SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

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

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 14, 1878.

Vol. XXXIX.—No. 24. [NEW SERIES.]

$3.20 per Annum [POSTAGE PREPAID.]

Contents:

(Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk.)

THE BELGIAN SHIP CANAL.

The ship canal from Ghent to Terneuzen was originally laid out with many bends, rendering navigation difficult; it had a depth of 14 feet 4 inches and a width of 98 feet 6 inches at the water level. The works which are at present in course of execution have especially for their object the deepening of the canal to 21 feet 3 inches, with a width of 55 feet 9 inches at the bottom and 103 feet 9 inches on the water line. The slopes have a uniform inclination of 1 to 3, and the towing paths on each side are placed 6 feet 6 inches above the water level, and are 32 feet 8 inches wide. In many instances also the course of the canal has been altered and straightened for the improvement of navigation; several important diversions have been made for this purpose. The excavation has been effected by hand, by dredging, and by the Couvreux excavator, figured as below in Engineering.

The earth excavated was carried to spoil, and in many cases was employed to form dikes inclosing large areas, which served as receptacles for the semi-liquid material excavated by the dredging machines with the long conductors; the Couvreux excavator used will be readily understood from the engraving. It had already done service on the Danube regulation works. The material with which it had to deal, however, was of a more difficult nature, being a fine sand charged with water and very adherent. The length of track laid for the excavator was about 3 miles along the side of the old canal, which had been previously lowered to the level of the water.

EXCAVATOR ON THE GHENT AND TERNEUZEN SHIP CANAL BELGIUM.

Preservation of Iron and Steel from Oxidation.

We are indebted to J. Pechar, Railway Director in Teplitz, Bohemia, for the first official report in English from the Paris International Exhibition which has come to hand. This volume contains the report on the coal and iron products in all countries of the world, and is valuable for its statistical and other information, giving, as it does, the places where the coal and minerals are found, and the quantities of each kind produced, for what it is used, and to what other countries it is exported. The able compiler of these statistics in the introduction of his report gives the following account of the means recommended by Professor Barff, of London, for preventing oxidation, which is being considerably used abroad. The writer says:

It is well known that the efficient preservation of iron against rusting is at present only provided for in cases where human life would be endangered by failure, as in the case of railway bridges and steamers. Thus, for example, at Mr. Cramer-Klett's ironworks at Nuremberg every piece of iron used for his bowstring bridges is dipped in oil heated to eight hundred degrees. The very great care which is at present taken in this matter may be judged from the current practice of most bridge and roofing manufacturers. Every piece of iron before being riveted in its place is cleaned from rust by being immersed in a solution of hydrochloric acid. The last traces of free acid having been cleared away, at first by quicklime and afterward by a copious ablution with hot water, the piece is immediately immersed in hot linseed oil, which protects every part of the surface from the action of the atmosphere. Afterward it is riveted and painted.

Notwithstanding all this, the painting requires continual and careful renewal. On the Britannia Bridge, near Bangor, the painter is permanently at work; yet, in spite of all this care and expense, rust cannot be entirely avoided. The age of iron railway bridges is still too short to enable us to draw conclusions as to the probabilities of accidents. Now, Professor Barff has discovered a process by which iron may be kept from rusting by being entirely coated with its own sesquioxide. A piece of iron exposed to the action of superheated steam, in a close chamber and under a certain pressure, becomes gradually covered by a skin of this black oxide, of a thickness depending upon the temperature of the steam and the duration of the experiment. For instance, exposure during five hours to steam superheated to five hundred degrees will produce a hermetical coating capable of resisting for a considerable time the application of emery paper and of preserving the iron from rust even in a humid atmosphere, if under shelter from the weather. If the temperature is raised to 1,200 degrees, and the time of exposure to six or seven hours, the skin of sesquioxide will resist every mechanical action, and the influence of any kind of weather. The sesquioxide being harder than the iron itself, and adhering to its surface even more firmly than the atoms of iron do to each other, there is an increased resistance not only to chemical but also to mechanical action. The surface is not altered by the process in any other respect, a plain forging retaining its roughness, a polished piece its smooth surface. If the skin is broken away oxidation takes place, but only just on the spot from which the oxide has been removed. If Professor Barff's experiments are borne out by practice, this invention may become of very great importance. It is within the bounds of probability that it may enable iron, by increasing its facility in competing with wood, to recover, at least for a considerable time, even more than the ground it has lost by the extraordinary extension of the use of steel. Iron is already being used for building purposes to a large extent; but oxidation once thoroughly prevented it will be able to take the place of wood and stone to a still greater degree. Iron roofing may be made quite as light as that of wood, and of greater strength, by a judicious arrangement and use of T iron.

Warning to Locomotive Engineers.

Drs. Charles M. Cresson and Robert E. Rogers, of this city, says the Philadelphia Ledger, well known as experts in chemistry and dynamics, were appointed by the Reading Railroad Company to inquire into and report upon the causes of the recent explosion of the boiler of the express locomotive "Gem," at Mahanoy City, by which five lives were lost. Their report, which is designed to cover the whole scope of a most careful investigation, is not yet made public, but they have arrived at the following specific conclusion, which we give in their own language: "We are, therefore, of the opinion that the explosion of the boiler of the locomotive 'Gem,' was produced by the projection of foam upon the heated crown bars of the furnace, caused by suddenly and widely opening the safety valve, at a time when the water had been permitted to get so low as to overheat the crown of the furnace." This is an important matter that should be carefully noted by locomotive and other engineers.

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VOL. XXXIX., No. 24. [NEW SERIES.] Thirty-third Year.

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1878.

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF

THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT

No. 154,

For the Week ending December 14, 1878.

Price 10 cents. For sale by all newsdealers.

I. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.—Portable Steam Pumping Engine, 1 engraving.—New Bone Crushing Mill, 2 engravings.—Picard's Boiler. Extraction of Salt from Salt Water.—Compressed Air Machines. Hydraulic vs. air pressure. Causes of the losses of power. Estimates of useful effects obtainable.—The St. Gothard Tunnel. By Geo. J. Specht, C.E.—Apparatus for Lifting Sunken Vessels, with 8 figures.—Russia Sheet Iron.—Manufacture of Artificial Stone.—Compressed Fuel.—The New Magnesi Process for Boiler Feed Water.

II. FRENCH INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1878.—Wine Presses. Description of sixteen new and peculiar wine presses at the Exhibition, with 31 figures and 9 engravings. The Press Primat; Press Mabille; Press David; Samain Press; Marchand, Maupre, Boyries, Chapellier, Marmonier, Nogues, Mailhe, Moreau, Piquet, Delperoux, Terrel des Chenes, and Cassan fils Presses.

The Algerian Exhibit. The street of Algiers, with 1 illustration.—Woolen Fabrics.

III. ELECTRICITY, LIGHT, HEAT, ETC.—Electric Lighting. Estimate of the comparative heating effect in gas and electric lighting, and the consequent loss of power.—The Electric Light. Remarks on its economy.—The Present Bugbear of French Savants.

New Planets.

The Dutch Arctic Expedition. The Peak of Beerenburg, Spitzbergen, with 1 illustration.

IV. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY.—New Process for Separating Iodine and Bromine from Kelp.—Inoffensive Colors for Toys.—New Coloring Matters.—Tungsten.

Ozone and the Atmosphere. By Albert R. Leeds, Ph.D. Table of percentage of ozone contained in the atmosphere at various localities in the United States. Register of ozone observations for one month at Upper Saranac Lake, N. Y., giving thermometric and barometric observations, and full record of weather. Examination of methods in ozonometry. Preparation of ozone by electrolysis of water containing sulphuric acid, with 1 engraving. Preparation by electricity, with 1 engraving. Does the electric spark decompose potassium iodide? Collection and preservation of ozone. Preparation by chemical methods. Critical examination of ozonoscopes. Potassium iodide; starch; paper classification of ozonoscopes. Examination of ozonoscopes under certain conditions.

Limits of the Combustibility of Gases.—The Diffusion of Salicylate of Soda.—Singular use of Fluorescein.—New Metal. Philippium By M. Marc Delafontaine.—Better Pharmaceutical Education. By Richard V. Mattison, Ph. G.—An El Dorado for Apothecaries.

V. MEDICINE AND HYGIENE.—The Science of Easy Chairs. The muscular conditions of fatigue, and how to obtain the greatest rest. How easy chairs should be made.

Prof. Huxley on the Hand. Abstract of his inaugural lecture before the South London Workingmen's College.

Paint from a Sanitary Point of View. The required abolition of absorbent surfaces in dwellings. Lead poisoning from paint not thoroughly dry. Cases described in which white lead paint in dwellings never dries, but gives off poisonous particles, which are inhaled by the inmates, causing depression, weakness headache, and loss of appetite. Zinc recommended in paint to avoid lead poisoning, and the new oxy-sulphide of Zinc described, with covering qualities equal to white lead.

The Purification of Sewage. By Henry Robinson, F.R.S. Paper read before the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain. Progress in purifying sewage by precipitation. The use of chemicals for precipitating, deodorizing, and disinfecting. Practical data on a large scale, with cost. Average number of gallons per head of population, etc., of the successful system now in operation at Coventry and Hertford. How the water is removed from the sludge by filter presses. Drying and removal of the sludge. Theoretical and actual values of the sludge for fertilizing.

