The cost of a change in starting in a new country
might be warranted, but it practically cannot be done
when the parts must interchange with so much work
done in other parts of the country. You will find in
other cases that the direct strain to which a piece of
mechanism is subjected is only one of the strains which
occur in practice. A piece of metal may have been
thickened where it customarily broke, and you may
possibly surmise that certain jars took place that
caused such breakages, or that particular point was
where the abuse of the attendant was customarily applied.

Wherever you go you will find matters of this kind
affecting designs staring you in the face, and you will
soon see why a man who has learned his trade in the
shop, and from there worked into the drawing room
with much less technical information than you have,
can get along as well as he does. Reserve your strength,
however. Your time will come. Whenever there is a
new departure to be taken, and matters to be worked
out from the solid which require close computation of
strains or the application of any principles, your education
will put you far ahead, and if you have, during
the period of what may be called your post-graduate
course, which occurs during your early introduction
into practical life, been careful to keep your eyes and
ears open so as to learn all that a man in practical life
has done, you will soon stand far ahead.

Reference was made to the use of leisure hours. Leisure
hours can be spent in various ways. For instance,
in studying the composition and resolution of forces
and the laws of elasticity in a billiard room, the poetry
of motion, etc., in a ball room, and the chemical properties
of various malt and vinous extracts in another
room; but the philosophical reason why certain engineering
work is done in the way it is, and the proper
way in which new work shall be done of a similar
character and original work of any kind carried on,
can only be learned by cultivating your powers of observation
and ruminating on the facts collected in the
privacy of one’s own room, away from the allurements
provided for those who have nothing to do. No one
would recommend you to so separate yourself from the
world as to sacrifice health and strength, or to become
a recluse, even if you did learn all about a certain
thing.

Remember, however, that the men who have accomplished
most in this world worked the longest hours,
and any one with a regular occupation must utilize his
leisure hours to obtain prestige. The difference between
one man and another of the same natural ability
lies entirely in the amount of his information and the
facility with which he can use it. Life is short, and you
must realize that now is your opportunity. If any diversion
in the way of pleasure or even certain kinds of congenial
work is offered, consider it in connection with the
question, “Will this be conducive to my higher aim?”
This implies that you have a higher aim; and if you
have it, and weigh everything in this way, you will
find that every moment of exertion adds something to
your storehouse of information and brings you nearer
to the accomplishment of that higher aim.

In closing, we thank the ladies and gentlemen present
for their close attention to details of special interest
only to those engaged in technical study or practice.

We congratulate you, young gentlemen of the class of
’87, for the success you have thus far obtained, and trust
that you will persevere in well doing and win greater
success in the future. We need hardly state that all
that has been said was in a spirit of kindness, and we
feel assured that much of it has been seconded by your
parents, to whom no less than to all parents here present
off or on the stage, the speaker not excepted, a serious,
thoughtful problem has been, still is, and will continue
to be to many, “What shall we do with our boys.”—Stevens
Indicator.

[1]

HEATING MARINE BOILERS WITH LIQUID
FUEL.

We were recently witness of an experiment made at
Eragny Conflans on the steam yacht Flamboyante. It
was a question of testing a new vaporizer or burner
for liquid fuel. The experiment was a repetition of
the one that the inventor, Mr. G. Dietrich, recently
performed with success in the presence of Admirals
Cloue and Miot.

The Flamboyante is 58 ft. in length, 9 ft. in width,
draws 5 ft. of water, and has a displacement of 10 tons.
She is provided with a double vertical engine supplied
by a Belleville boiler that develops 28 horse power.
The screw makes 200 revolutions per minute, and gives
the yacht a speed of 6½ knots.

Mr. Dietrich’s vaporizer appears to be very simple,
and has given so good results that we have thought it
of interest to give our readers a succinct description of
it. In this apparatus, the inventor has endeavored to
obtain an easy regulation of the two essential elements—naphtha
and steam.

Fig. 1 represents the apparatus in section. The
steam enters through the tubulure, A, and finds its
way around the periphery of a tuyere, D. It escapes
with great velocity, carries along the petroleum that
runs from two lateral tubulures, B (Fig. 2), and throws
it in a fine spray into the fireplace, through the nozzle,
C (Fig. 1), which is flattened into the shape of a fan
opened out horizontally. The mixture at once ignites
in contact with the hot gases, and gives a beautiful,
long, clear flame. The air necessary for the combustion
is sucked through the interior of the nozzle, H,
which is in front of the tuyere. It will be seen that
the current of steam can be regulated by moving the
tuyere, D, from or toward the eduction orifice. This
is effected through a maneuver of the hand wheel, F.
In the second place, the flow of the petroleum is made
regular by revolving the hand wheel, G, which gives
the piston, O, a to and fro motion in the tuyere, D.

FIG. 1—THE DIETRICH PETROLEUM BURNER.

The regulation may be performed with the greatest
ease. It is possible to instantly vary, together or separately,
the steam and the petroleum. Under such
circumstances, choking is not to be feared at the petroleum
orifice, where, according to experiment, the thickness
of the substance to be vaporized should not be
less than 0.04 of an inch.

The petroleum might evidently be made to enter at
A and the steam at B; but one of the conclusions of
the experiments cited is that the performance is better
when the jet of steam surrounds the petroleum. It
will be understood, in fact, that by this means not a
particle of the liquid can escape vaporization and,
consequently, combustion. Moreover, as the jet of
petroleum is completely surrounded by steam its flow
can be increased within the widest limits, and this, in
certain cases, may prevent an obstruction without much
diminishing the useful effect of the burner.

The apparatus is easily and rapidly taken apart. It
it is only necessary to remove the nozzle, C, in order to
partially clean it. It would even seem that the cleaning
might be done automatically by occasionally
reversing the flow of the steam and petroleum. However
efficacious such a method might prove, the apparatus
as we have described it can be very easily applied
to any generator. Fig. 2 represents it as applied
to the front of a furnace provided with two doors. A
metallic box, with two compartments, is placed on one
side of the furnace, and is provided with two stuffing
boxes that are capable of revolving around the steam
and petroleum pipes. The latter thus form the pivots
of the hinge that allows of the play of the vaporizers
and piping.

FIG. 2—THE BURNER APPLIED TO THE FURNACE OF A BOILER.

It was in this way that Mr. Dietrich arranged his
apparatus in an experiment made upon a stationary
boiler belonging to a Mr. Corpet. The experiment was
satisfactory and led to the adoption of the arrangement
shown in Fig. 3. The fire bridge is constructed
of refractory bricks, and the majority of the grate bars
are filled in with brick. The few free bars permit of
the firing of the boiler and of access of air to the interior
of the fire box. Under such circumstances, the
combustion is very regular, the furnace does not roar,
and the smoke-consuming qualities are perfect.

FIG. 3—APPLICATION OF THE BURNER TO A RETURN FLAME BOILER.

In the experiment on the Flamboyante, the boiler
was provided with but one apparatus, and the grate
remained covered with a layer of ignited coal that had
been used for firing up in order to obtain the necessary
pressure of steam to set the vaporizer in operation.
This ignited coal appeared to very advantageously
replace the refractory bricks, the role of which it
exactly fulfilled. It has been found well, moreover,
to break the flames by a few piles of bricks in the furnace,
in order to obtain as intimate a mixture as possible
of the inflammable gases.

It is to be remarked that firing up in order to obtain
the necessary steam at first is a drawback that might
be surmounted by using at the beginning of the operation
a very small auxiliary boiler. The main furnace
would then be fired by means of say a wad of cotton.
But, in current practice, if a grate and fire be retained,
the firing will perhaps be simpler.

With but one apparatus, the pressure in the Flamboyante’s
boiler rose in a few minutes from 6 to 25
pounds, and about a quarter of an hour after leaving
the wharf the apparatus had been so regulated that
there was no sign of smoke. This property of the
Dietrich burner proceeds naturally from the use of a
jet of steam to carry along the petroleum and air necessary
for combustion. It is, in fact, an Orvis smoke consumer
transformed, and applied in a special way.

It must be added that the regulating requires a certain
amount of practice and even a certain amount of
time at every change in the boat’s running. So it is
well to use two, and even three, apparatus, of a size
adapted to that of the boiler. The regulation of the
furnace temperature is then effected by extinguishing
one or two, or even three, of the apparatus, according
as it is desired to slow up more or less or to come to a
standstill.

The oil used by Mr. De Dosme on his yacht comes
from Comaille, near Antun. The price of it is quite
low, and, seeing the feeble consumption (from 33 to 45
lb. for the yacht’s boiler), it competes advantageously
with the coal that Mr. De Dosme was formerly obliged
to use.—La Nature.

[Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 622, page 9935.]

THE CHANGE OF GAUGE OF SOUTHERN
RAILROADS IN 1886.¹

By C.H. HUDSON.

Many of the wheels that were still in use with the
long hub were put into a lathe, and a groove was cut
an inch and a half back from the face, leaving our cast
collar, which was easily split off as before. (Fig. 24.)

With tender wheels, as with our car wheels, the case
was different. Originally, the axle for the 5 ft. gauge
was longer than for the 4 ft. 9 in.; but latterly the 5 ft.
roads had used a great many master car builders’ axles
for the 4 ft. 9 in. gauge, namely, 6 ft. 11¼ in. over all,
thus making the width of the truck the same as for 4
ft. 9 in. gauge. To do this a dished wheel, or rather a
wheel with a greater dish by 1½ in. than previously
used, was needed, so that the tread of the wheel could
be at its proper place. (See Fig. 25.) There were, of
course, many of the wheels with small dish and long
axles still in use. Their treatment, however, when the
day of change came, did not vary from that of the short
axle.

FIG. 24 and FIG. 25

It had been the rule for some years that all axles
should be turned back 1½ in. further than needed;
but unfortunately the rule had not been closely followed,
and many were found not to be so turned. To
make the matter worse, quite a number of the wheels
were found to have been counterbored about ½ in.
deep at the back end, and the axle turned up to fit this
counterbore; a good idea to prevent the running in, in
case the wheel worked loose, but bad from the standpoint
of a change of gauge. In such cases the wheels
had to be started off before the axle could be turned
back, so that the wheels could be pushed on in their
proper position. (Fig. 26.)

FIG. 26

If the work was done where they had a lathe large
enough to swing a pair of wheels, they were pressed off
but half an inch, the wheels swung in the lathe, the
axles turned back 1½ in., and the wheels then pressed
on 2 in. or 1½ in. inside of their first position.

Where no large lathe was in use, the wheels came entirely
off before the axles could be turned back. The
work in the former case was both the quicker and the
cheaper. Where the large lathes were used they were
either set down into the floor, so a pair of wheels would
easily roll into place, or a raised platform was put before
the lathe, with an incline up which the wheels
were rolled and then taken to the lathe. These arrangements
were found much quicker and cheaper than to
hoist the wheels up, as is usually done.

In pressing the wheels on, where the axles had previously
been turned back, much trouble was at first experienced
because of the rust that had gathered upon
the turned part behind the wheel, forming a ridge
over or upon which the wheel must be pushed. Some
of the roads, at the start, burst 10 or 15 per cent. of the
wheels so pressed on. By saturating this surface with
coal oil, however, it was found that the rust was easily
removed and little trouble was had. It was found,
sometimes, that upon axles newly turned back a careless
workman would leave a ridge at the starting point
of the turning. Frequently also the axles were a little
sprung, so that the new turning would be a little scant
upon one side when compared with the old surface, and
upon the opposite side a little full. As an indication
that these difficulties were overcome as they appeared,
I will say that upon our line only 202 wheels burst out
of nearly 27,000 pressed on—an exceedingly small percentage.

After the change upon the early roads they were
troubled for weeks with hot boxes, caused, as we believed,
by the changing of brasses. A brass once fitted
to a journal will work upon it without trouble, but
when placed upon some other journal will probably
not fit. If the journal had been worn hollow (and it was
surprising to see how many were so worn), the brass
would be found worn down to fit it. (See Fig. 27.
Exaggerated, of course.)

FIG. 27 and FIG. 28

The next wheel may have an axle worn little or none.
(See Fig. 28)

Now, if these brasses are exchanged, we have the
conditions as shown in Figs. 29 and 30, and we must
expect they will heat. The remedy was simply to keep
each brass upon its own journal. To do this the
brasses were fastened to the axle by a piece of small
wire, and went with it to the lathe and press. When
its truck was reached, the brass was there with its
journal. Worn-out brasses, of course, could not be
put in, and new ones were substituted. The little
trouble from that source that followed the change
showed the efficacy of the remedy.

FIG. 29 and FIG. 30

The manner in which the tires of engines were to be
changed, when the final day came, was a serious question.
The old-fashioned fire upon the ground could
not be thought of. The M. & O. had used a fire of
pine under the wheel, which was covered by a box of
sheet iron, so arranged that the flame and heat would be
conveyed around the tire, and out at an aperture at the
top. (Fig. 31.) Many thought this perfect, while others
were not satisfied, and began experiments for something
better. A device for using gas had been patented,
but it was somewhat complicated, as well as expensive,
and did not meet with general favor. A very simple
device was soon hit upon. A two inch pipe was bent
around in a circle a little larger than the outer rim of
the wheel. Holes 1/10 in. in diameter and 3 or 4 in. apart
were drilled through the pipe on the inside of the circle.
To this pipe was fastened another with a branch or
fork upon it. To one branch or fork was connected a
gas pipe from the meter, while to the other was connected
a pipe from an air pump. With the ordinary
pressure of city gas upon this pipe it was found that
the air pump must keep an air pressure of 40 pounds,
that the air and gas might mix properly at the branch
or fork, so we could get the best combustion and most
heat from our “blowpipe,” for such it was. (Fig. 32.)

FIG. 31 and FIG. 32

We were able to heat a tire so it could be moved in
ten to twenty minutes, and the machine may be said to
have been satisfactory.

Gas, however, was not to be had at all places where
it would be necessary to change tires, and the item of
cost was considerable.

To reach a result as good, if possible, experiments
were begun with coal oil (headlight oil). They were
crude and unsatisfactory at first, but soon success was
reached.

A pipe was bent to fit the lower half of a wheel pretty
closely and then turned back under itself about the
diameter of the pipe distant from it. This under part
had holes 1/10 in. diameter and 3 or 4 in. apart drilled
upon its upper side or under the upper pipe. Connected
with the upper pipe at its center was a pipe
which ran to one side and up to the can containing the
kerosene. Between the can and the pipe under the
wheel was a stop cock, by which the flow of oil could
be controlled.

FIG. 33

To use the device, open the cock and let a small
amount of oil flow; apply fire to the pipe under the
wheel, and the oil in the upper pipe is converted into
gas, which flows out of the small holes in the lower
pipe, takes fire, and heats not only the tire, but
the upper pipe, thus converting more oil into gas.
We had here a lot of blue flame jets and the same
result as with gas, but at less cost. We had also a machine
that was inexpensive and easily handled anywhere.
Boxes were placed over the upper parts of the
wheels, that the heat might pass closely to the tire.
This device was extensively used by our people, and
with great satisfaction. In one way care had to be
taken, viz.: That in starting the fire it did not smoke
and cover the tire with carbon or “lampblack,” which
is a non-conductor of heat.

Experiments were made with air forced through
gasoline, and with oil heated in a can to form gas.
There was more danger in either of these than with
our blowpipe device, and no better results were obtained,
though the cost was greater.

With the change of the wheels, the brakes had to be
changed the same amount, that is, each one set in 1½
in. This it was thought would either require new
hangers or a change in the head or shoe in some way.
We found that the hangers could easily be bent without
removal. Fig. 34 shows three hangers after passing
through the bending process. A short lever arranged
to clasp the hanger just below the point, A,
was the instrument; a forked “shore” is now placed,
with the fork, against the point, A, and the other end
against the car sill; press down on the lever and you
bend the hanger at A; lower the lever to a point just
below B, reverse the process, and you have the bend at
B; the whole thing taking less than two minutes per
hanger. A new bolt hole, of course, has been bored in
the brake beam 1½ in. inside the old hole. It takes
but a short time after this to change the position of the
head and shoe.