VI. AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, ETC.—The Broadside Steam Digger, with 1 engraving.—Shall I Plow the Lawn?—Bee Culture.

PROGRESS OF PETROLEUM.

The efforts of the great majority of the Western Pennsylvania petroleum producers to obtain relief from what they deem the oppressive acts of the Standard Oil Company and the unjust discriminations of the United Pipe Lines, and the various railroads traversing the oil regions, have attracted more than usual attention to the present condition of this industry and its possible future.

We would here explain that the Standard Oil Company originated in Cleveland, Ohio, about twelve years ago, and was incorporated under the laws of Ohio, with a nominal capital now, we are informed, of $3,000,000, which, however, very inadequately represents the financial strength of its members. It is now a combination of the most prominent refiners in the country, and has before been credited with manipulating the transportation lines to its own special advantage.

We can recall no instance of such serious hostility between parties whose interests are at the same time of such magnitude and so nearly identical; nor can we see what substantial, enduring benefit would accrue to the producers in the event of their victory in the struggle.

They charge that the Standard Oil Company has become the controlling power to fix prices and to determine the avenues by which the oil shall be transported eastward for home consumption and for foreign exportation; that the railway companies have given this company lower rates than other parties for transporting the oil; and that through the rates given to it by the railways the value of their property is destroyed.

The reply, in effect, is, Granting all this to be true, what does it amount to? Neither more nor less than that the managers of the Standard Oil Company, by combination of capital, by intelligence and shrewdness in the management of their operations, have built up a successful business, and that they have so extended it by the use of all practicable appliances, and by the purchase of the property of competitors, that they do practically control the prices of oil, both crude and refined, and that the uncombined capital of the other oil producers, lacking the power, the intelligence, and the business skill which combined capital can secure, cannot compete with the Standard Oil Company. Now, is there any great wrong or injustice in this?

When brains can command capital it is always more successful in business matters than any amount of brains without capital or capital without brains. This result is the natural working out of the same principle that is everywhere to be seen—some men are successful and others are not.

It is the essence of communism to drag down those who succeed to the level of the unsuccessful.

If men cannot compete with others in any business they must accept the fact, and try some other employment.

If, through superior intelligence and capital, the Standard Oil Company can control the oil business of Pennsylvania, then, according to the principles of common sense, it must be permitted to do so.

What right, then, has the oil producer to complain? Why, if all that is alleged is true, will they persist in sinking more wells, when, as they say, they are controlled by the Standard Oil Company? No one forces them to lose money by continuing in the business. Let them find other employment. They do not show that the Standard Oil Company does anything that combined capital on their part and equal business ability could not effect.

The cry of monopoly in this case is altogether unfounded, those opposed to the Standard Oil Company having just as much right to do all that that company does, and, therefore, there can be no monopoly, because they have no exclusive powers.

As to the railway companies, they can afford and have a right to transport the tonnage offered them by the Standard Oil Company at less cost, because it costs them less to do a regular and large business than an irregular and smaller one. They would simply be acting in accordance with business principles the world over.

These are the arguments, the statement of the position of a successful combination confident in its resources and of victory in the coming struggle. The justness, the correctness of the doctrines enunciated, and the wisdom of so doing at this crisis, we do not propose to criticise; but it is very safe to say that if the prosperity of the complainants depends upon relief in this direction they may as well cease producing.

There are too many of them for harmonious and concerted action against the powerful corporations they complain of; and if they should succeed in securing equal transportation facilities the prices would still be regulated by the monopolists, who carry more than four-fifths of the accumulated stock of the oil regions.

The proposed appeal to Congress to pass some law whereby each producer can compel railroad companies to carry his produce at regular rates, amounts to a confession of the desperate straits of the producers and of their weakness as well; and even if successful, which is most improbable, would not remedy the deplorable existing state of things.

Still lower rates would fail to give relief, with all the present avenues of trade filled to repletion and with an increasing output at the wells. Relief and permanent relief can be found only in the direction we have before indicated: in the general application of petroleum and its products to the manufacture of gas for illuminating and heating purposes, and its substitution for coal in the metallurgic and other prominent industries of the world.

THE LIMIT OF WORK.

In distributing the prizes to workmen at the Paris Exhibition, Louis Blanc, the leader of the French Republican Socialist party, quoted approvingly these words of Simonde de Sismondi:

"If the workman were his own master, when he had done in two hours with the aid of machinery what would have taken him twelve hours to do without it, he would stop at the end of the two."

M. Blanc had been discussing very eloquently, but also very fallaciously, the relations of machinery to labor. If men were properly united in the bonds of association, he said, if the solidarity of interests were realized, "the happy result of the application of mechanical power to industry would be equal production, with less of effort, for all. The discovery of an economic method would never have the lamentable consequence of robbing men of the work by which they live. Unfortunately, we are far from this ideal. Under the empire of that universal antagonism which is the very essence of the economic constitution of modern societies, and which too often only profits one man by ruining another, machinery has been employed to make the rule of the strong weigh more heavily on the weak. There is not a single mechanical invention which has not been a subject of anguish and a cause of distress to thousands of fathers of families from the moment it began to work."

If all this, and much else that M. Blanc alleges, were true, then the condition of all workingmen to-day should be in every way worse than that of their fathers, in anti-machinery days. But such is not the case. There never was a time when the laborer toiled less or enjoyed more than in these days of machinery; and the laborer's condition is best where the machinery is best and most used.

A hundred years ago the laborer toiled long, produced little, and enjoyed less. To-day, thanks to the victories of invention, machinery does the heaviest of the work; the workman's hours of labor are fewer than formerly; his wages are greater; and his earnings will buy vastly more, dollar for dollar, than in any previous age in the world's history.

What laborer of to-day would be satisfied with the remuneration, the food, the shelter, the clothing of the laboring classes of one hundred years ago? The wants of men, as well as their thoughts, are widened by the process of the suns. And in no section of society have the daily wants been more markedly increased, or the facilities for gratifying them either, than among those that live by labor.

"If the workman were his own master, when he had done in two hours with the aid of machinery what it would have taken him twelve hours to do without it, he would stop at the end of the two."

So says the theoretical socialist. The practical workman never has, nor, we believe, ever will, act so foolishly; certainly not until the limit of man's capacity to enjoy has been reached. When the united products of manual and mechanical effort fully satisfy the desires of all men, and leave no margin of want unfilled, then and then only will men be satisfied with the reduction of effort demanded by the socialists. Until then the larger part of every increase in production by mechanical improvements will go to swell the volume of good things for human use and enjoyment. Our machinery enables our thousands of busy workers to accomplish what millions could not have done years ago, and a very large part of the aggregate increase of product comes back to them in conveniences and luxuries surpassing those the wealthiest could enjoy were machinery not employed, or were it employed, as the socialist advocates, without increasing the aggregate of production. The laziness of the savage and the advantages of civilization are incompatible. The chief merit of machinery lies in its enabling us to multiply constantly the scope and variety of our enjoyments without a corresponding increase of toil.

IRIDESCENT GLASS.

Ornamental glassware in many styles, tinted with the glowing colors of the rainbow, is now making its appearance in the shop windows of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. This is one of those brilliant little achievements of science that delights the eye and pleases the imagination. To produce the colors, the glass, while in a heated state, is subjected to the vapor of chloride of tin. Shades of more or less depth or intensity are imparted by adding to the tin chloride a little nitrate of strontium or barium.

RAILS AND RAILWAY ACCIDENTS—NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

A meeting of the Section of Physics, New York Academy of Sciences, was held November 25, 1878. President J. S. Newberry in the chair. Numerous publications of learned societies were received and acknowledged. Professor Newberry read a letter from Professor Agassiz stating that sea lilies, which had hitherto been very rare—a single specimen bringing as much as fifty dollars—have been found in some numbers by dredging in the Gulf of Mexico. Their colors are white, pink, and yellow. Professor Newberry also exhibited specimens of garnet from California, lamellar quartz from North Carolina, sharks' teeth belonging to the eocene and miocene tertiary ages from the phosphate beds of South Carolina, and a number of shells.

Professor Thomas Egleston then addressed the Academy on the subject of "The Structure of Rails as Affecting Railway Accidents."

The destruction of rails is due to three causes.

• 1. Defects in the manufacture;
• 2. Improper mechanical or chemical composition; and
• 3. Physical changes.

A very large number of rails are annually made which should never be put in any track. Their defects are often imperceptible to the naked eye, but they very soon begin to break. Statistics show that the breakage from defects in making increase until they have been used 18 months; then it decreases to zero, and after that rails break from different causes. In France, breakage usually begins in December, reaches its maximum in January, and becomes normal in April. As a more intense cold would be necessary to explain such breakage than that which is felt in that climate, the cause must be sought in the stiffness and inelasticity of the frozen road bed. The impact of the locomotive is then apt to break the rail, very much on the same principle that is taken advantage of in breaking them up for the manufacture of smaller objects. A nick is made somewhere, and the workman then strikes a blow with a hammer at a point between the nick and the place where the rail is supported. This will sever the rail at the nicked place. Sometimes more than a second intervenes between the blow and the fracture. Now, whenever holes are punched in rails for the fish plates, flaws are apt to radiate from them; and if these flaws are not planed or filed out, they may cause the rail to break, just as the nicks above mentioned. Such rails have been known to last no longer than 18 months, and some have actually broken on the way from the manufacturer to their destination. There are establishments in this country and in Europe where they "doctor" such rails by filling up the flaws with a mixture of iron filings, sal ammoniac, and some adhesive substance. Beware of them; a poor cheap rail is dear at any price. The French government stipulates in its contracts for rails, that flaws shall be planed, drilled, or filed out; that the rails shall not be allowed to drop on the ground, but shall be carried by men and slid down. The Lyons railroad does not pay for its rails until 15,000 trains have passed over them.

By imperfect mechanical composition is meant imperfect union of the parts of rails. Steel heads are welded to the rest of the rail in a variety of ways, and this welding is necessarily imperfect. A number of sections of rails etched with acid plainly showed this want of homogeneity, as did likewise prints taken from the etched surfaces. Before such rails have lost weight appreciably, they are used up by the constant rolling they undergo. The advantage of a steel rail is its homogeneity, but a good iron rail, such as those made under the direction of the speaker, for the Reading Railroad Company, is likely to prove better than one of poor steel. The life of a steel rail is chiefly affected by the temperature at which it is rolled and annealed. It ought not to wear off more than 1 mm. for 20,000,000 tons of traffic, and is usually calculated to wear 10 mm. before it is taken up. In other words, it would last about 20 years on roads doing as much business as the New York Central. It is, however, unlikely that our steel rails will stand more than half this amount of traffic.

The effects of chemical composition are but little understood. Some of the purest irons have turned out utterly worthless. Apparently the absolute quantities of carbon, silicon, aluminum, phosphorus, etc., present are not of so much importance as their relative proportion. One specimen containing carbon 0.16, silicon 0.08, and phosphorus 0.012, could be bent double when cold, while another, containing carbon 0.58, silicon 0.56, and phosphorus 0.011 broke at once.

The physical tests for tensile and torsional strength, usually made on a portion cut out of the head of the rail, are not sufficient, because the flaws before spoken of exist mostly in the flange of the rail, and fracture usually begins there.

The effect of cold rolling and shocks that a rail is exposed to was shown by a piece of rail made by the Campbells, Sheffield, Eng., which had been worn 3 mm. by a traffic of 60,000,000 tons at Spuyten Duyvel. The head had been somewhat flattened, and the flange driven down into the foot to a certain extent. Under such usage an iron rail would have gone to pieces long ago.

Sometimes steel rails crumble all at once and pieces fall out of the head. This is probably due to some physical defects or to crystallization from shocks. The cause has not yet been definitely ascertained.

Mr. Collingwood stated that of a rail only a section of ⅜ square inch was pressed by the wheel of a locomotive, the effect being to cause this portion to act like a wedge, and thus to contribute to the disintegration of the rail. He also exhibited a hook which had been used to hoist stones of 10 to 12 tons, and then suddenly broke with a weight of only 6½ tons. It had been worn from a thickness of 2 inches to 1⅞. The pressure at the upper surface crowded the particles and caused them to act as wedges. Their fracture was crystalline, while that of the lower surface, which parted more slowly, was fibrous.

Professor Egleston asserted that there was no such thing as fibrous iron; what appeared so being simply crystalline with the ends drawn out. A sharp blow would cause this to fall off and show the crystalline structure beneath.

The discussion was continued by Professors Trowbridge, Egleston, and Newberry.

C. F. K.

Formation of Iodiform.—All mixtures in which alcohol and iodine enter in combination with any alkali forming colorless solutions go in part to the formation of iodiform. Even chloroform and iodine, forming a colorless solution, give rise to the same product.

—L. Myers Connor.

SANITARY SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES.

The following is an abstract of a paper on the Present and Future of Sanitary Science in the United States, read by Professor Albert R. Leeds, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, before the New York Academy of Sciences at their meeting, November 11th, 1878:

Sciences, such as the one under consideration, that have in them a side largely practical, are sure of a welcome in our midst. The study of the laws of public health grew into prominence in this country during the war, when the Sanitary Commission undertook to supervise the camps and hospitals. Sanitary associations were then formed in many States and smaller communities, and these have led to the establishment of State and city boards of health, clothed to a greater or less degree with executive functions. Every epidemic has been the cause of wider dissemination of sanitary knowledge by the daily press. The yellow fever plague, by which more than twelve thousand people have perished, has thoroughly aroused public interest. During its continuance the papers were full of homilies on private and public hygiene, the people everywhere sent aid and sympathy to the afflicted, and a lady offered to defray the expenses of a scientific commission of sanitary experts to inquire into the cause and prevention of the scourge. The proper execution of sanitary laws depends on the free and intelligent co-operation of individuals much more than on the influence of a strong central authority. A general health department at Washington could not legislate pure air, pure water, and pure food into use throughout the nation. The people themselves, in each community, must be educated to demand these requisites of health and to secure them in their own way.

I. Vital Statistics.—The first "Bill of Mortality" in New York city extended from November 1st, 1801, to January 1st, 1803. In it people are said to have died of "flux," "hives," "putrid fever," "breaking out," "stoppage," "fits," of "rash," and, by way of contrast, of "lingering illness." This rude beginning gradually led to the organization of the Metropolitan Board of Health, whose first report was made in 1866. Their second report showed a decrease of 3,152 deaths, mainly in districts where the greatest amount of sanitary work had been done. Valuable illustrations of the relation between damp houses and consumption were obtained by constructing maps of certain wards, on which every death from phthisis for several years was noted opposite each house. It was found that the disease was most fatal in the lowest levels, in rainy seasons, and in crowded localities.

The registration of marriages continued so defective that a writer on the subject declares it would be impossible for a large portion of the adult native population of the United States to prove by any legal document that they have a right to the name they bear, or that their parents were ever married. The mortality returns of 1871 were probably nearly perfect, and their very accuracy told against New York city, whose death rate was 28.6 per thousand, while St. Louis reported 17, Rochester 16, Buffalo 14, and Jersey City 7 per thousand. To secure accuracy in the returns of marriages and births, etc., more stringent legislation will be necessary.

In New Jersey the State Sanitary Association has conclusively shown the utter worthlessness of the State vital statistics. They memorialized the legislature, and caused the passage of a law which gives to New Jersey one of the best systems of registration yet devised. It owes its excellence to the following features, which should be universally copied:

1. Burial Permits are issued only after registry has been made by a properly qualified person; and

2. The returns are made to an expert, who collates them and deduces practical lessons from them.

II. Registration of Disease.—A large class of diseases may be prevented from becoming epidemic if their existence is known in time. For this purpose the boards of health should be invested with power and provided with means to investigate, reform, and, if necessary, to punish delinquency. Yet in the face of so practical a requirement little more is annually appropriated for the Board of Health of New Jersey than for the pay of two policemen.

III. State Sanitary Legislation.—The agitation for sanitary reform caused by the yellow fever should not be allowed to die out with the pressure of the calamity that aroused it. It should continue until every State that has been the seat of yellow fever, year after year, has as efficient a health code as Massachusetts and Michigan. The necessity of educating the people before it is possible to secure the requisite legislation will cause a considerable period of time to elapse before all the States have laws in accordance with modern knowledge. Probably no community takes the trouble to protect itself until it has actually suffered. To the distress of London the world owes the report of the Royal Commissions on water supply and the pollution of rivers, still the best repertory of the best knowledge on the subject. The manufactories of England have made it necessary for the government to take cognizance of aerial impurities. Similarly in this country the pollution of the Passaic has caused inquiries to be set on foot in the same direction.^*

^*See Report to Board of Public Works of Jersey City, by Professors Wurtz and Leeds; also, Analyt. Beiträge aus dem Laboratorium des Stevens Institute of Technology, by Professor Leeds, in Zeitschr. fur Anal. Chem. 1878.

An attempt was made to deprive the inhabitants of New York of their public parks, and to occupy them with buildings devoted to military and other purposes; but the people had already been sufficiently educated up to an appreciation of their sanitary value not to permit it. Dr. Seguin eloquently advocated the improvement of the parks, to make them not only pleasure grounds, but places of æsthetical and practical out-door education of the public school children.

IV. Ventilation.—It would be a great step in the interests of sanitary science if builders, vestrymen, and school or hospital trustees could be persuaded that their offices did not make them temporary authorities on ventilation, and that they had best intrust this matter to specialists who have fought their way into successful practice.

It appears that both the system of ventilation by aspiration and that by propulsion have had great successes and great failures. Many authorities have declared in favor of mechanical ventilation, yet in most institutions where fans had been introduced they are now standing still. In Roosevelt Hospital, New York, they ran their fan backwards for months and then stopped it.