FIG. 34

Before the day of change, a portion of the spikes
were drawn from the inside of the rail to be moved,
and spike set 3 in. inside of the rail. As a rule two
spikes were drawn and the third left. At least every
third spike was set for the new gauge, and in some
cases every other one.

There were several devices with which to set the
spike. A small piece of iron 3 in. wide was common,
and answered the purpose well. This had a handle,
sometimes small, just large enough for the hand to
clasp, while others had a handle long enough for a man
to use it without stooping down. (See Figs. 35 and 36.)
Another device is shown in Fig. 37, so arranged that
the measurements were made from the head of the
other rail. This was liked best, and, it is thought,
gave the best results, as the moved rail was more
likely to be in good line than when the measurements
were taken from the flange.

FIG. 35, FIG. 36 and FIG. 37

It was intended that great care should be taken in
driving the spikes, that they were in the proper place,
square with the rail, and left sticking up about an
inch.

The ties, of course, were all adzed down before the
day of change.

“Handspikes” were originally used to throw the
rails, as were lining bars.

We found, however, that small “cant hooks” were
more easily handled and did better work. The first
were made like Fig. 38, with a spike in the end of a
stick, while the hook was fastened with a bolt about
10 or 12 inches above the foot.

FIG. 38 and FIG. 39

We afterward made them of a 1¼ in. rod, 3½ ft.
long, pointed at one end, with a ring shrunk on 1 ft.
from the bottom. Then the hook was made with an
eye, as shown in Fig. 39, which slipped down over the
top of the main rod. This was simple and cheap, and
the iron was to be used for repair purposes when this
work was done.

Upon the system with which the writer was connected
we had some branches where we could experiment upon
the moving of the rail. Between Selma and Lauderdale
the traffic was light, and at Lauderdale it connected
with the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, which was
narrow, and to which all freight had to be transferred,
either by hoisting the cars or by handling through
the house. By changing our gauge we would simply
change the point of transfer to Selma. Here was a
chance to experiment upon one hundred miles and
cause little trouble to traffic. We could see the practical
workings of our plans, and, at the same time, leave
less to do on the final day. Upon the 20th of April we
did this work. It had been our plan to do it somewhat
earlier, but floods prevented.

Most of the rail was old chair iron, short, and consequently
more time was used in making the change
than would have been required had our work been on
fishplate rail. Our sections here were about eight
miles long, and we arranged our men on the basis
blocked out by the committee, viz., 24 to 26 men to the
section, consisting of 6 spike pullers, 4 throwing rails,
12 spikers, 2 to push the cars and carry water.

We soon found 5 ft. cars useless, and threw them into
the ditch to be picked up at some future time.

The men were spread out so as not to be in each
other’s way, and when the organization was understood
and conformed to, it worked well. One gang
changed 5 miles in 5 hours and 10 minutes, including a
number of switches. We found, however, and it was
demonstrated still more strongly on later work, that
after 5 or 6 miles the men began to lag.

We believed we had the best results when we had
sections of about that length.

It was arranged that two sections, alternately, commenced
work together at one point, working from
each other and continuing until the force of another
section was met, working from the opposite direction.

The foreman in charge was expected to examine the
work and know that all was right. The push car
which followed was a good test as to gauge.

A work train was started from each end with a small
force (20 or 25 men) to run over the changed track.
This train, of course, had been changed on a previous
day to be ready for this work.

If a force was overtaken by this train with its work
not done, the men on the train were at once spread out
to aid in its completion. This done, the train ran on.

Not until this was done was a traffic train allowed to
pass over the track. The same rule was followed upon
all the work.

Upon the final day it was required that upon all high
trestles and in tunnels the track should be full-spiked
before being left or a train let over. This took extra
time and labor, and possibly was not necessary; but it
was a precaution on the side of safety.

Upon the day of the change of the Alabama Central
Division (Selma to Lauderdale), superintendents of
other divisions, with their road masters, supervisors,
master mechanics and many section foremen, were sent
over to see the organization and work and the
preparations that had been made. Many of them lent a
helping hand in the work. They saw here in practice
what had only been theory before.

About a week before the general change that portion
of the road between Rome, Ga., and Selma, Ala., about
200 miles, was changed, and again men from other
divisions were sent to see and aid in the work. So when
the final day came, the largest possible number of men
were able to work understandingly.

On the last day of May the Memphis & Charleston,
Knoxville & Ohio, and North Carolina branch were
changed, and on June 1 the line from Bristol to
Chattanooga and Brunswick.

Other roads changed their branch lines a day or two
before the 1st of June; but the main lines, as a rule,
were changed on that day.

It was a small matter to take care of the cars and
arrange the train service so there should be no hitches.
It was not expected that connections would move
freight during the 48 hours prior to the change, and
these days were spent in clearing the road of everything,
and taking the cars to the points of rendezvous.
All scheduled freight trains were abandoned on the day
prior to the change, and only trains run to such
points.

Upon the East Tennessee system these points were
Knoxville, Rome, Atlanta, Macon, Huntsville, and Memphis,
and to these points all cars must go, loaded or
empty, and there they were parked upon the tracks
prepared for the purpose. Passenger trains were run
to points where it had been arranged to change them,
generally to the general changing point.

Most of the Southern roads have double daily passenger
service. Upon all roads one of these trains, upon
the day of change, was abandoned, and upon some all.
Some, even, did not run till next day.

We were able to start the day trains out by 10 or 11
o’clock A.M., and put them through in fair time. Of
course, no freights were run that day, and the next day
was used in getting the cars which had been changed out
of the parks and into line. So our freight traffic over
the entire South was suspended practically three days.

The work of changing was to commence at 3:30 A.M.,
but many of the men were in position at an earlier
hour, and did commence work as soon as the last train
was over, or an hour or so before the fixed time.
Half-past three A.M., however, can be set down as the
general hour of commencement.

For five or six hours in the cool morning the work
went on briskly, the men working with much more
than ordinary enthusiasm. But the day was warm,
and after 9 or 10 A.M. it began to lag. All was done,
however, before the day was over, and safe, so that
trains could pass at full speed.

The men all received $1.50 for the work, whether it
was finished early or late in the day, and were paid
that afternoon as soon as the work was done. Tickets
were given the men, which the nearest agent paid,
remitting as cash to the treasurer.

On some lines it was deemed best to offer prizes to
those who got through first.

Reports showed some very early finishes. But the
facts seem to have been that under such encouragement
the men were apt to pull too many spikes before
the change and put too few in while changing.
They were thus reported through early, but their work
was not done, and they took great chances.

It was by most considered unwise to offer such prizes,
preferring to have a little more time taken and be sure
that all was safe. Such lines seemed to get their trains
in motion with as much promptness as others. This,
with freedom from accident, was the end sought.

It was found after the work had been done that there
had been little inaccuracies in driving the gauge spike,
to which the rail was thrown, probably from various
causes. The rail to be moved may not always have
been exactly in its proper place, and then the template
in the hurry may not have been accurately placed, or
the spike may have turned or twisted.

Whatever was the cause, it was found that frequently
the line on the moved side was not perfect, and, of
course, many spikes had to be drawn and the rail lined
up and respiked. The more careful the work had been
done, the less of this there was to do afterward. With
rough track this was least seen. The nearer perfect,
the more noticeable it was.

Of course, we all planned to get foreign cars home
and have ours sent to us. But when the interchange
stopped, we found we had many foreign cars, which,
of course, had to be changed. This subject had come
up in convention and it had been voted to charge three
dollars per car when axles did not need turning, and
five dollars where they did. By comparison with the
cost of changing, as shown in this paper, it will be
seen that to our company, at least, there was no loss at
these figures.

The following tables will explain the work done upon
the Louisville & Nashville and East Tennessee, Virginia
& Georgia systems.

It is to be regretted that the writer has not at hand
information regarding other roads, that fuller statements
and comparisons might be made and the showings be of
greater value.

The figures of the Mobile & Ohio are added, having
been compiled from the annual report of that road.

MOBILE & OHIO RAILROAD.

(Compiled from Annual Report.)

LOUISVILLE & NASHVILLE RAILROAD.

(Compiled from Annual Report.)

EAST TENNESSEE, VIRGINIA & GEORGIA SYSTEM.

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF AVERAGE COST OF VARIOUS ITEMS OF WORK.

NOTE—Since the preparation of this paper the general manager of the
Norfolk & Western Railroad has kindly furnished the following items of
expense for that line:

And the superintendent of the S.F. & W. R.R. has also furnished the
expenses for that road:

Nothing was said about shop or other tools, storage tracks, or changing of
maintenance of way equipment.

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF AVERAGE COST OF LABOR OF VARIOUS ITEMS OF WORK.

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF AVERAGE COST OF
MATERIAL OF VARIOUS ITEMS OF WORK.

SUMMARY OF STATEMENTS OF L.&N. AND E.T., V.&G. RAILWAYS.

We should really add to this a large sum for the great
number of new locomotives which were purchased to
replace old ones, that could not be changed, except at
large cost, and which, when done, would have been
light and undesirable.

Upon the basis of the work done upon the L. & N.
and E.T., V. & G. systems, which, combined, cover
about one-fourth the mileage changed, we have made
the following estimates, which will, perhaps, convey a
better idea of the extent of the work than can be obtained
in any other way:

The work was done economically, and so quietly that
the public hardly realized it was in progress. To the
casual observer it was an every day transaction. It
was, however, a work of great magnitude, requiring
much thought and mechanical ability.

That it was ably handled is evidenced by the uniform
success attained, the prompt changing at the agreed
time, and the trifling inconvenience to the public.—Jour.
Assn. Engineering Societies.

[1]

[2]

[3]

TORPEDO BOATS FOR SPAIN.

In our present issue, on page 9948, we give illustrations
of two torpedo boats, the Azor and Halcon,
which have lately been constructed by Messrs Yarrow
& Co., of Poplar, for the Spanish government. They
are 135 ft. in length by 14 ft. beam, being of the same
dimensions as No. 80 torpedo boat, lately completed
by the above firm for the Admiralty, which is the
largest and fastest torpedo-boat in the British navy.

TORPEDO BOATS FOR THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT.

The general arrangement of these torpedo boats is
sufficiently clear from the illustrations to need but little
description. Suffice it to say that the engines are of
the triple compound type, capable of indicating 1,550
horse power, steam being supplied by one large locomotive
boiler, which our readers are already aware is
in accordance with the usual practice of the makers,
as, by using a single boiler, great simplification of the
machinery takes place, and considerably less room is
occupied than if two boilers were adopted. It is
worthy of record that although in some torpedo boats,
and indeed in a great number of them, trouble has been
found with the locomotive type of boiler, still we have
no hesitation in saying that this is due either to defective
design or bad workmanship, and that, if properly
designed and constructed, such difficulty does not
occur. And it is a fact that Messrs. Yarrow & Co. have
already constructed a great number of locomotive
boilers of the exceptional size adopted in these two
Spanish boats, and they have turned out in every respect,
after actual service, perfectly satisfactory.

The forward part of the boat is provided with two
torpedo-ejecting tubes, as usual, and near the stern, on
deck, it is proposed to place turntables, with two torpedo
guns for firing over the sides, as already adopted
by several governments. The trials of the Azor took
place about two months since, giving a speed during a
run of two hours and three quarters, carrying a load of
17 tons, of 24 knots (over 27½ miles) per hour. Since
her trial she has steamed out to Spain, having encountered,
during a portion of the voyage very bad
weather, when her sea going qualities were found to
be admirable.

The Halcon, whose official trials took place lately,
obtained a speed of 23.5 knots, carrying a load of 17
tons. It may be remarked that a speed of 24
knots, in a boat only 135 ft in length, under the
Spanish conditions of trial, is by far the best result
that has ever been obtained in a vessel of these dimensions
There is, however, no doubt that had the length
of the boat been greater, a still higher speed would
have been obtained But it was desired by the authorities
to keep within the smallest possible dimensions,
so as to expose as little area as practicable to the fire of
the enemy, it being clearly evident that this is a consideration
of the first importance in an unprotected
war vessel.

In conclusion, we would add that the hulls of these
two Spanish boats are of much greater strength of construction
than is usually adopted in torpedo boats, it
having been found that for the sake of obtaining exceptional
speeds, strength sufficient for actual service
has often been injudiciously sacrificed And, judging
from the numerous accidents which took place at the
recent trials off Portland, we have no doubt that in the
future naval authorities will be quite ready and willing
to sacrifice a little speed so as to obtain vessels which
are more trustworthy. The necessity for this, we feel
convinced, will be conclusively shown if ever torpedo
boats are engaged in actual warfare, and this not only
as regards strength of hull, but also as regards the
machinery, which at present is only capable of being
handled successfully by men of exceptional training,
who in times of war would not be readily procured—The
Engineer.

THE SPANISH CRUISER REINA REGENTE

In our SUPPLEMENT, No. 620 we gave an illustration
of this ship, with some particulars. The interest expressed
in naval circles for further information induces
us to give still further engravings of this remarkable
vessel, with additional information, for which we are
indebted to the Engineer.

THE NEW SPANISH WAR SHIP REINA REGENTE.

We gave recently a short account of two of the trials
of this vessel, and we are, by the courtesy of the
builders—Messrs. Thomson, of Clydebank—enabled to
lay further particulars before our readers this week.
We give herewith engravings of the vessel, which will
illustrate her salient points. The principal dimensions
are as follows.

Length on water line, 317 ft., breadth, 50 ft. 7 in.,
depth moulded, 32 ft. 6 in., normal displacement, 4,800
tons, deep load displacement, 5,600* tons. We have before
informed our readers that this vessel was designed
by Messrs. Thomson, in competition with several other
shipbuilding firms of this and other countries, in reply
to an invitation of the Spanish government for a cruiser
of the first class. The design submitted by the builders
of the Reina Regente was accepted, and the vessel was
contracted to be built in June of last year. The
principal conditions of the contract were as follows.

The ship to steam at a speed of 20½ knots for four
runs on the mile and for two hours continuously afterward.
She was further to be capable of steaming for
six hours continuously at a speed of 18½ knots, without
any artificial means of producing draught. She
was also to be capable of steaming a distance of at
least 5,700 knots for 500 tons of coal, at some speed over
10 knots, to be chosen by the builders. Over the length
of her machinery and magazine spaces she was to have
a sloping deck extending to 6 ft. below the water line at
the side, and formed of plates 4¾ in. thick. This deck was
to extend to about 1 ft. above the water line, and the
flat part to be 3-1/8 in. thick. Beyond the machinery
and magazine spaces, the deck was to be gradually reduced
to 3 in. thick at the ends. This deck is intended
to protect the vitals of the ship, such as boilers, engines,
powder magazines, steering gear, etc., from the effects
of shot and shell, but the floating and stability maintaining
power of the ship was to be dependent upon a
similar structure raised above this protective deck to a
height of about 5 ft. above the water.

This structure is covered by a water tight deck
known as the main deck of the ship, on which the
cabins and living spaces are arranged. The space between
the main and protective deck is divided, as may
be seen by reference to the protective deck plan, into
many strong, water tight spaces, most of which are not
more than about 500 cubic feet capacity. The spaces
next to the ship’s side are principally coal bunkers, and
may, therefore, exclude largely any water that should
enter. The first line of defense is formed inside these
coal bunkers by a complete girdle of coffer dams, which
can be worked from the main deck. These it is intended
to fill with water and cellulose material, and as they
are also minutely subdivided, the effects of damage by
shot and consequent flooding may be localized to a considerable
extent. The guns of the ship are to consist
of four 20 centimeter Hontorio breech loading guns on
Vavasseur carriages, six 12 centimeter guns, eight 6
pounder rapid firing, and eight or ten small guns for
boats and mitrailleuse purposes, four of which are in
the crow’s nests at the top of the two masts of the ship.
We may remark in passing that the builders saw their
way at an early period of the construction to suggest
an addition to the weight of the large sized guns, and
there will actually be on the ship four 24 centimeter
guns, instead of four 20 centimeter. The vessel was to
carry five torpedo tubes, two forward in the bow, one
in each broadside, and one aft. All these tubes to be
fixed. To fulfill the speed condition, four boilers were
necessary and two sets of triple expansion engines, capable
of developing in all 12,000 horse power.