V. Physical Education.—Instruction in hygiene and physical exercise as a part of the college curriculum was first successfully accomplished at Amherst College, and has now had a trial of nearly twenty years. The importance attached to it is shown by the fact that only distinguished members of the medical profession are appointed as professors, and that they have the same rank as the rest of the faculty. Their first duty is to know the physical condition of every student and to see that the laws of health are not violated. In case of sickness, the students are given certificates to excuse them from attendance and are put in the way of obtaining suitable treatment. The records kept are of great interest. All the classes are required to attend the gymnastic exercises four times a week. For a full account see Professor Hitchcock's report on Hygiene at Amherst College to the American Public Health Association. The excellent results of this feature—it can no longer be regarded as an experiment—recommend its introduction in all our colleges and public schools.

VI. Health Resorts.—The number of people who leave the cities in the summer to visit the seashore, the mountains, and the country is annually increasing. A healthful village is often changed to a center of pestilence merely by such an influx of strangers, the ordinary means of removing offal, etc., being no longer adequate. The town of Bethlehem, N. H., became so popular by reason of its pure air that several thousand hay fever patients sought relief there in 1877. The consequence was insufficient drainage; but as the inhabitants understood their interests, this defect was at once remedied.

The sea shore of New Jersey from Sandy Hook to Cape May is becoming an almost continuous city, and harbors a multitude of visitors every summer. Those whose interest it is to retain this patronage cannot have it too strongly impressed upon them to preserve their healthfulness by introducing cemented cisterns, by causing garbage to be removed daily, and by encouraging local boards of health.

VII. Illuminating Gas not only withdraws from the air of our rooms a considerable amount of oxygen, but fills them with noxious products of combustion. All this may be avoided in the future by the introduction of the electric light.

VIII. Sanitary Surveys.—Dr. Bowditch has shown that a thousand deaths from consumption in Massachusetts are due to a wet and retentive soil, and this fact alone will show the importance of sanitary surveys of the country, such as that made of Staten Island by Professors Newberry and Trowbridge, who determined the influence of the surface soil, of the underlying rock, its porosity, its bedding and its joints, upon the drainage and upon the local climate and health. A similar survey of Hudson county, New Jersey, has been recently made by L. B. Heard, C.E.

IX. Composition of the Atmosphere.—The English government has been obliged to appoint the celebrated Dr. Angus Smith to examine the effects of atmospheric contamination. In Philadelphia there is scarcely a house front that is not disfigured by the stain of magnesia and lime salts, caused by acid vapors in the atmosphere.

A discussion followed, which was introduced by Mr. Collingwood, who remarked that the problem of the sewage of cities was still far from being solved. Though the recent experiments in England on utilizing sewage for agricultural purposes by filtration and otherwise were reported to be successful, we had only dodged the question in this country. Our sewage is still emptied into rivers to poison the water of cities further down their course. When the country becomes more thickly settled, this will answer no longer.

It was also stated that while gas in large chandeliers could be made an effective means of ventilation, there was another objection to its use in the fact that the soil of the city was everywhere impregnated with it from leaky mains, thus causing poisonous exhalations and an insufferable odor whenever the ground was opened. Attention was also called to the evil effects of the system of tenement houses, which led to an unfavorable comparison of the health and morality of New York with those of cities like Philadelphia and Cleveland, that abound in small homes.

Dr. Minor attributed disease to what Richardson calls "ultra-microscopic molecular aggregates," which always exist in the air, but take hold of us only when our vitality is reduced to a certain point. It has been shown that decay is absolutely impossible in vessels from which they are excluded. But for them the earth would now be heaped with the undecomposed remains of animals and vegetables. According to this view, the future efforts of sanitary science must be simply in the direction of learning how to protect ourselves against the "ultra-microscopic molecular aggregates."

C. F. K.

Felling Trees by Electricity.

Some years ago a Doctor Robinson of this city obtained a patent through the agency of the Scientific American for Felling Trees by Electricity. Subsequently a description of the invention was published in this paper, soon after which the newspapers in this country and Europe teemed with the account of a gentleman in India having contrived an apparatus for felling trees in the same manner. Since these several years have elapsed we have heard nothing of the gentleman from India till a few days ago our papers have taken up the subject anew, and annexed is the account they give of the inventor's progress in developing his discovery.

The electric fluid in the form of lightning oftentimes proves itself a very efficient wood cutter, and it has occurred to some ingenious gentleman in India that artificial electricity may be so applied and controlled as to cut down trees a good deal faster than the clumsy ax or that American notion the chain saw. The two ends of the copper wires of a galvanic battery are connected with platinum wire, which of course instantly becomes red hot, and while in that state it is gently seesawed across the trunk of the trees to be felled. When arrangements were made for the experiment, it turned out that the thickness of the thickest platinum wire that could be got was only that of crochet cotton. It was at once seen that such a wire would be consumed before the tree was half severed from its trunk. However, the attempt was made. The burning wire performed its task very well as long as it lasted, but, as anticipated, the wire continually broke, and at length there was no wire left. There can be little doubt that, with a stronger battery and a thicker wire, the experiment would have been entirely successful. As it was, the tree was sawn one fifth through.

AN IMPROVED VISE.

The novel vise shown in the engraving was recently patented by Mr. William Starkey, of Pittsburg, Pa.

STARKEY'S VISE.

The fixed jaw is supported by two standards from the base piece, and has a square boxing or tube for receiving the slide of the movable jaw. This slide is hollow, and contains a rack which is engaged by a pinion on the short vertical shaft, which is supported by the fixed jaw. At the lower end of the vertical shaft there is a worm wheel, that is engaged by a worm on the horizontal shaft on which is placed the hand wheel. By turning the hand wheel the vertical shaft is rotated and the movable jaw is drawn against the object to be clamped by the vise.

Culinary Uses for Leaves.

A writer in the London Iron Trade Exchange, calling attention to a neglected source of culinary flavors, says:

"With the exception of sweet and bitter herbs, grown chiefly for the purpose, and parsley, which is neither bitter nor sweet, but the most popular of all flavoring plants, comparatively few other leaves are used. Perhaps I ought also to except the sweet bay, which is popular in rice and other puddings, and certainly imparts one of the most pleasant and exquisite flavors; but, on the other hand, what a waste there is of the flavoring properties of peach, almond, and laurel leaves, so richly charged with the essence of bitter almonds, so much used in most kitchens! Of course such leaves must be used with caution, but so must the spirit as well. An infusion of these could readily be made, either green or dry, and a tea or table spoonful of the flavoring liquid used. One of the most useful and harmless of all leaves for flavoring is that of the common syringa. When cucumbers are scarce, these are a perfect substitute in salads or anything in which that flavor is desired. The taste is not only like that of cucumbers, but identical—a curious instance of the correlation of flavors in widely different families. Again, the young leaves of cucumbers have a striking likeness in the way of flavor to that of the fruit. The same may be affirmed of carrot tops, while in most gardens there is a prodigious waste of celery flavor in the sacrifice of the external leaves and their partially blanched footstalks. Scores of celery are cut up into soup, when the outsides would flavor it equally well or better. The young leaves of gooseberries added to bottled fruit give a fresher flavor and a greener color to pies and tarts. The leaves of the flowering currant give a sort of intermediate flavor between black currants and red. Orange, citron, and lemon leaves impart a flavoring equal to that of the fruit and rind combined, and somewhat different from both. A few leaves added to pies, or boiled in the milk used to bake with rice, or formed into crusts or paste impart an admirable and almost inimitable bouquet. In short, leaves are not half so much used for seasoning purposes as they might be.

NEW SHUTTER FASTENER.

IMPROVED SHUTTER FASTENER.

We give herewith an engraving of a new shutter fastener, recently patented by Mr. P. F. Fernandez, of San Juan, Porto Rico, West Indies. This fastener is designed for holding doors or window shutters in position when open, to prevent them from closing or swinging in the wind.

To the wall is secured a plate to which is pivoted the spring-acted hook, A, and upon the shutter in the proper position for engaging the hook, A, there is a rigid hook, B. A coil spring is attached to the plate that supports the hook, A, and when the shutter is open is engaged by a boss formed on the end of the hook, B. By this means the hook, B, is pressed forward into close contact with hook, A, thereby preventing all jarring and rattling.

The hook, A, is provided with an eye for receiving the cord, C, which extends to the window casing and is within easy reach, so that when it is desired to close the shutter the hook, A, may be readily disengaged from the hook, B, by simply pulling the cord.

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

AN IMPROVED GARDEN SPRINKLER.

HODEL & STAUBER'S GARDEN SPRINKLER.

A novel garden sprinkler, which may be carried on the back, is shown in the accompanying engraving. The cylindrical vessel has a removable cover, and contains a perforated plunger which is operated by a hand lever from without. The cylindrical vessel is provided with shoulder straps, and it has two sprinkling nozzles connected with it by flexible tubes.

This sprinkler is especially designed for applying insect-destroying poison to plants. The operator, as he goes through the field or garden, takes one nozzle in each hand and distributes the liquid upon the plants. From time to time the liquid will be agitated by moving the perforated plunger.

This invention was recently patented by Adolf Hodel, of Jefferson, and F. A. Stauber, of Chicago, Ill.

A NEW FOOT POWER.

LANE'S FOOT POWER.

In our issue of November 9 we illustrated and described a sewing machine having W. F. Lane's improved foot power applied. We give herewith views of the foot power in detail, Fig. 1 being a side elevation, and Figs. 2 and 3 sectional views. The device is designed for application to any light machinery that can be propelled by foot power. A is the shaft to which motion is to be imparted by the treadles, B, the latter being pivoted to oscillate on the shaft, H. Two ratchet wheels, C, are secured to the shaft, A, and are each worked by pawls, D, which are pivoted to a carrier, E, which turns loosely on the shaft. The pawls are in the form of an elbow lever, and the movement of their tooth ends is limited by lugs or shoulders on the carrier, E. The outer ends of the pawls are received between lugs that project from the plate, F, which turns loosely on the shaft, A, and has attached to it the rope pulley, G. When the plate, F, is turned in one direction the pawls are raised and ride loosely over the teeth, but when the plate turns in the other direction the pawls engage the ratchet teeth and carry them and also the shaft, A. A guide pulley, I, is pivoted below the shaft, A, with its axis at right angles to the shaft.

The motion from the alternately-oscillated treadles, B, is transmitted to the pulleys, G, by means of a rope (shown in dotted lines), both ends of which are fastened by hooks to some fixed point. This rope runs from one of the hooks down under a pulley pivoted in the toe of one of the treadles, thence around one of the pulleys, G, thence around the pulley, I, over the other pulley, G, and downward around the pulley in the other treadle, and upward to the second fixed hook. The depression of one of the treadles causes the shaft to rotate, and also lifts the other treadle into position to be operated.

For further information address Wm. F. Lane, Elgin, Ill.

New Inventions.

Mr. Samuel Heaton, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has patented an improved Iron Fence Post, which is particularly adapted for wire fences. It is formed of a slotted iron bar, constituting the post proper, and a triangular brace, which is so connected with said bar that it may be easily adjusted at different angles, corresponding to the undulation or unevenness of the ground surface where the post is used.

Mr. Thomas S. Alexander, of Meriden, Conn., has patented an improved Drawer Pull, which is neat, strong, and durable, and is less expensive than when made in the usual way.

An improved Earth Scraper has been patented by Mr. Benjamin Slusser, of Sidney, Ohio. This is an improvement in that class of earth scrapers which are arranged to revolve for the purpose of dumping the load, and during the intervals, or while being filled, are locked in rigid position.

An improvement in Wagon Bodies has been patented by Mr. James H. Paschal, of Camden, Ark. This invention consists, essentially, in a frame provided with spurs projecting therefrom for engagement with the bales to prevent them from slipping, and the combination therewith of removable extension side and end pieces, for enabling the wagon to be used for other purposes when not employed for hauling cotton bales; there is an extension of the frame forming a feed trough for the horses employed to draw the vehicle.

An improved Scraper has been patented by Mr. George Eiteman, of Round Grove, Ill. This is a double-ended scraper hung at its center on a rod connected to the handle arms, whereby either end of the scraper may be used. It has catches to prevent the scraper from revolving backward, and spring actuated dogs on the handle frame to retain the scraper in position and prevent it from turning over until released.

AMATEUR MECHANICS.

For amusement, exercise, and profit we commend, to those who are mechanically inclined, the practice of working with tools of the smaller sort, either in wood or other of the softer materials, or in metals, glass, or stone. This practice renders the hands dexterous, the muscles strong, and the head clear, with the further advantage of producing something for either ornament or use. Of course a bench with a vise and a few wood working and iron working tools will be required; but the most expensive as well as the most essential tool is a lathe. With this tool, not only turning in wood, metal, ivory, rubber, etc., can be accomplished, but it may also be used for screw-thread cutting, gear cutting, drilling metals, boring wood, spinning metals, milling, sawing metal and wood, grinding, polishing, moulding, shaping, and other purposes. A first class plain lathe of small size cannot be purchased for less than $50 or $60, and one of inferior quality will cost $20 to $30.

While the purchase of a lathe is recommended there may be many who would prefer to make one. A lathe that will do admirably and which may be easily made is shown in the accompanying engravings, Fig. 1 representing in perspective the lathe complete; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the lathe without the table; Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the lathe, showing the manner of securing the head and tail stocks to the bars which form the bed or shears.

In making this lathe one pattern only will be required for the two standards of the head stock, and the support of the ends of the bars. The lower part of the tail stock is made in two parts, so that they may be clamped tightly together on the shears by means of the bolt that passes through both parts, and is provided with a nut having a lever handle. The rest support is also made in two parts, clamped together on the ways in a similar way.

The patterns may be easily sawed from 1¼ inch pine. The holes that receive the round bars should be chambered to receive Babbitt metal, used in making the fit around the bars forming the shears, around the head and tail spindles, and around the shank of the tool rest. The smallest diameter of the holes that receive the round bars should be a little less than that of the bars, so that the several pieces that are placed on the bars may be fitted to hold them in place while the Babbitt metal is poured in.

The dimensions of the lathe are as follows:

Length of round bars forming shears, 24 inches; diameter of bars, 1 inch; distance from the upper side of upper bar to center of spindle, 3 inches; between bars, ¾ inch; between standards that support the live spindle, 3½ inches; size of standard above shears, ¾ x 1¼ inch; diameter of head and tail spindles, ¾ inch; diameter of pulleys, 5 inches, 3½ inches, and 2 inches; width of base of standards, 5 inches; height of standards, 7 inches.

The live spindle should be enlarged at the face plate end, and tapered at both ends, as indicated in the engraving.

The pulleys, which are of hard wood, are made of three pieces glued together, bored, and driven on the spindle, secured by a pin passing through both it and the spindle, and turned off. The bars forming the shears may be either cold rolled iron or round machinery steel; they will require no labor except perhaps squaring up at the ends. The castings having been fitted to the bars, and provided with set screws for clamping them, the two standards that support the live spindle and the support for the opposite end of the bars are put in position, when the bars are made truly parallel, and a little clay or putty is placed around each bar and over the annular cavity that surrounds it, and is formed into a spout or lip at the upper side to facilitate the pouring of Babbitt metal. The metal must be quite hot when poured, so that it will run sharp and fill the cavity. To guard against a possible difficulty in removing the castings from the bars it might be well to cover the side of the bar next the screw with a thin piece of paper. The pieces of the tail stock and tool rest support are fitted to the bars by means of Babbitt metal, the metal being poured first in one half and then in the other. The bolts which clamp the two parts of the rest support and tail stock together are provided with lever handles. After fitting the parts to the two bars by means of Babbitt metal, the tail spindle, which is threaded for half its length, is placed in the tail stock parallel with the bars and Babbitted. A binding screw is provided for clamping the tail spindle, and the spindle is drilled at one end to receive the center, and has at the other end a crank for operating it. A steel or bronze button is placed in the hole in the standard that supports the smaller end of the live spindle, and the spindle is supported in its working position and Babbitted.

The thread on the spindle should be rather coarse, so that wooden or type metal face plates and chucks may be used.

LATHES FOR AMATEUR MECHANICS.
Fig. 1; Fig. 2; Fig. 3.

The table shown in Fig. 1 is simple and inexpensive. It consists of two pairs of crossed legs halved together and secured to a plank top. A small rod passes through the rear legs near their lower ends, and also through a piece of gas pipe placed between the legs. A diagonal brace is secured to the top near one end, and is fastened to the lower end of the rear leg at the other end of the table.

A block is secured to each pair of legs for supporting a pair of ordinary grindstone rollers, which form a bearing for the balance wheel shaft. This shaft has formed in it two cranks, and it carries an ordinary balance wheel, to the side of which is secured by means of hook bolts a grooved wooden rim for receiving the driving belt. The cranks are connected, by means of hooks of ordinary round iron, with a treadle that is pivoted on the gas pipe at the rear of the table. The shaft will work tolerably well, even if it is not turned. The cranks must have half round grooves filed in them to receive the treadle hooks. The size of the different diameters of the drive wheel may be found by turning the larger one first and the smaller ones afterward, using the belt to determine when the proper size is reached. The wooden rim may be turned off in position by using a pointed tool.

The lathe above described, although very easily made and inexpensive, will be found to serve an excellent purpose for hand work, and if the holes, instead of being Babbitted, are bored, and if the bars forming the shears are turned, the lathe may be converted into a kind of engine lathe by placing a feeding screw between the bars, and putting a small tool post in the rest support.

M.

Machine Shop Economy.

In times like the present, when even with good management our best machine shops are enabled to exhibit but small margins of profit, and shops with indifferent management exhibit margins on the wrong side, it is a question of paramount importance what kind of economy should be pursued in order to maintain a successful business. The directors of long established machinery enterprises differ widely upon some methods of conducting business, and while one gains success by pursuing a certain plan, another, with perhaps as much ability, cannot pursue the same with satisfactory results.