PROTECTIVE DECK PLAN.

Now that the vessel has been completely tried, the
promises by the builders may be compared with the
results determined by the commission of Spanish officers
appointed by the government of Spain to say
whether the vessel fulfilled in all respects the conditions
laid down in the contract. The mean speed attained
for the two hours’ run was 20.6 knots, as compared
with 20.5 guaranteed, but this speed was obtained with
11,500 horse power instead of the 12,000 which the machinery
is capable of developing. The officers of the
Spanish commission were anxious not to have the
vessel’s machinery pressed beyond what was necessary
to fulfill the speed conditions of the contract; but they
saw enough to warrant them in expressing their belief
that the vessel can easily do twenty-one knots when required,
and she actually did this for some time during
the trial.

During the natural draught trial the vessel obtained a
mean speed of 18.68 knots, on an average of 94¾ revolutions—the
forced draught having been done on an
average of 105½ revolutions. The consumption trial,
which lasted twelve hours, was made to determine the
radius of action, when the ship showed that at a speed
of 11.6 knots she could steam a distance of 5,900 knots.
Further trials took place to test the evolutionary
powers of the vessel, though these trials were not specified
in the contract.

The vessel, as may be seen from the engravings, is
fitted with a rudder of a new type, known as Thomson
& Biles’ rudder, with which it is claimed that all the
advantage of a balanced rudder is obtained, while the
ship loses the length due to the adoption of such a
rudder. It is formed in the shape of the hull of the
vessel, and as the partial balance of the lower foreside
gradually reduces the strains, the rudder head may be
made of very great service. As a matter of fact, this
rudder is 230 ft. in area, and is probably the largest
rudder fitted to a warship. The efficiency of it was
shown in the turning trials, by its being able to bring
the vessel round, when going at about nineteen knots,
in half a circle in one minute twenty-three seconds,
and a complete circle in two minutes fifty-eight seconds,
the diameter of the circle being 350 yards. This result,
we believe, is unrivaled, and makes this vessel equal in
turning capabilities to many recent warships not much
more than half her length.

FILM NEGATIVES.¹

Having had a certain measure of success with Eastman
stripping films, I have been requested by your
council to give a paper this evening dealing with the
subject, and particularly with the method of working
which my experience has found most successful. In
according to their request, I feel I have imposed upon
myself a somewhat difficult task.

There is, undoubtedly, a strong prejudice in the
minds of most photographers, both amateur and professional,
against a negative in which paper is used as
a permanent support, on account of the inseparable
“grain” and lack of brilliancy in the resulting prints;
and the idea of the paper being used only as a temporary
support does not seem to convey to their mind a
correct impression of the true position of the matter.

It may be as well before entering into the technical
details of the manipulation to consider briefly the advantages
to be derived—which will be better appreciated
after an actual trial.

My experience (which is at present limited) is that
they are far superior to glass for all purposes except
portraiture of the human form or instantaneous pictures
where extreme rapidity is necessary, but for all
ordinary cases of rapid exposure they are sufficiently
quick. The first advantage, which I soon discovered,
is their entire freedom from halation. This, with glass
plates, is inseparable, and even when much labor has
been bestowed on backing them, the halation is painfully
apparent.

These films never frill, being made of emulsion which
has been made insoluble. Compare the respective
weights of the two substances—one plate weighing
more than a dozen films of the same size.

Again, on comparing a stripping film negative with
one on glass of the same exposure and subject, it will
be found there is a greater sharpness or clearness in the
detail, owing, I am of opinion, to the paper absorbing
the light immediately it has penetrated the emulsion,
the result being a brilliant negative. Landscapes on
stripped films can be retouched or printed from on
either side, and the advantage in this respect for carbon
or mechanical printing is enormous. Now, imagine
the tourist working with glass, and compare
him to another working with films. The one works in
harness, tugging, probably, a half hundredweight of
glass with him from place to place, paying extra carriage,
extra tips, and in a continual state of anxiety as
to possible breakage, difficulty of packing, and having
to be continually on the lookout for a dark place to
change the plates, and, perhaps, on his return finds
numbers of his plates damaged owing to friction on
the surface; while the disciple of films, lightly burdened
with only camera and slide, and his (say two
hundred) films in his pockets, for they lie so compact
together. Then the advantages to the tourists abroad,
their name is “legion,” not the least being the ease of
guarding your exposed pictures from the custom house
officials, who almost always seek to make matters disagreeable
in this respect, and lastly, though not least,
the ease with which the negatives can be stowed away
in envelopes or albums, etc., when reference to them is
easy in the extreme.

Now, having come (rightly, I think, you will admit)
to the conclusion that films have these advantages, you
naturally ask, What are their disadvantages? Remembering,
then, that I am only advocating stripping films,
I consider they have but two disadvantages: First,
they entail some additional outlay in the way of apparatus,
etc. Second, they are a little more trouble to
finish than the glass negatives, which sink into insignificance
when the manifold advantages are considered.

In order to deal effectively with the second objection
I mentioned, viz., the extra trouble and perseverance,
I propose, with your permission, to carry a negative
through the different stages from exposure to completion,
and in so doing I shall endeavor to make the process
clear to you, and hope to enlist your attention.

The developer I use is slightly different to that of the
Eastman company, and is as follows:

I have here two half-plate films exposed at 8:30 A.M.
to-day, one with five and one with six seconds’ exposure,
subject chiefly middle distance. I take 90
minims A, 10 minims D, and 90 minims B, and make
up to 2 ounces water. I do not soak the films in water.
There is no need for it. In fact, it is prejudicial to do
so. I place the films face uppermost in the dish, and
pour on the developer on the center of the films. You
will observe they lie perfectly flat, and are free from air
bubbles. Rock the dish continually during development,
and when the high lights are out add from 10 to
90 minims C, and finish development and fix. The
negatives being complete, I ask you to observe that
both are of equal quality, proving the latitude of exposure
permissible.

I now coat a piece of glass half an inch larger all
round than the negative with India rubber solution
(see Eastman formula), and squeegee the negative face
downward upon the rubber, interposing a sheet of blotting
paper and oilskin between the negative and squeegee
to prevent injury to the exposed rubber surface,
and then place the negative under pressure with blotting
paper interposed until moderately dry only.

I then pour hot water upon it, and, gently rocking
the dish, you see the paper floats from the film without
the necessity for pulling it with a pin, leaving the film
negative on the glass. Now, the instructions say remove
the remaining soluble gelatine with camel’s hair
brush, but, unless it requires intensifying, which no
properly developed negative should require, you need
not do so, but simply pour on the gelatine solution
(see Eastman formula), well covering the edges of the
film, and put on a level shelf to dry.

I will now take up a negative in this state on the
glass, but dry, and carefully cut round the edges of
the film, and you see I can readily pull off the film with
its gelatine support. Having now passed through the
whole of the process, it behooves us to consider for a
few minutes the causes of failure in the hands of
beginners and their remedies: 1. The rubber will not flow over glass? Solution too thick,
glass greasy. 2. Rubber peels off on drying? Dirty glass. 3. Negative not dense enough? Use more bromide and
longer development. 4. Gelatine cracks on being pulled off? Add more glycerine. 5. Gelatine not thick enough? Gelatine varnish too thin,
not strong enough. 6. Does not dry sufficiently hard? Too much glycerine.—E.H.
Jaques, Reported in Br. Jour. of Photography.

[1]

HOW DIFFERENT TONES IN GELATINO-CHLORIDE
PRINTS MAY BE VARIED BY DEVELOPERS.

The following formulæ are for use with gelatino-chloride
paper or plates. The quantities are in each case
calculated for one ounce, three parts of each of
the following solutions being employed and added to
one part of solution of protosulphate of iron.
Strength, 140 grains to the ounce.

In the photographic exhibition at Florence, the firm
of Corvan¹ places on view a frame containing twenty
proofs produced by the foregoing twenty formulæ, in
such a way that the observer can compare the value of
each tone and select that which pleases him best.—Le
Moniteur de la Photographie, translated by British
Jour. of Photo.

[1]

NOTE ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A DISTILLERY CHIMNEY.

FIG. 1—ELEVATION.

At a recent meeting of the Industrial Society of
Amiens, Mr. Schmidt, engineer of the Steam Users’
Association, read a paper in which he described the
process employed in the construction of a large chimney
of peculiar character for the Rocourt distillery,
at St. Quentin.

This chimney, which is cylindrical in form, is 140 feet
in height, and has an internal diameter of 8½ feet from
base to summit. The coal consumed for the nine generators
varies between 860 and 1,200 pounds per hour and per
10 square feet of section.

The ground that was to support this chimney consisted
of very aquiferous, cracked beds of marl, disintegrated
by infiltrations of water from the distillery,
and alternating with strata of clay. It became necessary,
therefore, to build as light a chimney as possible.
The problem was solved as follows, by Mr. Guendt,
who was then superintendent of the Rocourt establishment.

Upon a wide concrete foundation a pedestal was
built, in which were united the various smoke conduits,
and upon this pedestal were erected four lattice
girders, C, connected with each other by St. Andrew’s
crosses. The internal surface of these girders is vertical
and the external is inclined. Within the framework
there was built a five-inch thick masonry wall of
bricks, made especially for the purpose. The masonry
was then strengthened and its contact with the girders
assured by numerous hoops, especially at the lower
part; some of them internal, others external, to the
surface of the girders, and others of angle irons, all in
four parts.

FIG. 2—HORIZONTAL SECTION.

The anchors rest upon a cast iron foundation plate
connected, through strong bolts embedded in the
pedestal, with a second plate resting upon the concrete.

As the metallic framework was calculated for resisting
the wind, the brick lining does not rest against it
permanently above. The weight of the chimney is 1,112,200
pounds, and the foundation is about 515 square
feet in area; and, consequently, the pressure upon the
ground is about 900 pounds to the square inch. The
cost was $3,840.

The chimney was built six years ago, and has withstood
the most violent hurricanes.

The mounting of the iron framework was effected
by means of a motor and two men, and took a month.
The brick lining was built up in eight days by a mason
and his assistant.

A chimney of the same size, all of brick, erected on
the same foundation, would have weighed 2,459,600
pounds (say a load of 3,070 pounds to the square inch),
and would have cost about $2,860.

FIG. 3—VERTICAL SECTION OF THE CHIMNEY.

The chimney of the Rocourt distillery is, therefore,
lighter by half, and cost about a third more, than one
of brick; but, at the present price of metal, the difference
would be slight.—Annales Industrielles.

THE PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN BY BRIN’S PROCESS.

Considerable interest has been aroused lately in
scientific and industrial circles by a report that separation
of the oxygen and nitrogen of the air was being
effected on a large scale in London by a process which
promises to render the gases available for general application
in the arts. The cheap manufacture of the
compounds of nitrogen from the gas itself is still a
dream of chemical enthusiasts; and though the pure
gas is now available, the methods of making its compounds
have yet to be devised. But the industrial
processes which already depend directly or indirectly
on the chemical union of bodies with atmospheric
oxygen are innumerable.

In all these processes the action of the gas is impeded
by the bulky presence of its fellow constituent of air,
nitrogen. We may say, for instance, in homely phrase,
that whenever a fire burns there are four volumes of
nitrogen tending to extinguish it for every volume of
oxygen supporting its combustion, and to the same degree
the nitrogen interferes with all other processes of
atmospheric oxidation, of which most metallurgical
operations may be given as instances. If, then, it has
become possible to remove this diluent gas simply and
cheaply in order to give the oxygen free play in its
various applications, we are doubtless on the eve of a
revolution among some of the most extensive and
familiar of the world’s industries.

A series of chemical reactions has long been known
by means of which oxygen could be separated out of
air in the laboratory, and at various times processes
based on these reactions have been patented for the
production of oxygen on a large scale. Until recently,
however, none of these methods gave sufficiently satisfactory
results. The simplest and perhaps the best of
them was based on the fact first noticed by Boussingault,
that when baryta (BaO) is heated to low redness
in a current of air, it takes up oxygen and becomes
barium dioxide (BaO₂), and that this dioxide at a
higher temperature is reconverted into free oxygen and
baryta, the latter being ready for use again. For many
years it was assumed, however, by chemists that this
ideally simple reaction was inapplicable on a commercial
scale, owing to the gradual loss of power to absorb
oxygen which was always found to take place in
the baryta after a certain number of operations.
About eight years ago Messrs. A. & L. Brin, who had
studied chemistry under Boussingault, undertook experiments
with the view of determining why the baryta
lost its power of absorbing oxygen.

They found that it was owing to molecular and
physical changes caused in it by impurities in the air
used and by the high temperature employed for decomposing
the dioxide. They discovered that by heating
the dioxide in a partial vacuum the temperature
necessary to drive off its oxygen was much reduced.
They also found that by supplying the air to the baryta
under a moderate pressure, its absorption of oxygen
was greatly assisted. Under these conditions, and by
carefully purifying the air before use, they found that it
became possible to use the baryta an indefinite number
of times. Thus the process became practically, as it
was theoretically, continuous.

After securing patent protection for their process,
Messrs. Brin erected a small producer in Paris, and
successfully worked it for nearly three years without
finding a renewal of the original charge of baryta once
necessary. This producer was exhibited at the Inventions
Exhibition in London, in 1885. Subsequently an
English company was formed, and in the autumn of
last year Brin’s Oxygen Company began operations in
Horseferry Road, Westminster, where a large and
complete demonstration plant was erected, and the
work commenced of developing the production and application
of oxygen in the industrial world.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING OXYGEN.

We give herewith details of the plant now working
at Westminster. It is exceedingly simple. On the left
of the side elevation and plan are shown the retorts,
on the right is an arrangement of pumps for alternately
supplying air under pressure and exhausting the oxygen
from the retorts. As is shown in the plan, two sets
of apparatus are worked side by side at Westminster,
the seventy-two retorts shown in the drawings being
divided into two systems of thirty-six. Each system is
fed by the two pumps on the corresponding side of the
boiler. Each set of retorts consists of six rows of six
retorts each, one row above the other. They are
heated by a small Wilson’s producer, so that the attendant
can easily regulate the supply of heat and obtain
complete control over the temperature of the retorts.
The retorts, A, are made of wrought iron and
are about 10 ft long and 8 in. diameter. Experience,
however, goes to prove that there is a limit to the
diameter of the retorts beyond which the results become
less satisfactory. This limit is probably somewhat
under 8 in. Each retort is closely packed with
baryta in lumps about the size of a walnut. The
baryta is a heavy grayish porous substance prepared
by carefully igniting the nitrate of barium; and of this
each retort having the above dimensions holds about
125 lb. The retorts so charged are closed at each end
by a gun metal lid riveted on so as to be air tight.
From the center of each lid a bent gun metal pipe, B,
connects each retort with the next of its series, so that
air introduced into the end retort of any row may pass
through the whole series of six retorts. Suppose now
that the operations are to commence.

The retorts are first heated to a temperature of about
600° C. or faint redness, then the air pumps, C C, are
started. Air is drawn by them through the purifier,
D, where it is freed from carbon dioxide and moisture
by the layers of quicklime and caustic soda with which
the purifier is charged. The air is then forced along
the pipe, E, into the small air vessel, F, which acts as
a sort of cushion to prevent the baryta in the retorts
being disturbed by the pulsation of the pumps.
From this vessel the air passes by the pipe, G, and is
distributed in the retorts as rapidly as possible at such
a pressure that the nitrogen which passes out unabsorbed
at the outlet registers about 15 lb. to the square
inch. With the baryta so disposed in the retorts as to
present as large a superficies as possible to the action of
the air, it is found that in 1½ to 2 hours—during which
time about 12,000 cub. ft of air have been passed
through the retorts—the gas at the outlet fails to extinguish
a glowing chip, indicating that oxygen is no
longer being absorbed. The pumping now ceases, and
the temperature of the retorts is raised to about 800° C.
The workman is able to judge the temperature with
sufficient accuracy by means of the small inspection
holes, H, fitted with panes of mica, through which the
color of the heat in the furnace can be distinguished.
The pumps are now reversed and the process of exhaustion
begins. At Westminster the pressure in the
retorts is reduced to about 1½ in. of mercury. In this
partial vacuum the oxygen is given off rapidly, and if
forced by the pumps through another pipe and away
into an ordinary gas holder, where it is stored for use.
With powerful pumps such as are used in the plant
under notice the whole of the oxygen can be drawn off in
an hour, and from one charge a yield of about 2,000 cub.
ft. is obtained. With a less perfect vacuum the time
is longer—even as much as four hours. The whole
operation of charging and exhausting the retorts can
be completed in from three to four hours. As soon as
the evolution of oxygen is finished, the doors, K, and
ventilators, L, may be opened and the retorts cooled
for recharging.

The cost of producing oxygen at Westminster, under
specially expensive conditions, is high—about 12s.
per 1,000 cub. ft. When we consider, however, that
the cost should only embrace attendance, fuel, wear
and tear, and a little lime and soda for the purifiers,
that the consumption of fuel is small, the wear and
tear light, and that the raw material—air—is obtained
for nothing, it ought to be possible to produce the gas
for a third or fourth of this amount in most of our
great manufacturing centers, where the price of fuel is
but a third of that demanded in London, and where provision
could be made for economizing the waste heat,
which is entirely lost in the Westminster installation.
Moreover, in estimating this cost all the charges are
thrown on the oxygen; were there any means of utilizing
the 4,000 cub. ft. of nitrogen at present blown away
as waste for every thousand cubic feet of oxygen produced,
the nitrogen would of course bear its share of the
cost.

The question of the application of the oxygen is one
which must be determined in its manifold bearings
mainly by the experiments of chemists and scientific
men engaged in industrial work. Having ascertained
the method by which and the limit of cost within
which it is possible to use oxygen in their work, it can
be seen whether by Brin’s process the gas can be obtained
within that limit.

Mr. S.R. Ogden, the manager of the corporation
gasworks at Blackburn, has already made interesting
experiments on the application of oxygen in the manufacture
of illuminating gas. In order to purify coal
gas from compounds of sulphur, it is passed through
purifiers charged with layers of oxide of iron. When
the oxide of iron has absorbed as much sulphur as
it can combine with, it is described as “foul.” It
is then discharged and spread out in the open air,
when, under the influence of the atmospheric oxygen,
it is rapidly decomposed, the sulphur is separated
out in the free state, and oxide of iron is reformed
ready for use again in the purifiers. This
process is called revivification, and it is repeated
until the accumulation of sulphur in the oxide is so
great (45 to 55 per cent.) that it can be profitably sold
to the vitriol maker. Hawkins discovered that by introducing
about 3 per cent. of air into the gas before
passing it through the purifiers, the oxygen of the air
introduced set free the sulphur from the iron as fast as
it was absorbed. Thus the process of revivification
could be carried on in the purifiers themselves simultaneously
with the absorption of the sulphur impurities
in the gas.

A great saving of labor was thus effected, and also an
economy in the use of the iron oxide, which in this
way could be left in the purifiers until charged with
75 per cent. of sulphur. Unfortunately it was found
that this introduction of air for the sake of its oxygen
meant also the introduction of much useless nitrogen,
which materially reduced the illuminating power of
the gas. To restore this illuminating power the gas had
to be recarbureted, and this again meant cost in labor
and material. Now, Mr. Ogden has found by a series
of conclusive experiments made during a period of
seventy-eight days upon a quantity of about 4,000,000
cub. ft. of gas, that by introducing 1 per cent. of
oxygen into the gas instead of 3 per cent. of air, not
only is the revivification in situ effected more satisfactorily
than with air, but at the same time the illuminating
power of the gas, so far from being decreased, is
actually increased by one candle unit.

SIDE ELEVATION OF APPARATUS

GENERAL PLAN OF APPARATUS
THE PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN BY BRIN’S PROCESS.

So satisfied is he with his results that he has recommended
the corporation to erect a plant for the production
of oxygen at the Blackburn gas works, by
which he estimates that the saving to the town on the
year’s make of gas will be something like £2,500. The
practical observations of Mr. Ogden are being followed
up by a series of exhaustive experiments by Mr.
Valon, A.M. Inst. C.E., also a gas engineer. The
make of an entire works at Westgate is being treated
by him with oxygen. Mr. Valon has not yet published
his report, as the experiments are not quite complete;
but we understand that his results are even more
satisfactory than those obtained at Blackburn.

In conclusion we may indicate a few other of the
numerous possible applications of cheap oxygen which
might be realized in the near future. The greatest
illuminating effect from a given bulk of gas is obtained
by mixing it with the requisite proportion of oxygen,
and holding in the flame of the burning mixture a
piece of some solid infusible and non-volatile substance,
such as lime. This becomes heated to whiteness, and
emits an intense light know as the Drummond light,
used already for special purposes of illumination. By
supplying oxygen in pipes laid by the side of the ordinary
gas mains, it would be possible to fix small Drummond
lights in place of the gas burners now used in
houses; this would greatly reduce the consumption of
gas and increase the light obtained, or even render
possible the employment of cheap non-illuminating
combustible gases other than coal gas for the purpose.

Two obstacles at present lie in the way of this
consummation—the cost of the oxygen and the want of a
convenient and completely refractory material to take the
place of the lime. Messrs. Brin believe they have overcome
the first obstacle, and are addressing themselves,
we believe, to the removal of the second. Again, the
intense heat which the combustion of carbon in cheap
oxygen will place at the disposal of the metallurgist
cannot fail to play an important part in his operations.
There are many processes, too, of metal refining which
ought to be facilitated by the use of the gas. Then the
production of pure metallic oxides for the manufacture
of paints, the bleaching of oils and fats, the reduction
of refractory ores of the precious metals on a large
scale, the conversion of iron into steel, and numberless
other processes familiar to the specialists whose walk
is in the byways of applied chemistry, should all profit
by the employment of this energetic agent. Doubtless,
too, the investigation into methods of producing the
compounds of nitrogen so indispensable as plant foods,
and for which we are now dependent on the supplies of
the mineral world, may be stimulated by the fact that
there is available by Brin’s process a cheap and
inexhaustible supply of pure nitrogen.—Industries.

FRENCH DISINFECTING APPARATUS.

IMPROVED DISINFECTING APPARATUS.

We represent herewith a sanitary train that was very
successfully used during the prevalence of an epidemic
of sudor Anglicus in Poitou this year. It consisted of
a movable stove and a boiler. In reality, to save time,
such agricultural locomotives as could be found were
utilized; but hereafter, apparatus like those shown in
the engraving, and which are specially constructed to
accompany the stoves, will be employed. We shall
quote from a communication made by Prof. Brouardel
to the Academy of Medicine on this subject, at its
session of September 13:

In the country we can never think of disinfecting
houses with sulphurous acid, as the peasants often
have but a single room, in which the beds of the entire
family are congregated. Every one knows that the
agglomerations that compose the same department are
often distant from each other and the chief town by
from two to three miles or more. This is usually the
case in the departments of Vienne, Haute Vienne,
Indre, etc. To find a disinfecting place in the chief
town of the department is still difficult, and to find one
in each of the hamlets is absolutely impossible. Families
in which there are invalids are obliged to carry
clothing and bedding to the chief town to be disinfected,
and to go after them after the expiration of twenty-four
hours. This is not an easy thing to do.

It is easy to understand what difficulties must be met
with in many cases, and so one has to be content to
prescribe merely washing, and bleaching with lime—something
that is simple and everywhere accepted, but
insufficient. So, then, disinfection with sulphurous
acid, which is easy in large cities, as was taught by the
cholera epidemics of last year, is often difficult in the
country. The objection has always be made to it, too,
that it is of doubtful efficacy. It is not for us to examine
this question here, but there is no doubt that damp
steam alone, under pressure, effects a perfect disinfection,
and that if this mode of disinfection could be applied
in the rural districts (as it can be easily done in
cities), the public health would be better protected in
case of an epidemic.

In cities one or more stationary steam stoves can always
be arranged; but in the country movable ones are necessary.
From instructions given by Prof. Brouardel,
Messrs. Geneste & Herscher have solved the problem
of constructing such stoves in a few days, and four
have been put at the disposal of the mission.

Dr. Thoinot, who directed this mission, in order to
make an experiment with these apparatus, selected
two points in which cases of sudor were still numerous,
and in which the conditions were entirely different,
and permitted of studying the working of the service
and apparatus under various phases. One of these
points was Dorat, chief town of Haute Vienne, a locality
with a crowded population and presenting every
desirable resource; and the other was the commune of
Mauvieres, in Indre, where the population was scattered
through several hamlets.

The first stove was operated at Dorat, on the 29th of
June, and the second at Mauvieres, on the 1st of July.
A gendarme accompanied the stove in all its movements
and remained with it during the disinfecting
experiments. The Dorat stove was operated on the 29th
of June and the 1st, 2d, and 3d of July. On the 30th of
June it proceeded to disinfect the commune of Darnac.
The Mauvieres stove, in the first place, disinfected the
chief town of this commune on the 1st of July, and on
the next day it was taken to Poulets, a small hamlet,
and a dependent of the commune of Mauvieres. All
the linen and all the clothing of the sick of this locality,
which had been the seat of sudor, especially infantile,
was disinfected. On the 4th of July, the stove went
to Concremiers, a commune about three miles distant,
and there finished up the disinfection that until then
had been performed in the ordinary way.

The epidemic was almost everywhere on the wane at
this epoch; but we judge that the test of the stoves
was sufficient.

We are able to advance the following statement boldly:
For the application of disinfection in the rural districts,
the movable stove is the most practical thing that we
know of. It is easily used, can be taken to the smallest
hamlets, and can be transported over the roughest
roads. It inspires peasants with no distrust. The first
repugnance is easily overcome, and every one, upon
seeing that objects come from the stove unharmed,
soon hastens to bring to it all the contaminated linen,
etc., that he has in the house.

Further, we may add that the disinfection is accomplished
in a quarter of an hour, and that it therefore keeps
the peasant but a very short time from his work—an
advantage that is greatly appreciated. Finally, a
day well employed suffices to disinfect a small settlement
completely. Upon the whole, disinfection by the
stove under consideration is the only method that can
always and everywhere be carried out.

We believe that it is called upon to render the greatest
services in the future.

The movable stove, regarding which Prof. Brouardel
expresses himself in the above terms, consists of a
cylindrical chamber, 3½ feet in internal diameter and 5
feet in length, closed in front by a hermetically jointed
door. This cylinder, which constitutes the disinfection
chamber, is mounted upon wheels and is provided
with shafts, so that it can easily be hauled by a horse
or mule. The cylinder is of riveted iron plate, and is
covered with a wooden jacket. The door is provided
with a flange that enters a rubber lined groove in the
cylinder, and to it are riveted wrought iron forks
that receive the nuts of hinged bolts fixed upon the
cylinder. The nuts are screwed up tight, and the
flange of the door, compressing the rubber lining,
renders the joint hermetical. The door, which is hinged,
is provided with a handle, which, when the stove is
closed, slides over an inclined plane fixed to the cylinder.

The steam enters a cast iron box in the stove through
a rubber tube provided with a threaded coupling. The
entrance of the steam is regulated by a cock. The box
is provided with a safety and pressure gauge and a
small pinge cock. In the interior of the stove the entrance
of the steam is masked by a large tinned copper
screen, which is situated at the upper part and
preserves the objects under treatment from drops of
water of condensation. These latter fall here and
there from the screen, follow the sides of the cylinder,
and collect at the bottom, from whence they are
drawn off through a cock placed in the rear.

The sides are lined internally with wood, which prevents
the objects to be infected from coming into contact
with the metal. The objects to be treated are
placed upon wire cloth shelves. The pinge cock likewise
serves for drawing off the air or steam contained
in the apparatus.

The stove is supported upon an axle through the intermedium
of two angle irons riveted longitudinally
upon the cylinder. The axle is cranked, and its wheels,
which are of wood, are 4½ feet in diameter. The shafts
are fixed to the angle irons. The apparatus is, in addition,
provided with a seat, a brake, and prop rods
before and behind to keep it horizontal when in operation.

The boiler that supplies this stove is vertical and is
mounted upon four wheels. It is jacketed with wood,
and is provided with a water level, two gauge cocks,
a pressure gauge, two spring safety valves, a steam
cock provided with a rubber tube that connects with
that of the stove, an ash pan, and a smoke stack. In
the rear there are two cylindrical water reservoirs that
communicate with each other, and are designed to feed
the boiler through an injector. Beneath these reservoirs
there is a fuel box. In front there is a seat whose
box serves to hold tools and various other objects.—La
Nature.

AN ELECTRICAL GOVERNOR.

We abstract the following from a paper on electric
lighting by Prof. J.A. Fleeming, read before the
Iron and Steel Institute, Manchester. The illustration
is from Engineering.

ELECTRICAL GOVERNOR.

One of the questions which most frequently occurs in
reference to mill and factory lighting is whether the
factory engines can be used to run the dynamo. As a
broad, general rule, there can be no question that the
best results are obtained by using a separate dynamo
engine, controlled by a good governor, set apart for
that purpose. With an ordinary shunt dynamo, the
speed ought not to vary more than 2 or 3 per cent. of
its normal value on either side of that value. Hence,
if a dynamo has a normal speed of 1,000, it should certainly
not vary over a greater range than from 970 to
980 to 1,020 to 1,030. In many cases there may be shafting
from which the necessary power can be taken, and
of which the speed is variable only within these limits.
There are several devices by which it has been found
possible to enable a dynamo to maintain a constant
electromotive force, even if the speed of rotation varies
over considerable limits. One of these is that (see illustration)
due to Messrs. Trotter & Ravenshaw, and applicable
to shunt or series machines.

In the circuit of the field magnet is placed a variable
resistance. This resistance is thrown in or out by
means of a motor device actuated by an electromotive
force indicator. A plunger of soft iron is suspended
from a spring, and hangs within a solenoid of wire,
which solenoid is in connection with the terminals of
the dynamo. Any increase or diminution of the electromotive
force causes this iron to move in or out of the
core, and its movement is made to connect or disconnect
the gearing which throws in the field magnet resistance
with a shaft driven by the engine itself. The
principle of the apparatus is therefore that small variations
of electromotive force are made to vary inversely
the strength of the magnetic field through the intervention
of a relay mechanism in which the power required
to effect the movement is tapped from the
engine.

With the aid of such a governor it is possible to drive
a dynamo from a mill shaft providing the requisite
power, but of which the speed of rotation is not sufficiently
uniform to secure alone efficient regulation of
electromotive force. Another device, patented by Mr.
Crompton, is a modification of that method of field
magnet winding commonly known as compound winding.
The field magnets are wound over with two wires,
one of which has a high resistance and is arranged as a
shunt, and the other of which has a low resistance and
is arranged in series. Instead, however, of the magnetizing
powers of these coils being united in the same
direction as an ordinary compound winding, they are
opposed to one another. That is to say, the current in
the shunt wire tends to magnetize the iron of the field
magnets in an opposite direction to that of the series
wire. It results from this that any slight increase of
speed diminishes the strength of the magnetic field,
and vice versa. Accordingly, within certain limits, the
electromotive force of the dynamo is independent of
the speed of rotation.

THE ELECTRIC CURRENT AS A MEANS OF INCREASING THE TRACTIVE ADHESION
OF RAILWAY MOTORS AND OTHER ROLLING CONTACTS.¹

By ELIAS E. RIES.

The object of this paper is to lay before you the results
of some recent experiments in a comparatively
new field of operation, but one that, judging from the
results already attained, is destined to become of great
importance and value in its practical application to
various branches of industry.

I say “comparatively new” because the underlying
principles involved in the experiments referred to
have, to a certain extent, been employed (in, however,
a somewhat restricted sense) for purposes analogous to
those that form the basis of this communication.

As indicated by the title, the subject that will now
occupy our attention is the use of the electric current
as a means of increasing and varying the frictional adhesion
of rolling contacts and other rubbing surfaces,
and it is proposed to show how this effect may be produced,
both by means of the direct action of the current
itself and by its indirect action through the agency
of electro-magnetism.