While in the main there are many different plans upon which successful machinery establishments are conducted, there are some underlying principles that must be observed to avoid meeting with difficulties. The rate of wages paid is certainly a large element of shop economy, but there are so many other elements that should be considered before wages are reached, that we often find proprietors, who pay their workmen at a comparatively high rate, doing a more prosperous business than their competitors who have reduced wages to the lowest possible scale. Many machine shop owners, not having mastered the various economies of management, as soon as profits begin to shorten, pounce directly upon the wages paid to their workmen, and pare them down so as to make up for the deficiency elsewhere. They don't seem to realize that there are important elements of economical management other than closely watching the wages of labor and the cost of material. It is sometimes necessary to reduce the rate of wages, but what a different effect it has upon the men in different shops! In one shop you scarcely hear a murmur—no angry meetings—no threats of a strike—no growling at the head of the establishment. The intelligent workmen understand the reasons for the reduction without a wordy explanation, and accept it, feeling confident that it has not been unjustly made. In another shop it causes ill feeling, angry protests, and perhaps a disastrous strike. The owner often charges his trouble to the character of his workmen. Let him review his course, and see if the great cause is not in his own management. Mechanics are keen and observing. If the business is poorly managed they are not slow to mark it, and when a cut is made in wages can generally cipher out the cause. It is good economy to keep a systematic record of the cost of everything. This record will be found very valuable in making estimates, much more so than guess work. It is not good economy to keep using worn-out tools when any work of consequence is to be performed. The extra cost of labor and spoiled pieces would soon pay for new tools. It is not good economy to keep discharging capable workmen for petty causes, and employing new hands to take their places. It is poor economy to use slow-cutting grindstones to accomplish work that fast cutting emery wheels are suited for. It is questionable economy to employ lathes, planers, and drills to perform work of any extent that a milling machine will do better in less time and at much less expense.

It is decidedly bad economy to employ engines and boilers that waste fuel and are troublesome to keep in good running condition. It is mistaken economy to buy inferior tools, machines, and shop supplies, because they are low priced.

It is very defective economy to fit the parts of machines together by trial instead of making them by aid of correct drawings and standard tools for accurate measurement. It is faulty economy to practice borrowing and lending working tools.

The idea that economy consists in withholding every expense not absolutely demanded is erroneous. An extra outlay in one or another direction often assures the saving as well as the making of money. Wise economy looks to the future as well as the present, and requires that all work sent out from a shop should be of the best and most reliable character.

—American Machinist.

The Reward of Invention.

Capital and Labor publishes the substance of a letter from Mr. Henry Bessemer with reference to the refusal of the English Government, or of its ambassador in Paris, to allow the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor to be accepted by its countrymen, and in his letter Mr. Bessemer furnishes some autobiographic particulars which cannot fail to be of interest. He tells us that at the age of eighteen he came to London from a small country village, knowing no one, and himself unknown; but his studious habits and his love of invention soon gained for him a footing, and in two years he was pursuing a method of his own invention for taking copies from antique and modern bassi-rilievi in a manner that enabled him to stamp them on a cardboard, thus producing thousands of embossed copies of the highest works of art, at a small cost. The facility for making a permanent die, even from a thin paper original, capable of producing a thousand copies, would have opened a wide door to successful fraud if the process had been known to unscrupulous persons; for by its means, Mr. Bessemer states, there is not a government stamp, or the paper seal of a corporate body, that every common office clerk could not forge in a few minutes at the office of his employer or at his own home. The production of a die from a common paper stamp is the work of only ten minutes; the materials cost less than one penny. No sort of technical skill is necessary, and a common copying press or letter stamp yields most successful copies. There is no need for the would-be forger to associate himself with a skillful die sinker, capable of making a good imitation in steel of the original, for the merest tyro could make an absolute copy on the first attempt. The public knowledge of such a means of forging would, at that time, have shattered the whole system of the British Stamp Office, had a knowledge of the method been allowed to escape. The secret has, however, been carefully guarded to this day.

During the time that Mr. Bessemer was engaged in studying this question he was informed that the government were themselves cognizant of the fact that they were losers to a great amount annually by the transfer of stamps from old and useless deeds to new skins of parchment, thus making the stamps do duty a second or third time, to the serious loss of the revenue. One official in high position said that he believed they were defrauded in this way to the extent of probably £100,000 per annum. To fully appreciate the importance of this fact, and realize the facility afforded for this species of fraud by the system then in use, it must be understood that the ordinary impressed or embossed stamp, such as is employed on all bills of exchange, if impressed directly on a skin of parchment, would be entirely obliterated by exposing the deed for a few months to a damp atmosphere. The deed would thus appear as if unstamped, and therefore invalid. To prevent this it has been the practice as far back as the reign of Queen Anne to gum a small piece of blue paper on to the parchment; and for still greater security a strip of metal foil is passed through it, and another small piece of paper with the printed initials of the Sovereign is gummed over the loose ends of the foil at the back. The stamp is then impressed on the blue paper, which, unlike parchment, is incapable of losing the impression by exposure to a damp atmosphere. But, practically, it has been found that a little piece of moistened blotting paper applied for a whole night so softens the gum that the two pieces of paper and the slip of foil can be removed from the old deed most easily, and be applied to a new skin of parchment, and thus be made to do duty a second or third time. Thus the expensive stamps on thousands of old deeds of partnership, leases, and other old documents, when no longer of value, offer a rich harvest to those who are dishonest enough to use them. A knowledge of these facts led Mr. Bessemer to fully appreciate the importance of any system of stamps that would effectually prevent so great a loss; nor did he for one moment doubt but that government would amply reward success. After some months of study and experiment, which he cheerfully undertook (although it interfered considerably with the pursuit of regular business, inasmuch as it was necessary to carry on the experiments with the strictest secrecy, and to do all the work himself during the night after his people had left work), he succeeded in making a stamp that satisfied all the necessary conditions. It was impossible to remove it from one deed and transfer it to another. No amount of damp, or even saturation with water, could obliterate it, and it was impossible to take any impression from it capable of producing a duplicate.

Mr. Bessemer says that he knew nothing of patents or patent law in those days; and adds that if he had for a moment thought it necessary to make any preliminary conditions with government he would have at once scouted the idea as utterly unworthy, thinking his interests absolutely secure. In this full confidence he sought an interview with the then chief of the Stamp Office, Sir Charles Presley, and showed him by numerous proofs how easily all his stamps could be forged, and also the mode of prevention. He was greatly astonished, and at a later interview he suggested that the principle of the invention should be worked out fully. This Mr. Bessemer was only too anxious to do; and some five or six weeks later called again with a newly designed stamp, which greatly pleased him. The design was circular, about 2½ inches in diameter, and consisted of the Garter with the motto in capital letters surmounted by a crown. Within the Garter was a shield with the words "five pounds." The space between the shield and the Garter was filled with network in imitation of lace. The die had been executed in steel, which pierced the parchment with more than 400 holes, each one of the necessary form to produce its special portion of the design. Since that period perforated paper of this kind has been largely employed for valentines and other ornamental purposes, but was previously unknown. It was at once obvious that the transfer of such a stamp was impossible. It was equally clear that dampness could not obliterate it; nor was it possible to take any impression from it capable of perforating another skin of parchment.

This design gave great satisfaction, and everything went on smoothly; Sir Charles consulted Lord Althorp, and the Stamp Office authorities determined to adopt it. Mr. Bessemer was then asked if, instead of receiving a sum of money from the Treasury, he would be satisfied with the position of Superintendent of Stamps, at some £600 or £800 per annum. This was all that he then desired, rejoicing over the prospect, for he was at that time engaged to be married, and his future position in life seemed assured. An incident now occurred that reads almost like romance. A few days after affairs had assumed this satisfactory position, he called on the young lady to whom he was then engaged (now Mrs. Bessemer), and showed her the pretty piece of network which constituted the new parchment stamp, explaining how it could never be removed from the parchment and used again, and mentioning the fact that old deeds with stamps on them dated as far back as the reign of Queen Anne could be fraudulently used. She at once said, "Yes, I understand this; but surely, if all stamps had a date put upon them, they could not at a future time be used again without detection?" This was indeed a new light, and greatly startled the inventor, who at once said that steel dies used for this purpose could have but one date engraved upon them. But after a little consideration he saw that movable dates were by no means impossible, and that this could easily be effected by drilling three holes of about a quarter of an inch in diameter in the steel die, and fitting into each of these openings a steel plug or type with sunk figures engraved on their ends, giving on one the date of the month, on the next the month of the year, and on the third circular steel type the last two figures of the year. This plan would be most simple and efficient, would take less time and money to inaugurate than the more elaborate plan that had been devised; but while pleased and proud at the clever and simple suggestion of the young lady, her future husband saw also that all his more elaborate system of piercing dies, the result of months of study, and the toil of many a weary and lonely night, was shattered to pieces by it. He feared to disturb the decision that Sir Charles Presley had come to, as to the adoption of the perforated stamp, but, with a strong conviction of the advantages of the new plan, felt in honor bound not to suppress it, whatever might be the result. Thus it was that he soon found himself again closeted with Sir Charles at Somerset House, discussing the new scheme, which he much preferred, because, as he said, all the old dies, old presses, and old workmen could be employed, and there would be but little change in the office—so little, in fact, that no new superintendent of stamps was required, which the then unknown art of making and using piercing dies would have rendered absolutely necessary. After due consideration the first plan was definitely abandoned by the office in favor of the dated stamps, with which every one is now familiar. In six or eight weeks from this time an Act of Parliament was passed calling in the private stock of stamps dispersed throughout the country, and authorizing the issue of the new dated ones.