Probably the first instance in which the electric
current was directly employed to vary the amount of
friction between two rubbing surfaces was exemplified
in Edison’s electro-motograph, in which the variations
in the strength of a telephonic current caused
corresponding variations in friction between a revolving
cylinder of moistened chalk and the free end of an
adjustable contact arm whose opposite extremity was
attached to the diaphragm of the receiving telephone.
This device was extremely sensitive to the least changes
in current strength, and if it were not for the complication
introduced by the revolving cylinder, it is very
likely that it would to-day be more generally used.

It has also been discovered more recently that in the
operation of electric railways in which the track rails
form part of the circuit, a considerable increase in the
tractive adhesion of the driving wheels is manifested,
due to the passage of the return current from the
wheels into the track. In the Baltimore and Hampden
electric railway, using the Daft “third rail” system,
this increased tractive adhesion enables the motors to
ascend without slipping a long grade of 350 feet to the
mile, drawing two heavily loaded cars, which result, it
is claimed, is not attainable by steam or other
self-propelling motors of similar weight. In the two instances
just cited the conditions are widely different, as regards
the nature of the current employed, the mechanical
properties of the surfaces in contact, and the
electrical resistance and the working conditions of the
respective circuits. In both, however, as clearly
demonstrated by the experiments hereinafter referred to,
the cause of the increased friction is substantially the same.

In order to ascertain the practical value of the electric
current as a means of increasing mechanical friction,
and, if possible, render it commercially and
practically useful wherever such additional friction
might be desirable, as for example in the transmission
of power, etc., a series of experiments were entered into
by the author, which, though not yet fully completed,
are sufficiently advanced to show that an electric current,
when properly applied, is capable of very materially
increasing the mechanical friction of rotating
bodies, in some cases as much as from 50 to 100 per
cent., with a very economical expenditure of current;
this increase depending upon the nature of the
substances in contact and being capable of being
raised by an increased flow of current.

Before entering into a description of the means by
which this result is produced, and how it is proposed to
apply this method practically to railway and other
purposes, it may be well to give a general outline of
what has so far been determined. These experiments
have shown that the coefficient of friction between two
conducting surfaces is very much increased by the passage
therethrough of an electric current of low electromotive
force and large volume, and this is especially
noticeable between two rolling surfaces in peripheral
contact with each other, or between a rolling and a
stationary surface, as in the case of a driving wheel
running upon a railway rail. This effect increases with
the number of amperes of current flowing through the
circuit, of which the two surfaces form part, and is
not materially affected by the electromotive force, so
long as the latter is sufficient to overcome the electrical
resistance of the circuit. This increase in frictional
adhesion is principally noticeable in iron, steel, and
other metallic bodies, and is due to a molecular change
in the conducting substances at their point of contact
(which is also the point of greatest resistance in the
circuit), caused by the heat developed at that point.
This heat is ordinarily imperceptible, and becomes
apparent only when the current strength is largely
augmented. It is therefore probable that a portion of
this increased tractive adhesion is due directly to the
current itself aside from its heating effect, although I
have not as yet been able to ascertain this definitely.
The most economical and efficient results have been
obtained by the employment of a transformed current
of extremely low electromotive force (between ½ and 1
volt), but of very large volume or quantity, this latter
being variable at will, so as to obtain different degrees
of frictional resistance in the substances under observation.

These experiments were originally directed mainly
toward an endeavor to increase the tractive adhesion
of the driving wheels of locomotives and other vehicles,
and to utilize the electric current for this purpose in
such a manner as to render it entirely safe, practical,
and economical. It will be apparent at once that a
method of increasing the tractive power of the present
steam locomotives by more than 50 per cent. without
adding to their weight and without injury to the roadbed
and wheel tires, such as is caused by the sand now
commonly used, would prove of considerable value,
and the same holds true with respect to electrically
propelled street cars, especially as it has been found
exceedingly difficult to secure sufficient tractive adhesion
on street railways during the winter season, as
well as at other times, on roads having grades of more
than ordinary steepness. As this, therefore, is probably
the most important use for this application of
the electric current, it has been selected for illustrating
this paper.

I have here a model car and track arranged to show
the equipment and operation of the system as applied
to railway motors. The current in the present
instance is one of alternating polarity which is converted
by this transformer into one having the required
volume. The electromotive force of this secondary
current is somewhat higher than is necessary. In
practice it would be about half a volt. You will notice
upon a closer inspection that one of the forward
driving wheels is insulated from its axle, and the
transformed current, after passing to a regulating
switch under the control of the engineer or driver,
goes to this insulated wheel, from which it enters
the track rail, then through the rear pair of
driving wheels and axles to the opposite rail, and then
flows up through the forward uninsulated wheel, from
the axle of which it returns by way of a contact brush
to the opposite terminal of the secondary coil of the
transformer. Thus the current is made to flow seriatim
through all four of the driving wheels, completing its
circuit through that portion of the rails lying between
the two axles, and generating a sufficient amount of
heat at each point of contact to produce the molecular
change before referred to. By means of the regulating
switch the engineer can control the amount of current
flowing at any time, and can even increase its strength
to such an extent, in wet or slippery weather, as to
evaporate any moisture that may adhere to the
surface of the rails at the point of contact with the
wheels while the locomotive or motor car is under full
speed.

It will be apparent that inasmuch as the “traction
circuit” moves along with the locomotive, and is complete
through its driving wheel base, the track rails in
front and rear of the same are at all times entirely free
from current, and no danger whatever can occur by
coming in contact with the rails between successive
motors. Moreover, the potential used in the present
arrangement, while sufficient to overcome the extremely
low resistance of the moving circuit, is too small to
cause an appreciable loss of current from that portion
of the rails in circuit, even under the most unfavorable
conditions of the weather. In practice the primary
current necessary is preferably generated by a small
high speed alternating dynamo on the locomotive, the
current being converted by means of an inductional
transformer. To avoid the necessity for electrically
bridging the rail joints, a modified arrangement may
be employed, in which the electrical connection is
made directly with a fixed collar on the forward and
rear driving axles, the current dividing itself in parallel
between the two rails in such a manner that, if a defective
joint exists in the rail at one side, the circuit is
still complete through the rail on the other; and as
the rails usually break joints on opposite sides, this arrangement
is found very effective. The insulation of
the driving wheels is very easily effected in either
case.

As the amount of additional tractive adhesion produced
depends upon the quantity of current flowing
rather than upon its pressure, the reason for transforming
the current as described will be apparent, and
its advantages over a direct current of higher tension
and less quantity, both from an economical and practical
standpoint, will for this reason be clear. The
amount of heat produced at the point of contact between
the wheels and rails is never large enough to injure
or otherwise affect them, although it may be quite
possible to increase the current sufficiently to produce
a very considerable heating effect. The amount of
current sent through the traction circuit will of course
vary with the requirements, and as the extent to which
the resistance to slipping may be increased is very
great, this method is likely to prove of considerable
value. While in some cases the use of such a method
of increasing the tractive power of locomotives would be
confined to ascending gradients and the movement of
exceptionally heavy loads, in others it would prove
useful as a constant factor in the work of transportation.
In cases like that of the New York elevated railway
system, where the traffic during certain hours is
much beyond the capacity of the trains, and the structure
unable to support the weight of heavier engines,
a system like that just described would prove of very
great benefit, as it would easily enable the present
engines to draw two or three additional cars with far
less slipping and lost motion than is the case with mechanical
friction alone, at a cost for tractive current
that is insignificant compared to the advantages
gained. Other cases may be cited in which this
method of increasing friction will probably be found
useful, aside from its application to railway purposes,
but these will naturally suggest themselves and need
not be further dwelt upon.

In the course of the experiments above described,
another and somewhat different method of increasing
the traction of railway motors has been devised, which
is more particularly adapted to electric motors for street
railways, and is intended to be used in connection with
a system of electric street railways now being developed
by the author. In this system electro-magnetism provides
the means whereby the increase in tractive adhesion
is produced, and this result is attained in an entirely
novel manner. Several attempts have heretofore been
made to utilize magnetism for this purpose, but apparently
without success, chiefly because of the crude and
imperfect manner in which most of these attempts
have been carried out.

The present system owes its efficiency to the formation
of a complete and constantly closed magnetic
circuit, moving with the vehicle and completed
through the two driving axles, wheels, and that portion
of the track rails lying between the two pairs of
wheels, in a manner similar to that employed in the
electrical method before shown. We have here a model
of a second motor car equipped with the apparatus,
mounted on a section of track and provided with means
for measuring the amount of tractive force exerted
both with and without the passage of the current.

You will notice that each axle of the motor car is
wound with a helix of insulated wire, the helices in the
present instance being divided to permit the attachment
to the axles of the motor connections. The
helices on both axles are so connected that, when energized,
they induce magnetic lines of force that flow in
the same direction through the magnetic circuit. There
are, therefore, four points at which the circuit is maintained
closed by the rolling wheels, and as the resistance
to the flow of the lines of force is greatest at these
points, the magnetic saturation there is more intense,
and produces the most effective result just where it is
most required. Now, when the battery circuit is closed
through the helices, it will be observed that the torque,
or pull, exerted by the motor car is fully twice that exerted
by the motor with the traction circuit open, and,
by increasing the battery current until the saturation
point of the iron is reached, the tractive force is increased
nearly 200 per cent., as shown by the dynamometer.
A large portion of this resistance to the slipping
or skidding of the driving wheels is undoubtedly due to
direct magnetic attraction between the wheels and
track, this attraction depending upon the degree of magnetic
saturation and the relative mass of metal involved.

But by far the greatest proportion of the increased
friction is purely the result of the change in position
of the iron molecules due to the well known action
of magnetism, which causes a direct and close interlocking
action, so to speak, between the molecules of the
two surfaces in contact. This may be illustrated by
drawing a very thin knife blade over the poles of an
ordinary electro-magnet, first with the current on and
then off.

In the model before you, the helices are fixed firmly
to, and revolve with, the axles, the connections being
maintained by brushes bearing upon contact rings at
each end of the helices. If desired, however, the axles
may revolve loosely within the helices, and instead of
the latter being connected for cumulative effects, they
may be arranged in other ways so as to produce either
subsequent or opposing magnetic forces, leaving certain
portions of the circuit neutral and concentrating
the lines of force wherever they maybe most desirable.
Such a disposition will prove of advantage in some
cases.

The amount of current required to obtain this increased
adhesion in practice is extremely small, and
may be entirely neglected when compared to the great
benefits derived. The system is very simple and inexpensive,
and the amount of traction secured is entirely
within the control of the motor man, as in the
electric system. It will be seen that the car here will
not, with the traction circuit open, propel itself up hill
when one end of the track is raised more than 5 inches
above the table; but with the circuit energized it will
readily ascend the track as you now see it, with one
end about 13½, inches above the other in a length of
three feet, or the equivalent of a 40 per cent. grade;
and this could be increased still further if the motor
had power enough to propel itself against the force of
gravity on a steeper incline. As you will notice, the
motor adheres very firmly to the track and requires a
considerable push to force it down this 40 per cent.
grade, whereas with the traction circuit open it slips
down in very short order, notwithstanding the efforts
of the driving mechanism to propel it up.

The resistance of the helices on this model is less than
two ohms, and this will scarcely be exceeded when applied
to a full sized car, the current from two or three
cells of secondary batteries being probably sufficient to
energize them.

The revolution of the driving axles and wheels is not
interfered with in the slightest, because in the former
the axle boxes are outside the path of the lines of force,
and in the case of the latter because each wheel practically
forms a single pole piece, and in revolving presents
continuously a new point of contact, of the same
polarity, to the rail; the flow of the lines of force being
most intense through the lower half of the wheels, and
on a perpendicular line connecting the center of the
axle with the rail. In winter all that is necessary is to
provide each motor car with a suitable brush for cleaning
the track rails sufficiently to enable the wheels to
make good contact therewith, and any tendency to
slipping or skidding may be effectually checked. By
this means it is easily possible to increase the tractive
adhesion of an ordinary railway motor from 50 to 100
per cent., without any increase in the load or weight
upon the track; for it must be remembered that even
that portion of the increased friction due to direct attraction
does not increase the weight upon the roadbed,
as this attraction is mutual between the wheels
and track rails; and if this car and track were placed
upon a scale and the circuit closed, it would not weigh
a single ounce more than with the circuit open.

It is obvious that this increase in friction between
two moving surfaces can also be applied to check, as
well as augment, the tractive power of a car or train of
cars, and I have shown in connection with this model
a system of braking that is intended to be used in conjunction
with the electro-magnetic traction system just
described. You will have noticed that in the experiments
with the traction circuit the brake shoes here
have remained idle; that is to say, they have not been
attracted to the magnetized wheels. This is because a
portion of the traction current has been circulating
around this coil on the iron brake beam, inducing in
the brake shoes magnetism of like polarity to that in
the wheels to which they apply. They have therefore
been repelled from the wheel tires instead of being
attracted to them. Suppose now that it is desired to
stop the motor car; instead of opening the traction
circuit, the current flowing through the helices is simply
reversed by means of this pole changing switch,
whereupon the axles are magnetized in the opposite
direction and the brake shoes are instantly drawn to
the wheels with a very great pressure, as the current
in the helices and brake coil now assist each other in
setting up a very strong magnetic flow, sufficient to
bring the motor car almost to an instant stop, if desired.

The same tractive force that has previously been applied
to increase the tractive adhesion now exercises its
influence upon the brake shoes and wheels, with the
result of not only causing a very powerful pressure between
the two surfaces due to the magnetic attraction,
but offering an extremely large frictional resistance in
virtue of the molecular interlocking action before referred
to. As shown in the present instance, a portion
of the current still flows through the traction circuit
and prevents the skidding of the wheels.

The method thus described is equally applicable to
increase the coefficient of friction in apparatus for the
transmission of power, its chief advantage for this purpose
being the ease and facility with which the amount
of friction between the wheels can be varied to suit
different requirements, or increased and diminished
(either automatically or manually) according to the
nature of the work being done. With soft iron contact
surfaces the variation in friction is very rapid and
sensitive to slight changes in current strength, and this
fact may prove of value in connection with its application
to regulating and measuring apparatus. In all
cases the point to be observed is to maintain a closed
magnetic circuit of low resistance through the two or
more surfaces the friction of which it is desired to increase,
and the same rule holds good with respect to
the electric system, except that in the latter case the
best effects are obtained when the area of surface in
contact is smallest.

For large contact areas the magnetic system is found
to be most economical, and this system might possibly
be used to advantage to prevent slipping of short wire
ropes and belts upon their driving pulleys, in cases
where longer belts are inapplicable as in the driving
of dynamos and other machinery. Experiments have
also been, and are still being, made with the object of
increasing friction by means of permanent magnetism,
and also with a view to diminishing the friction of revolving
and other moving surfaces, the results of which
will probably form the subject matter of a subsequent
paper.

Enough has been said to indicate that the development
of these two methods of increasing mechanical
friction opens up a new and extensive field of operation,
and enables electricity to score another important
point in the present age of progress. The great range
and flexibility of this method peculiarly adapt it to the
purposes we have considered and to numerous others
that will doubtless suggest themselves to you. Its application
to the increase of the tractive adhesion of
railway motors is probably its most prominent and
valuable feature at present, and is calculated to act as
an important stimulus to the practical introduction of
electric railways on our city streets, inasmuch as the
claims heretofore made for cable traction in this respect
are now no longer exclusively its own. On trunk
line railways the use of sand and other objectionable
traction-increasing appliances will be entirely dispensed
with, and locomotives will be enabled to run at greater
speed with less slipping of the wheels and less danger
of derailment. Their tractive power can be nearly
doubled without any increase in weight, enabling them
to draw heavier trains and surmount steeper grades
without imposing additional weight or strain upon
bridges and other parts of the roadbed. Inertia of
heavy trains can be more readily overcome, loss of time
due to slippery tracks obviated, and the momentum of
the train at full speed almost instantly checked by one
and the same means.

[1]

ELECTRIC LAUNCH.

Trials have been made at Havre with an electric
launch built to the order of the French government
by the Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranée. The
vessel, which has rather full lines, measures 28 ft. between
perpendiculars and 9 ft. beam, and is 5 tons
register.

The electromotor is the invention of Captain Krebs,
who is already well known on account of his experiments
in connection with navigable balloons, and of
M. De Zédé, naval architect. The propeller shaft is
not directly coupled with the spindle of the motor, but
is geared to it by spur wheels in the ratio of 1 to 3, in
order to allow of the employment of a light high-speed
motor. The latter makes 850 revolutions per minute,
and develops 12 horse power when driving the screw at
280 revolutions. Current is supplied by a new type of
accumulators made by Messrs. Commelin & Desmazures.
One hundred and thirty two of these accumulators
are fitted in the bottom of the boat, the total
weight being about 2 tons.

In ordering this boat the French government stipulated
a speed of 6 knots to be maintained during three
hours with an expenditure of 10 horse power. The result
of the trials gave a speed of 6½ knots during five
hours with 12 horse power, and sufficient charge was
left in the accumulators to allow the boat to travel on
the following day for four hours. This performance is
exceedingly good, since it shows that one horse power
hour has been obtained with less than 60 lb. of total
weight of battery.

THE COMMERCIAL EXCHANGE, PARIS.

Leveling the ground, pulling down old buildings,
and distributing light and air through her wide streets,
Paris is slowly and continuously pursuing her transformation.
At this moment it is an entire district, and
not one of the least curious ones, that is disappearing,
leaving no other trace of its existence than the circular
walls that once inclosed the wheat market.

It is this building that, metamorphosed, is to become
the Commercial Exchange that has been so earnestly
demanded since 1880 by the commerce of Paris. The
question, which was simple in the first place, and consisted
in the conversion of the wheat market into a
commercial exchange, became complicated by a project
of enlarging the markets. It therefore became
necessary to take possession, on the one hand, of sixty
seven estates, of a total area of 116,715 square feet, to
clear the exchange, and, on the other, of 49,965 square
feet to clear the central markets. In other words, out
of $5,000,000 voted by the common council for this
work, $2,800,000 are devoted to the dispossessions necessitated
by the new exchange, $1,800,000 to those
necessitated by the markets, and $400,000 are appropriated
to the wheat market.

The work of demolition began last spring, and the
odd number side of Orleans street, Deux-Ecus street,
from this latter to J.J. Rousseau street, Babille street,
Mercier street, and Sortine street, now no longer exist.
All this part is to-day but a desert, in whose center
stands the iron trussing of the wheat market cupola.
It is on these grounds that will be laid out the prolongation
of Louvre street in a straight line to Coquilliere
street.

Our engraving shows the present state of the work.
What is seen of the wheat market will be preserved
and utilized by Mr. Blondeau, the architect, who has
obtained a grant from the commercial exchange to
construct two edifices on two plots of an area of 32,220
square feet, fronting on Louvre street, and which will
bring the city an annual rent of $60,000.

THE NEW COMMERCIAL EXCHANGE, PARIS.

Around the rotunda that still exists there was a circular
wall 6½ feet in thickness. Mr. Blondeau has
torn this down, and is now building another one appropriate
to the new destination of the acquired estates.
As for the trussing of the cupola, that is considered
as a work of art, and care has been taken not
to touch it. It was constructed at the beginning of
this century, at an epoch when nothing but rudimentary
tools were to be had for working iron, and it was,
so to speak, forged. All the pieces were made with
the hammer and were added one to the other in succession.
This cupola will be glazed at the upper part,
while the lower part will be covered with zinc. In the
interior this part will be decorated with allegorical
paintings representing the five divisions of the globe,
with their commercial and industrial attributes. It
was feared at one time that the hall, to which admission
will be free, would not afford sufficient space, and
the halls of the Bordeaux and Havre exchanges were
cited. It is true that the hall of the wheat market has
an area of but 11,825 square feet, but on utilizing the
5,000 feet of the circular gallery, which will not be occupied,
it will reach 16,825 feet.

As for the tower which stands at one side of the edifice,
that was built by Marie de Medici for the astrologer
whom she brought with her to Paris from Florence.
On account of its historic interest, this structure will
be preserved. On either side of this tower, overlooking
the roofs of the neighboring dwellings, are perceived
the summit of a tower of St. Eustache church and a
campanile of a pavilion of the markets.—L’Illustration.

THE MANUFACTURE OF COCAINE.

Cocaine is manufactured from the dry leaves of the
Erythroxylon coca, which grows in the valleys of the
East Cordilleras of South America—i.e., in the interior
of Peru and Bolivia. The fresh leaves contain 0.003 to
0.006 per cent of cocaine, which percentage decreases
considerably if the leaves are stored any length of time
before being worked up. On the other hand, the alkaloid
can be transported and kept without decomposition.
This circumstance caused the author to devise a
simple process for the manufacture of crude cocaine on
the spot, neither Peru nor Bolivia being suitable countries
for complicated chemical operations. After many
experiments, he hit upon the following plan: The disintegrated
coca leaves are digested at 70° C. in closed
vessels for two hours, with a very weak solution of
sodium hydrate and petroleum (boiling between 200°
and 250° C). The mass is filtered, pressed while still
tepid, and the filtrate allowed to stand until the oil has
completely separated from the aqueous solution. The
oil is drawn off and carefully neutralized with very
weak hydrochloric acid. A white bulky precipitate of
cocaine hydrochloride is obtained, together with an
aqueous solution of the same compound, while the
petroleum is free from the alkaloid and may be used for
the extraction of a fresh batch of leaves. The precipitate
is dried, and by concentrating the aqueous solution
a further quantity of the hydrochloride is obtained.
Both can be shipped without risk of decomposition.
The product is not quite pure, but contains some
hygrine, traces of gum and other matters. Its percentage
of alkaloid is 75 per cent., while chemically pure
cocaine hydrochloride (C₁₇H₂₁NO₄.2HCl) contains 80.6
per cent. of the alkaloid. The sodium hydrate solution
cannot be replaced by milk of lime, nor can any
other acid be used for neutralization. Alcohol or ether
are not suitable for extraction. A repetition of the
process with once-extracted coca leaves gave no further
quantity of cocaine, proving that all the cocaine goes
into solution by one treatment. The same process
serves on the small scale for the valuation of coca
leaves. 100 grms. of coca leaves are digested in a flask
with 400 c.c. of water, 50 c.c. of 1/10 NaOH (10 grms. of
NaOH in 100 c.c.) and 250 c.c. of petroleum. The flask is
loosely covered and warmed on the water bath for two
hours, shaking it from to time. The mass is then filtered,
the residue pressed, and the filtrate allowed to
separate in two layers. The oil layer is run into a bottle
and titrated back with 1/100 HCl (1 grm. of HCl in
100 c.c.) until exactly neutral. The number of c.c. of
hydrochloric acid required for titrating back multiplied
by 0.42 gives the percentage of cocaine in the sample.
The following are some of the results with different
samples of coca leaves of various age:

Coca leaves from Yungas and Cuzco, three years old,
contained no trace of the alkaloid, whereas fresh green
leaves from Yungas contained 0.7 per cent. of the
weight of the dry leaves. The same process is also applicable
for the manufacture of quinine from poor
quinine bark, with the single alteration that weak
sulphuric acid must be used for the neutralization of
the alkaline petroleum extract.—H.T. Pfeiffer, Chem.
Zeit. 11.

[Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 622, page 9941.]

THE CHEMICAL BASIS OF PLANT FORMS.¹

By HELEN C. DE S. ABBOTT.

The succession of plants from the lower to the higher
forms will be reviewed superficially, and chemical compounds
noted where they appear.

When the germinating spores of the fungi, myxomycetes,
rupture their walls and become masses of naked
protoplasm, they are known as plasmodia. The plasmodium
Æthalium septicum occurs in moist places, on
heaps of tan or decaying barks. It is a soft, gelatinous
mass of yellowish color, sometimes measuring several
inches in length.

The plasmodium² has been chemically analyzed,
though not in a state of absolute purity. The table of
Reinke and Rodewold gives an idea of its proximate
constitution.

Many of the constituents given are always present
in the living cells of higher plants. It cannot be too
emphatically stated that where “biotic” force is manifested,
these colloidal or albuminous compounds are
found.

The simplest form of plant life is an undifferentiated
individual, all of its functions being performed indifferently
by all parts of its protoplasm.

The chemical basis of plasmodium is almost entirely
composed of complex albuminous substances, and correlated
with this structureless body are other compounds
derived from them. Aside from the chemical
substances which are always present in living matter,
and are essential properties of protoplasm, we find no
other compounds. In the higher organisms, where
these functions are not performed indifferently, specialization
of tissues is accompanied by many other kinds
of bodies.

The algæ are a stage higher in the evolutionary scale
than the undifferentiated noncellular plasmodium. The
simple Alga protococcus³ may be regarded as a simple
cell. All higher plants are masses of cells, varying in
form, function, and chemical composition.

A typical living cell may be described as composed of
a cell wall and contents. The cell wall is a firm, elastic
membrane closed on all sides, and consists mainly of
cellulose, water, and inorganic constituents. The contents
consist of a semi-fluid colloidal substance, lying
in contact with the inner surface of the membrane, and,
like it, closed on all sides. This always is composed of
albuminous substances. In the higher plants, at least,
a nucleus occurs embedded in it; a watery liquid holding
salts and saccharine substances in solution fills the
space called the vacuole, inclosed by the protoplasm.

These simple plants may be seen as actively moving
cells or as non-motile cells. The former consist of a
minute mass of protoplasm, granular and mostly colored
green, but clear and colorless at the more pointed
end, and where it is prolonged into two delicate filaments
called cilia. After moving actively for a time
they come to rest, acquire a spherical form, and invest
themselves with a firm membrane of cellulose. This
firm, outer membrane of the Protococcus accompanies
a higher differentiation of tissue and localization of
function than is found in the plasmodium.

Hæatococcus and plasmodium come under the classes
algæ and fungi of the Thallothyta group. The division⁴
of this group into two classes is based upon the presence
of chlorophyl in algæ and its absence in fungi. Gelatinous
starch is found in the algæ; the fungi contain a
starchy substance called glycogen, which also occurs in
the liver and muscles of animals. Structureless bodies,
as æthalium, contain no true sugar. Stratified starch⁵
first appears in the phanerogams. Alkaloids have
been found in fungi, and owe their presence doubtless
to the richness of these plants in nitrogenous bodies.

In addition to the green coloring matter in algæ are
found other coloring matters.⁶ The nature⁷ of these
coloring matters is usually the same through whole
families, which also resemble each other in their modes
of reproduction.

In form, the algæ differ greatly from filaments or
masses of cells; they live in the water and cover damp
surfaces of rocks and wood. In these they are remarkable
for their ramifications and colors and grow to a
gigantic size.

The physiological functions of algæ and fungi depend
upon their chemical differences.

These facts have been offered, simple as they are, as
striking examples of chemical and structural opposition.

The fungi include very simple organisms, as well as
others of tolerably high development, of most varied
form, from the simple bacillus and yeast to the truffle,
lichens, and mushrooms.

The cell membrane of this class contains no pure
cellulose, but a modification called fungus cellulose.
The membrane also contains an amyloid substance,
amylomycin.⁸ Many of the chemical constituents found
in the entire class are given in Die Pflanzenstoffe.⁹

Under the Schizomycetes to which the Micrococcus
and Bacterium¹⁰ belong are found minute organisms
differing much in form and in the coloring¹¹ matters
they produce, as that causing the red color of mouldy
bread.

The class of lichens¹² contains a number of different
coloring substances, whose chemical composition has
been examined. These substances are found separately
in individuals differing in form. In the Polyporus¹³
an acid has been found peculiar to it, as in many plants
special compounds are found. In the agariceæ the different
kinds of vellum distinguish between species, and
the color of the conidia is also of differential importance.
In all cases of distinct characteristic habits of
reproduction and form, one or more different chemical
compounds is found.

In the next group of the musiceæ, or mosses, is an
absence of some chemical compounds that were characteristic
of the classes just described. Many of the
albuminous substances are present. Starch¹⁴ is found
often in large quantities, and also oily fats, which are
contained in the oil bodies of the liverworts; wax,¹⁵ organic
acids, including aconitic acid, and tannin, which
is found for the first time at this evolutionary stage of
the plant kingdom.

The vascular cryptogams are especially characterized
by their mineral composition.¹⁶ The ash is extraordinarily
rich in silicic acid and alumina.

These various plants contain acids and compounds
peculiar to themselves.

As we ascend in the plant scale, we reach the phanerogams.
These plants are characterized by the production
of true seeds, and many chemical compounds
not found in lower plants.

It will be convenient in speaking of these higher
groups to follow M. Heckel’s¹⁹ scheme of plant evolution.
All these plants are grouped under three main
divisions: apetalous, monocotyledonous, and dicotyledonous;
and these main divisions are further subdivided.

It will be observed that these three main parallel
columns are divided into three general horizontal
planes.

On plane 1 are all plants of simplicity of floral
elements, or parts; for example, the black walnut, with
the simple flower contained in a catkin.

On plane 2 plants which have a multiplicity of floral
elements, as the many petals and stamens of the rose;
and finally, the higher plants, the orchids among the
monocotyledons and the composite among the
dicotyledonous plants, come under the third division
of condensation of floral elements.

It will be impossible to take up in order for chemical
consideration all these groups, and I shall restrict myself
to pointing out the occurrence of certain constituents.

I desire now to call attention to chemical groups
under the apetalous plants having simplicity of floral
elements.

Cassuarina equisetifolia²⁰ possibly contains tannin,
since it is used for curing hides. The bark contains a
dye. It is said to resemble Equisetum²¹ in appearance,
and in this latter plant a yellow dye is found.

The Myrica²² contains ethereal oil, wax, resin,
balsam, in all parts of the plant. The root contains
in addition fats, tannin, and starch, also myricinic
acid.

In the willow and poplar,²³ a crystalline, bitter substance,
salicin or populin, is found. This may be considered
as the first appearance of a real glucoside, if
tannin be excluded from the list.

The oak, walnut, beech, alder, and birch contain
tannin in large quantities; in the case of the oak, ten
to twelve per cent. Oak galls yield as much as seventy
per cent.²⁴
The numerous genera of pine and fir trees are remarkable
for ethereal oil, resin, and camphor.

The plane²⁵ trees contain caoutchouc and gum;
peppers,²⁶ ethereal oils, alkaloids, piperin, white resin,
and malic acid. Datisca cannabina²⁷ contains a coloring
matter and another substance peculiar to itself,
datiscin, a kind of starch, or allied to the glucosides.

Upon the same evolutionary plane among the monocotyledons,
the dates and palms²⁸ contain in large
quantities special starches, and this is in harmony
with the principles of the theory. Alkaloids and glucosides
have not yet been discovered in them.

Other monocotyledonous groups with simplicity of
floral elements, such as the typhaceæ, contain large
quantities of starch; in the case of Typha latifolia²⁹
12.5 per cent., and 1.5 per cent. gum. In the pollen of
this same plant, 2.08 per cent. starch has been found.

Under the dicotyledonous groups, there are no plants
with simplicity of floral elements.

Returning, now, to apetalous plants of multiplicity
and simplification of floral elements, we find that the
urticaceæ³⁰ contain free formic acid; the hemp³¹ contains
alkaloids; the hop,³² ethereal oil and resin; the
rhubarb,³³ crysophonic acid; and the begonias,³⁴ chicarin
and lapacho dyes. The highest apetalous
plants contain camphors and oils; the highest of the
monocotyledons contain a mucilage and oils; and the
highest dicotyledons contain oils and special acids.

The trees yielding common camphor and borneol are
from genera of the lauraceæ family; also sassafras
camphor is from the same family. Small quantities of
stereoptenes are widely distributed through the plant
kingdom.

The gramineæ, or grasses, are especially characterized
by the large quantities of sugar and silica they
contain. The ash of the rice hull, for example, contains
ninety eight per cent. silica.

The ranunculaceæ contain many plants which yield
alkaloids, as Hydrastia canadensis, or Indian hemp,
Helleborus, Delphinum, Aconitum, and the alkaloid
berberine has been obtained from genera of this
family.