Thus was inaugurated a system that has been in operation some forty-five years, successfully preventing that source of fraud from which the revenue had so severely suffered. If anything like Sir Charles Presley's estimate of £100,000 per annum was correct, this saving must now amount to some millions sterling; but whatever the varying amount might have been, it is certain that so important and long established a system as that in use at the Stamp Office would never have been voluntarily broken up by its own officials, except under the strongest conviction that the losses were very great, and that the new order of things would prove an effectual barrier to future fraud. During all the bustle of this great change no steps had been taken to install the inventor in the office. Lord Althorp had resigned, and no one seemed to have authority to do anything. All sorts of half promises and excuses followed each other, with long delays between, and Mr. Bessemer gradually saw the whole thing sliding out of his grasp. Instead of holding fast to the first plan, which they could not have executed without his aid and special knowledge, he had, in all the trustfulness of youthful inexperience, shown them another plan, so simple that they could put it in operation without any assistance. He had no patent to fall back upon, and could not go to law, even if he wished to do so, for he was reminded, when pressing for mere money out of pocket, that he had done all the work voluntarily. Wearied and disgusted, he at last ceased to waste time in calling at the Stamp Office, and he felt that nothing but increased exertions could make up for the loss of some nine months of toil and expenditure. Thus, sad and dispirited, and with a burning sense of injustice overpowering all other feelings, he went from the Stamp Office, too proud to ask as a favor that which was indubitably his just right, and he adds, "Up to this hour I have never received one shilling or any kind of acknowledgment whatever from the British Government." It is notorious, adds the editor, that some of the most renowned and invaluable inventions of recent years, especially those connected with the navy, have narrowly escaped rejection by permanent but ignorant officials; and that the authors of the inventions have had to submit to delay, loss, annoyance, and contumely before their processes could be tried, even after their success had been officially demonstrated. Perhaps it is not now so much a question of money, for it is to be hoped that Mr. Bessemer is reaping the due reward of ingenuity and skill in other fields of invention. But even his discoveries in steel making, if they have very properly enriched himself, have, in an infinitely larger degree, added to the wealth of the country, and have given employment to many thousands. Such a man is a public benefactor, and eminently deserves recognition by the state, especially by way of atonement for former neglect and injustice. Military men receive titular honors and a pecuniary reward for slaying a crowd of savages and burning their huts, while the men who have helped to make England what she is, commercially and industrially, are in most cases left to their fate, which may chance to be pecuniary ruin.

Oil Notes.

PENNSYLVANIA.

The total production of crude petroleum for the first three quarters of 1878 was 11,126,037 barrels, against 8,436,867 barrels for the same time in 1877; increase in 1878, 1,689,170 barrels.

The total number of drilling wells completed for the first three quarters of 1878 were 2,333, against 2,699 for the same time in 1877; decrease in 1878, 366.

The daily average production of the new wells completed for the first three quarters of 1878 was 13 ²⁄10 barrels, against 14 ²⁄10 for the same time in 1877; decrease in 1878, 1 barrel.

The total number of dry holes developed in the first three quarters of 1878 were 280, against 476 for the same time in 1877; decrease in 1878, 196.

The total amount of crude petroleum held in the producing regions of Pennsvlvania, at the close of the third quarter of 1878, was 4,599,362 barrels, against 2,503,657 at the same time in 1877; increase in 1878, 2,095,705 barrels.

The amount of crude petroleum represented by outstanding certificates on the last day of September was 1,705,853 barrels, against 1,317,484 barrels on the last day of October, a reduction during October of 158,127 barrels.

Mr. J. M. Guffey has purchased of Marcus Hulings an undivided half interest in the celebrated Kinzua Creek property (Bradford district). The purchased portion contains 6,400 acres, on which there is a well that was struck in June last, and since that time has been doing from 16 to 18 barrels, and has never been torpedoed. Mr. Guffey looks upon this as one of the best prospective oil territories in the country.

D. W. C. Carroll & Co., of Pittsburg, have kept from 45 to 75 men employed, since June, in the oil regions, building iron tanks, nearly all of which are located in the Bradford district.

WEST VIRGINIA.

The Wheeling Intelligencer says: As noticed in our Moundsville letter this morning, extensive preparations have been made to bore for oil on the opposite side of the river at the Union Coal Works shaft. The machinery was brought down from Pittsburg on Tuesday, and is now being put in position by contractors, who have engaged to go down 1,200 feet. It will be recollected that for a long time past oil has been found in the coal shaft, and the company who are putting down the well feel confident that plenty of it exists deeper down. Some parties look forward to the development of the fact that Moundsville is situated in an important oil break, and that oil in abundance will be found on both sides of the river. The progress of the well will be looked forward to with much interest by the people of that vicinity.

MASSACHUSETTS.

The Maverick Oil Works at East Boston have recently made some very extensive additions and improvements, lengthening their wharf and making a variety of alterations in their buildings. They will shortly complete a new cooper shop, wherein, it is probable, they will construct all the tin cans required by the demands of their business.

OHIO.

The oil excitement has broken out afresh in West Mecca, Warren county, Ohio. Oil men, heavily backed with capital, have recently come in from Pennsylvania, and are making things lively in that locality. Eight new wells have been put in operation during the past week. This district is the same where the principal excitement prevailed 18 years ago.

JAPAN.

The Tokio Times states that the principal feature of American trade with Japan is the petroleum exports from New York. The enterprise was inaugurated only eight years ago; but the business has so increased that while only 200 cases of kerosene, valued at $600, were exported in 1870, in 1877 366,639 cases were sent to Yokohama, and 128,158 cases to Hiogo, whither none had before been carried direct. The value of these consignments was over $1,000,000.

Several refineries are in operation in Japan, making kerosene from native petroleum.

RUSSIA.

The recent reports concerning the discovery of oil near the shores of the Caspian Sea seem to be fully confirmed. From one of the wells a stream, free from gas and froth, is forced to a height of 75 feet, yielding at the rate of 10,000 barrels a day. It is reported that companies are forming at Odessa, Kovo-Tcherkask, Astrakhan, and other cities, for the purpose of obtaining oil. Two large manufacturing concerns, who have their headquarters in New York city, recently received orders for considerable quantities of oil-line pipes, steam pumps, engines, boilers, and other apparatus, to be shipped immediately for St. Petersburg, Russia.

ITALY.

The oil wells of Italy comprise about 5, with a capacity of about 30 barrels per day, of a thick substance of 14 gravity. They are pumped by hand, which, though primitive, is cheaper than steam, for both men and women are employed, the former receiving as compensation for a day's work 1 lira, equal to 20 cents; and the women 60 centessimi, equal to 12 cents of our money. The wells are located in a deep valley, and the oil carried up on the backs of donkeys to a refinery, where it is treated, and yields from 2 to 5 per cent. of burning oil.

PERU.

It is proposed to build a pipe line from the refinery on the estates of Henry Meiggs to the shipping port, a distance of about 7 miles. It is stated that oil can be produced at this point for less than 1 cent a gallon, and as the fields have produced from time immemorial, there is no prospect of their early exhaustion.

ONTARIO.

The oil refinery at St. Thomas, Ont., is running day and night; 494 barrels of crude petroleum were brought from Petrolia for it in one week recently.

—Stowell's Petroleum Reporter.

Railway Notes.

The new track laid in this country during the year ending September 10, 1878, was 1,160 miles. During the six preceding years the number of miles of track laid was: In 1872, 4,498; 1873, 2,455; 1874, 1,066; 1875, 702; 1876, 1,467; 1877, 1,176.

The statement made in the recent Narrow Gauge Convention, that standard gauge freight cars weigh ten tons and carry ten tons, is indignantly disputed by users of the latter. One gentleman, having much to do with freight cars, says that the modern freight cars weigh from 17,000 to 18,000 lbs., commonly carry (and that on long hauls) 28,000 lbs., are guaranteed to carry 30,000 lbs., while he has seen them show on the scales 30,000 and 32,000 lbs. of load, and in one case 35,000 lbs. The general tendency for some years has been to increase loads without increasing, but in many cases decreasing, weights of cars; and it seems quite likely that 30,000 lbs. will soon be the standard load. The tank cars used for carrying petroleum have an average capacity—and they are almost always run full—of 30,000 lbs. The Standard Oil Company, which has some 3,000 of such cars, carried on four-wheeled trucks with the Master Car Builders' standard axle, has run them with such loads for years, and only recently had its first case of a broken axle, manifestly due to a defect in the iron.

Interesting observations have been made recently on the Cologne-Minden Road, Prussia, on the rusting of iron rails. A pile of rails of odd lengths were laid on sleepers over a bed of gravel early in 1870, and remained undisturbed until the fall of 1877, there being no use for them. It was then found that they were covered with a layer of rust 0.12 inch thick, which had to be removed by striking the rail with a hammer. The cleaned rail weighed only 398.2 lbs., while its original weight was 419.1 lbs., showing that 5 per cent. of the rail had been destroyed by rust, which covered the rail quite uniformly. This confirms the observation often made, that rails stacked away are much more liable to rust than those laid down in a track.