The alkaloid³⁵ furnishing families belong, with few
exceptions, to the dicotyledons. The colchiceæ, from
which is obtained veratrine, form an exception among
the monocotyledons. The alkaloids of the fungus have
already been noted.

³⁶Among the greater number of plant families, no
alkaloids have been found. In the labiatæ none has
been discovered, nor in the compositæ among the highest
plants.

One alkaloid is found in many genera of the loganiaceæ;
berberine in genera of the berberidaceæ,
ranunculaceæ, menispermaceæ, rutaceæ, papaveraceæ,
anonaceæ.

Waxes are widely distributed in plants. They occur
in quantities in some closely related families.

Ethereal oils occur in many families, in the bark,
root, wood, leaf, flower, and fruit; particularly in
myrtaceæ, laurineæ, cyperaceæ, crucifereæ, aurantiaceæ,
labiatæ, and umbelliferæ.

Resins are found in most of the higher plants.
Tropical plants are richer in resins than those of cold
climates.

Chemical resemblance between groups, as indicating
morphological relations, has been well shown. For
example: the similarity³⁷ of the viscid juices, and a
like taste and smell, among cactaceæ and portulaceæ,
indicate a closer relationship between these two orders
than botanical classification would perhaps allow.
This fact was corroborated by the discovery of irritable
stamens in Portulaca and Opuntia, and other genera
of cactaceæ.

Darwin³⁸ states that in the compositæ the ray florets
are more poisonous than the disk florets, in the ratio of
about 3 to 2.

Comparing the cycadeæ and palmæ, the former are
differently placed by different botanists, but the general
resemblance is remarkable, and they both yield
sago.

Chemical constituents of plants are found in varying
quantities during stated periods of the year. Certain
compounds present at one stage of growth are absent
at another. Many facts could be brought forward to
show the different chemical composition of plants in
different stages of growth. The Thuja occidentalis³⁹
in the juvenescent and adult form, offers an example
where morphological and chemical differences go hand
in hand. Analyses of this plant under both conditions
show a striking difference.

Different parts of plants may contain distinct chemical
compounds, and the comparative chemical study of
plant orders comprises the analysis of all parts of plants
of different species.

For example; four portions of the Yucca angustifolia⁴⁰
were examined chemically; the bark and wood
of the root and the base and blades of the leaves.
Fixed oils were separated from each part. These were
not identical; two were fluid at ordinary temperature,
and two were solid. Their melting and solidifying
points were not the same.

This difference in the physical character and chemical
reaction of these fixed oils may be due to the presence
of free fatty acid and glycerides in varying proportions
in the four parts of the plants. It is of interest
to note that, in the subterranean part of the Yucca,
the oil extracted from the bark is solid at the ordinary
temperature; from the wood it was of a less solid consistency;
while the yellow base of the leaf contained
an oil quite soft, and in the green leaf the oil is almost
fluid.

Two new resins were extracted from the yellow and
green parts of the leaf. It was proposed to name them
yuccal and pyrophæal An examination of the contents
of each extract showed a different quantitative
and qualitative result.

Saponin was found in all parts of the plant.

Many of the above facts have been collected from the
investigations of others. I have introduced these statements,
selected from a mass of material, as evidences in
favor of the view stated at the beginning of this
paper.⁴¹ My own study has been directed toward the
discovery of saponin in those plants where it was presumably
to be found. The practical use of this theory
in plant analysis will lead the chemists at once to a
search for those compounds which morphology shows
are probably present.

I have discovered saponin in all parts of the Yucca
angustifolia, in the Y. filimentosa and Y. gloriosa, in
several species of agavæ, and in plants belonging to
the leguminosæ family.

The list⁴² of plants in which saponin has been discovered
is given in the note. All these plants are contained
in the middle plane of Heckel’s scheme. No
plants containing saponin have been found among apetalous
groups. No plants have been found containing
saponin among the lower monocotyledons.

The plane of saponin passes from the liliaceæ and
allied groups to the rosales and higher dicotyledons.

Saponin belongs to a class of substances called glucosides.
Under the action of dilute acids, it is split up
into two substances, glucose and sopogenin. The
chemical nature of this substance is not thoroughly understood.
The commercial⁴³ product is probably a
mixture of several substances.

This complexity of chemical composition of saponin
is admirably adapted for the nutrition of the plant,
and it is associated with the corresponding complexity
of the morphological elements of the plant’s organs.
According to M. Perrey,⁴⁴ it seems that the power of a
plant to direct the distribution of its carbon, hydrogen,
and oxygen to form complex glucosides is indicative of
its higher functions and developments.

The solvent action of saponin on resins has been already
discussed. Saponin likewise acts as a solvent
upon barium⁴⁵ sulphate and calcium⁴⁶ oxalate, and as a
solvent of insoluble or slightly soluble salts would assist
the plant in obtaining food, otherwise difficult of
access.

Saponin is found in endogens and exogens. The
line dividing these two groups is not always clearly defined.
Statements pointing to this are found in the
works of Haeckel, Bentham, and others.

Smilax belongs to a transition class, partaking somewhat
of the nature of endogen and of exogen. It is
worthy of note that this intermediate group of the
sarsaparillas should contain saponin.

It is a significant fact that all the groups above
named containing saponin belong to Heckel’s middle
division.

It may be suggested that saponin is thus a constructive
element in developing the plant from the multiplicity
of floral elements to the cephalization of those organs.

It has been observed that the composite occurs where
the materials for growth are supplied in greatest
abundance, and the more simple forms arise where
sources of nutrition are remote. We may gather from
this fact that the simpler organs of plants low in the
evolutionary scale contain simpler non-nitrogenous
chemical compounds for their nutrition.

The presence of saponin seems essential to the life of
the plant where it is found, and it is an indispensable
principle in the progression of certain lines of plants,
passing from their lower to their higher stages.

Saponin is invariably absent where the floral elements
are simple; it is invariably absent where the floral
elements are condensed to their greatest extent. Its
position is plainly that of a factor in the great middle
realm of vegetable life, where the elements of the individual
are striving to condense, and thus increase their
physiological action and the economy of parts.

It may be suggested as a line of research to study
what are the conditions which control the synthesis
and gradual formation of saponin in plants. The simpler
compounds of which this complex substance is
built up, if located as compounds of lower plants,
would indicate the lines of progression from the lower
to the saponin groups.

In my paper⁴⁷ read in Buffalo at the last meeting of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
various suggestions were offered why chemical
compounds should be used as a means of botanical
classification.

The botanical classifications based upon morphology
are so frequently unsatisfactory, that efforts in some
directions have been made to introduce other methods.⁴⁸

There has been comparatively little study of the
chemical principles of plants from a purely botanical
view. It promises to become a new field of research.

The leguminosæ are conspicuous as furnishing us
with important dyes, e.g., indigo, logwood, catechin.
The former is obtained principally from different
species of the genus Indigofera, and logwood from the
Hæmatoxylon and Saraca indica.

The discovery⁴⁹ of hæmatoxylin in the Saraca indica
illustrates very well how this plant in its chemical, as
well as botanical, character is related to the Hæmatoxylon
campechianum; also, I found a substance like
catechin in the Saraca. This compound is found in the
acacias, to which class Saraca is related by its chemical
position, as well as botanically. Saponin is found
in both of these plants, as well as in many other plants of
the leguminosæ. The leguminosæ come under the middle
plane or multiplicity of floral elements, and the
presence of saponin in these plants was to be expected.

From many of the facts above stated, it may be inferred
that the chemical compounds of plants do not
occur at random. Each stage of growth and development
has its own particular chemistry.

It is said that many of the constituents found in
plants are the result of destructive metabolism, and
are of no further use in the plant’s economy. This subject
is by no means settled, and even should we be
forced to accept that ground, it is a significant fact
that certain cells, tissues, or organs peculiar to a plant
secrete or excrete chemical compounds peculiar to
them, which are to be found in one family, or in species
closely allied to it.

It is a fact that the chemical compounds are there,
no matter why or whence they came. They will serve
our purposes of study and classification.

The result of experiment shows that the presence
of certain compounds is essential to the vigor and development
of all plants and particular compounds to the
development of certain plants. Plant chemistry and
morphology are related. Future investigations will
demonstrate this relation.

In general terms, we may say that amides and carbohydrates
are utilized in the manufacture of proteids.
Organic acids cause a turgescence of cells. Glucosides
may be a form of reserve food material.

Resins and waxes may serve only as protection to the
surfaces of plants; coloring matters, as screens to shut
off or admit certain of the sun’s rays; but we are still
far from penetrating the mystery of life.

A simple plant does what animals more highly endowed
cannot do. From simplest substances they
manufacture the most complex. We owe our existence
to plants, as they do theirs to the air and soil.

The elements carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen
pass through a cycle of changes from simple inorganic
substances to the complex compounds of the
living cell. Upon the decomposition of these bodies
the elements return to their original state. During
this transition those properties of protoplasm which
were mentioned at the beginning, in turn, follow
their path. From germination to death this course
appears like a crescent, the other half of the circle
closed from view. Where chemistry begins and ends it
is difficult to say.—Jour. Fr. Inst.

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NEW METHOD FOR THE QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF STARCH.

A.V. ASBOTH.

The author maintains that unsatisfactory results are
obtained in determinations of starch when the method
employed is based upon the inversion of sugar, formed
as an intermediate product, since maltose, dextrose, and
levulose are partly decomposed by boiling with dilute
acids. He proposes to replace the methods hitherto
employed by one which depends upon the formation of
a barium salt of starch, to which he assigns the formula
BaO.C₂₄H₄₀O₂₀. This salt is sparingly soluble in water
and insoluble in dilute alcohol.

In making a determination a weighed quantity of
starch is saccharified with water, then mixed with an
excess of normal baryta solution, dilute alcohol added
to make up to a certain volume, and, after the precipitate
has settled, the excess of baryta is titrated back
with acid.

Titrating apparatus

The author also describes the apparatus he employs
for storing and titrating with baryta solution. The
latter is contained in the bottle, A, and the drying tube
attached to the neck of the same is filled with quicklime.
The burette, B, which is in direct connection
with the bottle, may be filled with the solution by
opening the stop cock, and the small drying tube, n, is
filled with dry KOH, thus preventing the entrance
of any CO₂. Numbers are appended which seem to
testify to the excellence of the method employed. The
author finally gives a detailed account of the entire
analysis of various cereals.—A.R. in Jour. Soc. Chem.
Indus.

SYNTHESIS OF THE ALKALOIDS.

In the note on the constitution of alkaloids in a recent
issue, we referred more especially to what we may
term the less highly organized bases. Most of our
knowledge, as we now have it, regarding such alkaloids
as muscarine and choline has been acquired during
the past dozen years. This is not exactly the case
with the higher groups of alkaloids—the derivatives of
pyridine and quinoline. It so happens that the oldest
alkaloids are in these groups. They have, almost
necessarily, been subjected to a longer period of attack,
but the extreme complexity of their molecules, and the
infinite number of differing parts or substances into
which these molecules split up when attacked, are the
main cause of the small progress which has been made
in this department. All, however, yield one or more
bodies or bases in common, while each has its distinctive
and peculiar decomposition product. For example,
cinchonine and quinine both afford the basic
quinoline under certain conditions, but on oxidation
of cinchonine, an acid—cinchoninic acid (C₁₀H₇NO₂)—is
the principal body formed, while in the case of quinine,
quininic acid (C₁₀H₉NO₃) is the principal product.
The acquirement through experiment of such knowledge
as that is, however, so much gained. We find,
indeed, that obstacles are gradually being cleared
away, and the actual synthetic formation of such alkaloids
as piperidine and coniine is a proof that the
chemist is on the right track in studying the decomposition
products, and building up from them, theoretically,
bodies of similar constitution. It is noteworthy
that the synthesis of the alkaloids has led to some of
the most brilliant discoveries of the present day, especially
in the discovery of dye stuffs. Many of our
quinine substitutes, such as thalline, for example, are
the result of endeavors to make quinine artificially.
If there is romance in chemistry at all, it is to be found
certainly in this branch of it, which is generally considered
the most uninteresting and unfathomable. We
may take piperidine and coniine as examples of the
methods followed in alkaloidal synthesis; these are
pyridine bases. Pyridine has the formula C₅H₅N, that
is, it is benzene with CH replaced by N. The relationship
between these and piperidine is seen in the following
formulæ:

If we introduce six hydrogen atoms into pyridine, we
convert it into piperidine. Ladenburg succeeded in so
hydrogenizing pyridine by acting upon an alcoholic
solution with sodium, and from the base which was
formed he obtained a platinochloride which agreed
with the similar double salt of piperidine. He has also
prepared it from trimethyline cyanide by the action of
sodium. Pentamethylinediamine is the principal intermediary
product, and this gives piperidine when
distilled with superheated steam. He has proved that
the alkaloid so obtained is identical with that prepared
from piperine. Another curious point which Ladenburg
has lately proved is that cadaverine (one of the
products of flesh decomposition) is identical with pentamethylinediamine,
and that its imine is the same as
piperidine. The synthesis of coniine by Ladenburg is
one of the most notable achievements of modern chemistry.
He at first supposed that this alkaloid was
piperidine in which two hydrogen atoms were replaced
by the isopropyl radical (C₃H₇), its formula being taken
as C₅H₉(C₃H₇)NH. But he has since changed his view,
as will be seen from what follows. In its synthesis
1,000 grammes of picoline were first converted into
alphapicoline, 380 grammes being obtained. This was
heated with paraldehyde, whereby it was converted
into allylpyridine (48 grammes), and this by reduction
with sodium yielded alpha-propylpyridine, a body in
almost every respect identical with coniine. The more
important difference was its optical inactivity, but he
succeeded in splitting up a solution of the acid tartrate
of the base by means of Penicillium glaucum. Crystals
separated which had a dextro-rotatory power of
[a]_D = 31° 87′ as compared with the [a]_D = 13° 79′ of
natural coniine. This brief account conveys but a
faint idea of the difficulties which were encountered in
these researches. Optical methods of examination
have proved of great value, and are destined to play
an important part in such work.

Among the most complex alkaloids are those of the
quinine group. As yet chemists have got no further
with these than the oxidation products; but the study
has afforded us several new antipyretics and many
interesting facts. It has been found, for example, that
artificial quinine-like bodies, which fluoresce and give
the green color with chlorine water and ammonia,
have antipyretic properties like quinine, but their
secondary effects are so pernicious as to prevent their
use. If, however, such bodies are hydrogenized or
methylated they lose their fluorescing property, do
not give the green color, and their secondary effects
are removed. Knowledge of these facts led to the discovery
of thalline. It is prepared from paraquinanisol,
one of the objectionable bodies, by reduction with tin
and hydrochloric acid. The following formulæ show
the constitutional relationship of these compounds:

It is evident from the difficulties which have been encountered
in this department of chemistry, and more
especially from the costly nature of the work, that it
will be many years before it will influence the manufacture
of alkaloids from the drugs which yield them.
Ladenburg has synthetized coniine, but he has not yet
ventured to assert that his product will replace the
natural alkaloid.—Chem. and Druggist.

The Southern California Advocate reports another
magnificent donation of lands to the University of
Southern California by Mr. D. Freeman, the owner of
the Centinella ranch near Los Angeles—six hundred
thousand dollars in all given to found a school of applied
sciences, $100,000 for building and apparatus and
$500,000 for endowment. The buildings will be in the
vicinity of Inglewood, the new and beautiful town on
the Ballona branch of the California Central.

A GROUP OF HAMPSHIRE DOWNS.

The Hampshire Down breed of sheep originated
about 80 years ago by a cross of South Downs on the
horned, white-faced sheep which had for ages been native
of the open, untilled, hilly stretch of land known
as the Hampshire Downs, in the county of that name
bordering on the English Channel, in the South of England.
From time immemorial the South Downs had
dark brown or black legs, matured early, produced the
best of mutton and a fine quality of medium wool.
The original Hampshire was larger, coarser, but hardier,
slower to mature, with inferior flesh, and a longer
but coarser wool. The South Down has always been
remarkable for its power of transmitting its special
characteristics to its progeny by other kinds of sheep,
and hence it soon impressed its own characteristics on
its progeny by the Hampshire. The horns of the original
breed have disappeared; the face and legs have
become dark, the frame has become more compact, the
bones smaller, the back broader and straighter, the
legs shorter, and the flesh and wool of better quality,
while the superior hardiness and greater size, as well as
the large head and Roman nose of the old breed, still
remain. The Hampshires of to-day mature early and
fatten readily. They clip from six to seven pounds of
wool, suitable for combing, which is longer than South
Down wool, but less fine. The mutton has a desirable
proportion of fat and lean, and is juicy and fine flavored.
The lambs are of large size and are usually
dropped early and fed for market. Indeed, the Hampshire
may be considered a larger and trifle coarser and
hardier South Down. The breed is occasionally crossed
with Cotswolds, when it produces a wool more valuable
for worsted manufacturers than the pure Cotswold.
Indeed, there is little doubt that in addition to South
Down, the Hampshire has a dash of Cotswold blood in
its composition. Considerable importations of the
breed have been made into this country, but it has not
become so popular as the South Down and some other
English breeds. The excellent group shown is owned
by Mr. James Wood, of Mount Kisco, New York.—Rural
New-Yorker.

THE YALE COLLEGE MEASUREMENT OF
THE PLEIADES.¹

The Messrs. Repsold have established, and for the
present seem likely to maintain, a practical monopoly
in the construction of heliometers. That completed
by them for the observatory of Yale College in 1882
leaves so little to be desired as to show excellence not
to be the exclusive result of competition. In mere size
it does not indeed take the highest rank. Its aperture
is of only six inches, while that of the Oxford heliometer
is of seven and a half; but the perfection of the
arrangements adapting it to the twofold function of
equatorial and micrometer stamps it as a model not
easy to be surpassed. Steel has been almost exclusively
used in the mounting. Recommended as the
material for the objective cell by its quality of changing
volume under variations of temperature nearly paripassu
with glass, its employment was extended to the
telescope tube and other portions of the mechanism.
The optical part of the work was done by Merz, Alvan
Clark having declined the responsibility of dividing
the object lens. Its segments are separable to the extent
of 2°, and through the contrivance of cylindrical
slides (originally suggested by Bessel) perfect definition
is preserved in all positions, giving a range of accurate
measurement just six times that with a filar micrometer.
(Gill, “Encyc. Brit.,” vol. xvi., p. 253; Fischer,
Sirius, vol. xvii., p. 145.)

This beautiful engine of research was in 1883 placed
in the already practiced and skillful hands of Dr. Elkin.
He lost no time in fixing upon a task suited both to
test the powers of the new instrument and to employ
them to the highest advantage.

The stars of the Pleiades have, from the earliest
times, attracted the special notice of observers, whether
savage or civilized. Hence, on the one hand, their
prominence in stellar mythology all over the world; on
the other, their unique interest for purposes of scientific
study and comparison. They constitute an undoubted
cluster; that is to say, they are really, and
not simply in appearance, grouped together in space,
so as to fall under the sway of prevailing mutual influences.
And since there is, perhaps, no other stellar
cluster so near the sun, the chance of perceptible displacements
among them in a moderate lapse of time is
greater than in any other similar case. Authentic data
regarding them, besides, have now been so long garnered
that their fruit may confidently be expected at
least to begin to ripen.

Dr. Elkin determined, accordingly, to repeat the survey
of the Pleiades executed by Bessel at Konigsberg
during about twelve years previous to 1841. Wolf and
Pritchard had, it is true, been beforehand with him;
but the wide scattering of the grouped stars puts the
filar micrometer at a disadvantage in measuring them,
producing minute errors which the arduous conditions
of the problem render of serious account. The heliometer,
there can be no doubt, is the special instrument
for the purpose, and it was, moreover, that employed
by Bessel; so that the Konigsberg and Yale results are
comparable in a stricter sense than any others so far
obtained.

One of Bessel’s fifty-three stars was omitted by Dr.
Elkin as too faint for accurate determination. He
added, however, seventeen stars from the Bonn Durchmusterung,
so that his list comprised sixty-nine, down
to 9.2 magnitude. Two independent triangulations
were executed by him in 1884-85. For the first, four
stars situated near the outskirts of the group, and
marking the angles of quadrilateral by which it was
inclosed, were chosen as reference points. The second
rested upon measures of distance and position angle
outward from Alcyone (η Tauri). Thus, two wholly
unconnected sets of positions were secured, the close
accordance of which testified strongly to the high
quality of the entire work. They were combined, with
nearly equal weights, in the final results. A fresh reduction
of the Konigsberg observations, necessitated
by recent improvements in the value of some of the
corrections employed, was the preliminary to their
comparison with those made, after an interval of forty-five
years, at Yale College. The conclusions thus
laboriously arrived at are not devoid of significance,
and appear perfectly secure, so far as they go.

It has been known for some time that the stars of the
Pleiades possess a small identical proper motion. Its
direction, as ascertained by Newcomb in 1878, is about
south-southeast; its amount is somewhat less than six
seconds of arc in a century. The double star 61 Cygni,
in fact, is displaced very nearly as much in one year as
Alcyone with its train in one hundred. Nor is there
much probability that this slow secular shifting is other
than apparent; since it pretty accurately reverses the
course of the sun’s translation through space, it may be
presumed that the backward current of movement in
which the Pleiades seem to float is purely an effect of
our own onward traveling.

Now the curious fact emerges from Dr. Elkin’s inquiries
that six of Bessel’s stars are exempt from the
general drift of the group. They are being progressively
left behind. The inference is obvious that they do
not in reality belong to, but are merely accidentally
projected upon, it; or, rather, that it is projected upon
them; for their apparent immobility (which, in two of
the six, may be called absolute) shows them with tolerable
certainty to be indefinitely more remote—so remote
that the path, moderately estimated at 21,000,000,000
miles in length, traversed by the solar system during
the forty-five years elapsed since the Konigsberg
measures dwindles into visual insensibility when beheld
from them. The brightest of these six far-off stars is
just above the eighth (7.9) magnitude; the others range
from 8.5 down to below the ninth.

A chart of the relative displacements indicated for
Bessel’s stars by the differences in their inter-mutual
positions as determined at Konigsberg and Yale accompanies
the paper before us. Divergences exceeding
0.40″ (taken as the limit of probable error) are regarded
as due to real motion; and this is the case with
twenty-six stars besides the half dozen already mentioned
as destined deserters from the group. With
these last may be associated two stars surmised, for an
opposite reason, to stand aloof from it. Instead of
tarrying behind, they are hurrying on in front.

An excess of the proper movement of their companions
belongs to them; and since that movement is presumably
an effect of secular parallax, we are justified
in inferring their possession of an extra share of it to
signify their greater proximity to the sun. Hence, of
all the stars in the Pleiades these are the most likely to
have a measurable annual parallax. One is a star a
little above the seventh magnitude, distinguished as s
Pleiadum; the other, of about the eighth, is numbered
25 in Bessel’s list. Dr. Elkin has not omitted to remark
that the conjecture of their disconnection from the
cluster is confirmed by the circumstance that its typical
spectrum (as shown on Prof. Pickering’s plates) is
varied in s by the marked character of the K line. The
spectrum of its fellow traveler (No. 25) is still undetermined.

It is improbable, however, that even these nearer
stars are practicable subjects for the direct determination
of annual parallax. By indirect means, however,
we can obtain some idea of their distance. All that we
want to know for the purpose is the rate of the sun’s
motion; its direction we may consider as given with
approximate accuracy by Airy’s investigation. Now,
spectroscopic measurements of stellar movements of
approach and recession will eventually afford ample
materials from which to deduce the solar, velocity;
though they are as yet not accurate or numerous enough
to found any definitive conclusion upon. Nevertheless,
M. Homann’s preliminary result of fifteen miles a second
as the speed with which our system travels in its vast
orbit inspires confidence both from the trustworthiness
of the determinations (Mr. Seabroke’s) serving as its
basis and from its intrinsic probability. Accepting it
provisionally, we find the parallax of Alcyone = about
0.02′, implying a distance of 954,000,000,000,000 miles
and a light journey of 163 years. It is assumed that
the whole of its proper motion of 2.61′ in forty-five
years is the visual projection of oar own movement toward
a point in R.A. 261°, Decl. +25°.

Thus the parallax of the two stars which we suspect
to lie between us and the stars forming the genuine
group of the Pleiades, at perhaps two-thirds of their
distance, can hardly exceed 0.03′. This is just half that
found by Dr. Gill for ξ Toucani, which may be regarded
as, up to this, the smallest annual displacement at all
satisfactorily determined. And the error of the present
estimate is more likely to be on the side of excess than
of defect. That is, the stars in question can hardly be
much nearer to us than is implied by an annual parallax
of 0.03″, and they may be considerably more remote.

Dr. Elkin concludes, from the minuteness of the detected
changes of position among the Pleiades, that
“the hopes of obtaining any clew to the internal mechanism
of this cluster seem not likely to be realized in
an immediate future;” remarking further: “The bright
stars in especial seem to form an almost rigid system,
as for only one is there really much evidence of motion,
and in this case the total amount is barely 1 per century.”
This one mobile member of the naked eye group
is Electra; and it is noticeable that the apparent direction
of its displacement favors the hypothesis of leisurely
orbital circulation round the leading star. The larger
movements, however, ascribed to some of the fainter
associated stars are far from harmonizing with this preconceived
notion of what they ought to be.

On the contrary, so far as they are known at present,
they force upon our minds the idea that the cluster
may be undergoing some slow process of disintegration.
M. Wolf’s impression of incipient centrifugal tendencies
among its components certainly derives some confirmation
from Dr. Elkin’s chart. Divergent movements are
the most strongly marked; and the region round Alcyone
suggests, at the first glance, rather a very confused
area of radiation for a flight of meteors than the central
seat of attraction of a revolving throng of suns.

There are many signs, however, that adjacent stars
in the cluster do not pursue independent courses.
“Community of drift” is visible in many distinct sets;
while there is as yet no perceptible evidence, from orbital
motion, of association into subordinate systems.
The three eighth-magnitude stars, for instance, arranged
in a small isosceles triangle near Alcyone, do not, as
might have been expected a priori, constitute a real
ternary group. They are all apparently traveling directly
away from the large star close by them, in straight
lines which may, of course, be the projections of closed
curves; but their rates of travel are so different as to
involve certain progressive separation. Obviously, the
order and method of such movements as are just beginning
to develop to our apprehension among the Pleiades
will not prove easy to divine.—A.M. Clerke, in Nature.

[1]

DEEP SEA DREDGINGS: EXAMINATION OF
SEA BOTTOMS.

By THOMAS T.P. BRUCE WARREN.

I believe Prof. Ehrenberg was one of the first to
examine, microscopically, deep sea dredgings, some of
which were undertaken for the Atlantic cable expedition,
1857.

I propose to deal with the bottoms brought up from
tropical waters of the Atlantic, a few years ago, during
certain telegraph cable operations. These soundings
were made for survey purposes, and not for any biological
or chemical investigations. Still I think that this
imperfect record may be a useful contribution to chemical
science, bearing especially on marine operations.

Although there is little to be added to the chemistry
of this subject, still I think there are few chemists who
could successfully make an analysis of a deep sea “bottom”
without some sacrifice of time and patience, to
say nothing of the risk of wasting a valuable specimen.

The muds, clays, oozes, etc., from deep water are so
very fine that they pass readily through the best kinds
of filters, and it is necessary to wash out all traces of
sea water as a preliminary. The specimen must be repeatedly
washed by decantation, until the washings
are perfectly free from chlorine, when the whole may
be thrown onto a filter merely to drain. The turbid
water which passes through is allowed to stand so that
the suspended matter may settle, and after decanting
the clear supernatant water, the residuum is again
thrown on to the filter.

The washing and getting ready for the drying oven
will, in some cases, require days to carry out, if we
wish to avoid losing anything.

So far the proceeding is exactly the same, except
draining on a filter, which would be adopted for preparing
for the microscope. On no account should the
opportunity be missed of mounting several slides permanently
for microscopic examination. Drawings or
photographic enlargements will render us independent
of direct microscopic appeal, which is not at all times
convenient.

The substance, if drained and allowed to dry on the
filter, will adhere most tenaciously to it, so that it is
better to complete the drying in a porcelain or platinum
capsule, either by swilling the filter with a jet of
water or by carefully removing with a spatula. The
most strenuous care must be used not to contaminate
the specimen with loose fibers from the filter.

The perfectly dried matter is best treated in exactly
the same way as a residuum in water analysis. It is a
common thing to ignite the residuum, and to put the
loss down, if any, to water. This ought not to satisfy
an accurate observer, since organic matter, carbonates—especially
in presence of silica—will easily add to the
loss. The best plan is to heat a small portion very cautiously,
and note if any smell or alteration in color, due
to carbon, etc., is perceptible, and to proceed accordingly.

I have seen some very satisfactory analyses made
on board ship by a skillful use of the blowpipe, where
liquid reagents would be very inconvenient to employ.

It will be necessary to say a few words as to the way
in which soundings are made at sea. When the
bottom consists of sand, mud, or other loose matter, it
is easy enough to bring specimens to the surface, and,
of course, we know in such a case that the bottom has
been reached, but, in the event of the bottom being
hard and rocky, it is not easy to say that our sounding
has been successful: and here we meet with a difficulty
which unfortunately is most unsatisfactorily provided
for.

The lead is “cast,” as the saying goes, “armed” for
this emergency. An iron sinker is made with a hollow
recess in the bottom; this is filled in with tallow, and
on striking the bottom any loose matter may adhere
by being pressed into the tallow. If the bottom is
rocky or hard we get simply an imprint in the arming,
and when such a result is obtained the usual construction
is that “the bottom is rocky” or hard.

Now, this seems to me a point on which chemistry
may give some very valuable help, for I am convinced
that no sounding should be accepted unless evidence
of the bottom itself is obtained. A few considerations
will show that when we are working in very deep water,
where there is a difficulty of knowing for certain
that we have an “up and down” sounding, and the
hardening of the “arming” by the cold and pressure,
unless we bring up something we cannot be sure that
we have touched the bottom; leaving the doubt on
this point on one side, unless we use a very heavy
sinker, so as to get an indication of the released strain
when it touches the bottom, we encounter another
complication.

Sir William Thomson’s sounding wire has added the
element of reliability to our soundings in this latter
case. The note given out by the wire when the bottom
is reached is perceptibly different when under
strain, even if the dynamometer should give an unreliable
indication.

It has been found that when a “bottom” has been
recovered by the arming with tallow, the adherent
grease seriously detracts from the value of the specimen
for scientific purposes. Washing with perfectly
pure bisulphide carbon will save the sounding, but of
course any living organism is destroyed. As we have
plenty of contrivances for bringing up loose “bottoms”
without arming, we have nothing to fear on
this score.

There is a great difficulty to explain the vast accumulations
of clay deposits on the ocean bed, and it has
been suggested that some minute organisms may produce
these deposits, as others give us carbonate of
lime. Is there not a very great probability of some of
the apparently insoluble rocky formations being answerable
for these accumulations?

We must not forget the peculiar changes which
such an apparently stable substance as feldspar undergoes
when disintegrated and exposed to the chemical
action of sea water. As these deposits contain both sodium
and potassium, our chemical operations must provide
for the analytical results; in other respects the
analysis can be proceeded with according to the operator’s
analytical knowledge.

Few operators are aware of the usefulness of an ordinary
deep sea grapnel rope, as used for cable work, in
recovering specimens of the fauna of any locality. The
grapnel rope should be left down for a few months, so
that the denizens of the deep may get used to it and
make it their place of residence and attachment. The
stench caused by their decomposition, unless the rope
be kept in water, when hauled up will be in a few days
intolerable, even to an individual with a sea-going
stomach. I tried several chemical solutions for preserving
specimens thus recovered, but nothing answered
so well as the water itself drawn up from the same
depth as the rope was recovered from.—Chem. News.

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