According to Le Fer, at a meeting of directors of the German railroads held at Constance, the following information was furnished in regard to the relative value of the different methods of injecting ties:

1. Railroad from Hanover and Cologne to Minden. Pine ties injected with chloride of zinc; after 21 years the proportion of ties renewed was 21 per cent. Beech ties injected with creasote; after 22 years, 46 per cent. Oak ties injected with chloride of zinc; after 17 years, 20.7 per cent. Oak ties not injected; after 17 years, 49 per cent. The conditions were very favorable for experiment; the road bed was good, and permitted of easy desiccation. The unrenewed ties showed, on cutting, that they were in a condition of perfect health.

2. Railroad "Kaiser-Ferdinands-Nord." Oak ties not injected; after 12 years the proportion renewed was 74.48 per cent. Oak ties injected with chloride of zinc; after 7 years, 3.29 per cent. Oak ties injected with creasote; after 6 years, 0.09 per cent. Pine ties injected with chloride of zinc; after 17 years, 4.46 per cent.

The annual official reports of the railroads of India place the length of railways there at 7,551½ miles, of which 492½ miles were completed during the year 1877, and 223 miles since the close of the year. There are 806½ miles of double track; 5,912¾ miles are constructed on the 5 foot 6 inch gauge, and 1,638¾ on narrower gauges. The capital outlay on the State lines amounted to £3,122,051, and on the guaranteed lines to £1,374,882, bringing the total capital expenditure, up to the end of October, as regards the State, and to the end of March last, as regards the guaranteed lines, to £113,144,541. The expenditure up to the end of the year may be taken in round numbers at £13,344,500. The revenue from all the open lines was £6,232,888, of which £6,091,532 were earned by the guaranteed lines, with a capital of £95,482,941, and £141,356 were earned by the State lines, on a capital expenditure of £17,661,600. The net receipts from the guaranteed lines exceeded the amount advanced for guaranteed interest by £1,454,591; the year previous there was a deficit of £216,517.

A French engineer named Duponchel has made a report on the project of a railroad across the Desert of Sahara. The projected railway would run from Algiers to Timbuctoo, a distance of 2,500 kilometers. M. Duponchel stated that the principal portion of the line would rest during nearly its whole extent on layers of sand, and toward the end on primitive volcanic rocks, granite, gneiss, etc. No mountainous obstructions would have to be encountered. The average heat does not appear to exceed 23° or 24° C. (73 2-5° or 75 1-5° Fah.), but account must be taken of the great variations which occur in the 24 hours. For instance, occasionally, a very cold night succeeds a temperature of 40° C. (104° Fah.) in the day time. The great difficulty to be overcome would be the want of water, which is not to be procured in that region. M. Duponchel calculates that for three trains daily the amount of water required would be 4,000 cubic meters, and that the engineering science of the day is quite sufficient to supply even a much greater quantity at the requisite points.

The government of Costa Rica has advertised for tenders for building bridges on the second Atlantic Division of its railroad. There will be needed 194 bridges. The bridges will vary in length from 3 feet to 1,044 feet, and will be built for a track of 3 foot 3½ inch gauge. They will be of sufficient strength to stand a strain of 2,240 lbs. to the lineal foot, in addition to the weight of the usual freight carried.

THE WERDERMANN ELECTRIC LIGHT.

THE WERDERMANN LAMP.

It has been looked upon as essential that a certain distance should separate the ends of the carbon electrodes used in electric lamps. Every one has accepted this as an axiom. Mr. Werdermann's skepticism has, however, caused him to doubt the axiom, and the result is that he has discarded the electric arc space, and by placing his electrodes in actual contact, has produced a lamp which provides the means of dividing the electric current, and promises to give almost any number of lights from a single machine. Mr. Werdermann's inventions, says the Engineering, are secured by patents considerably in advance of those of Mr. Edison, and may in their chief points be explained as follows:

In place of two electrodes of similar form and dimensions, one electrode consists of a large bun-shaped disk of carbon placed with the rounded face downward. The other carbon is a fine rod of carbon of about ⅛ or ⁵⁄32 inch in diameter. The upper end of this is pointed and maintained in contact with the center of the lower surface of the disk. This rod is supported by means of a spring collar, which also forms the circuit connection. This is within about ¾ in. of the top of the carbon, so that the ¾ in. becomes incandescent, and the contact between the two carbons being only a point, a small electric arc is produced between the two carbons, while the electricity is at the same time passed on through the carbon disk, and the connections there attached to the next lamp.

DIAGRAM OF CURRENT.

Referring to our diagrams, in Fig. 1 the upper carbon is shown at C, and the rod carbon at c. The former is supported by means of an adjustable jointed bracket, B, attached to the wood stand. The rod carbon is guided by the spring collar on the top of the stand, and to which the connection is made, and is supported by the fine cord running over the pulley, P. This cord is attached to the clasp, D, at the bottom of the rod, and to the balance weight, W, by which the rod is maintained in constant, practical, though not absolute contact with the disk. Round the upper part of the disk is a metal band, A, to which the circuit wire is attached, and the current thus passed on to the next lamps.

At a recent trial of this lamp, the current was derived from a small Gramme electro-plating machine, requiring only 2 horse power to put it in full work. It may therefore be assumed that this was about the limit of the power at work to produce the light. At the commencement of the proceedings two lights were maintained, each stated to be equal to 320 sperm candles. At this rate the two lights would be equal to 640 candles, or 40 full power gas lights, each consuming 5 cubic feet of 16 candle gas per hour. Such gas lights, it may be observed, are not often seen, except in the argand form. The two lights burned with extreme steadiness, there being no undulation, or flickering whatever, although there was no glass globe to tone down any variations of luster. The lights were perfectly bare and unprotected, and the place where the trial was made was a workshop of moderate size.

Later in the evening one light was exhibited outside the building, in an open thoroughfare, and the same perfect steadiness was observable. After the two lights had been burning for a time they were extinguished, and the current was sent through a row of ten lamps. The light per lamp was of course reduced, but there was the remarkable fact that ten lights were maintained by a comparatively weak machine, driven by an engine exerting the power of only two horses.

The light of each of these ten lamps was stated to be that of 40 candles, making, therefore, a total of 400. A reduction of light, consequent on the further division of the current, is thus apparent; but for this loss there may be ample compensation in the superior economy of a distributed light as compared with one that is concentrated. In the case of the ten lamps, the light is equal to that of 25 full power gas lights, consuming altogether 125 cubic feet of gas per hour. The extremely small arc due to the peculiar arrangement of the carbons in the Werdermann light has the advantage of offering the least possible resistance to the passage of the current.

This resistance increases much more rapidly than is represented by increase of distance between the carbon points. Hence the electric power with Werdermann's lamp is economized to the utmost in this respect, and it becomes possible—as in the recent experiment—to make use of an electric current large in quantity but of low intensity. The tension being small, there is the less difficulty with regard to insulation. If one lamp or more should be accidentally extinguished, the rest will continue to burn. The whole of the lamps can also be extinguished and relit by merely stopping the current and then sending it on again. No nice and troublesome adjustment with reference to the length of the electric arc is requisite, and simple contact between the point of the rod and the surface of the disk is sufficient for the manifestation of the light.

In respect to duration, a carbon rod ⁵⁄32 in. in diameter, and a yard long, obtained from Paris, costs a franc. This, placed in a large lamp, having an estimated lighting power of 320 candles, will last from 12 to 15 hours. The smaller lamps take a carbon of ⅛ in. diameter.

Mr. Werdermann endeavors to make the resistance of the external portion of the circuit equal to the internal resistance, in order to obtain the greatest effect. It is well known that the best results are obtained when the internal and external resistances are equal. The method adopted is that known to electricians as the divided arc, and will easily be understood from Fig. 2. Let B represent the source of the electric current, and A a copper wire connected to the positive and negative poles of the source as in the diagram. The wire, A, has a certain resistance. Suppose, now, we arrange for the current to pass as in the diagram, Fig. 3. By the insertion of the new wire, C, we have lessened the total external resistance and increased the current, as will be seen by reference to Ohm's law.

where C = current; E = electromotive force; R = resistance external; r = resistance internal.

The fraction

increases as its denominator is lessened.

The current passes along the two branches in equal quantities if the resistances of the wires are equal, but inversely as the resistances if they are unequal. Thus, if the branch, A, has a resistance, 9, and C has a resistance, 1, ⁹⁄10 of the current will pass through C, and ¹⁄10 through A. Similarly, for any number of branches the current will divide itself according to the resistances. If, then, we have a number of branches, as indicated in Fig. 4, the current will divide itself equally among the branches when the resistances of the branches are equal. This is the arrangement adopted by Mr. Werdermann, as will be seen from the annexed diagram, Fig. 5, in which N and P represent the negative and positive poles of the machine, and L L the electric lamps.

When any one lamp is put out the inventor arranges that an equivalent resistance shall be put into the circuit, so that as a whole the circuit is unaltered, and the other lamps unaffected.