we understand, quite successful so far as plant-production of a
good quality was concerned, but excise difficulties prevented the
utilisation of the crop. It only remains for us to assure our readers
that a tobacco plant, grown in a pot, is a pretty household ornament.
THE MONTH: SCIENCE AND ARTS.
The Japanese sanitarium, Kusatsu, possesses such important remedial
properties that it is believed that when its reputation becomes more
widely known in Western countries, patients will flock to it from all
parts of the globe. Here, in the volcanic soil, are a series of natural
baths of different temperatures, the waters of which are charged with
sulphur, arsenic, copper, alumina, magnesia, in various proportions.
To these baths come the halt, the maim, and even those who are as
far blind as that too common disease ophthalmia can make them. They
bathe here in waters which are described as caustic and evil-smelling,
some of which consist of little else than dilute sulphuric acid. This
treatment, owing to the great temperature and searching action of the
different chemicals dissolved in the water, is often most agonising to
the patients, who can only bear it for several minutes at a time. But
its efficacy in various species of disease is said to be most thorough,
even incurable maladies being mitigated by these wonderful waters.
The _Builder_ calls attention to the careless construction of flues
and party-walls in houses, which constitutes a common cause of houses
being burned down. The evil is best described by showing what occurred
at a private house in London not many weeks ago. A smell of fire was
detected, luckily in the daytime, when people were about and able to
seek the cause. Upon examination of a certain flue, it was found that
ties of fir covered with lead passed on each side of it. These ties
had ignited, and had communicated their fire to a library bookcase.
Although the Building Act forbids this mode of construction, there
are many houses which were built before it became law, and doubtless
a large proportion of them have wood in dangerous proximity to their
flues. Although at the time of building, such woodwork may have been
partially protected, the modern method of sweeping a chimney is apt to
knock off projections and to move bricks out of place, thereby giving a
ready means of access to fire.
At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, a paper was
read by M. Pasteur on his Treatment of Hydrophobia. As Pasteur’s
work has recently been much criticised, sometimes not too kindly, it
may be as well briefly to state the results which he has recorded
after inoculating nearly 2500 patients. Of these, 80 were English, 52
Austrians, 9 Germans, 107 Spaniards, 10 Greeks, 14 Dutch, 165 Italians,
25 Portuguese, 191 Russians, 1726 French and Algerians, and 54 of other
nationalities. Confining his remarks to the French cases, as being, we
presume, those only the subsequent history of which could be followed,
M. Pasteur said that out of the large number stated, the inoculation
had proved ineffectual in ten cases only. Six of these ten were
children, and one a woman seventy years old. As a result of studying
these failures, M. Pasteur came to the conclusion that for deep wounds
his treatment was insufficient. He has now modified it by making the
action more rapid and energetic for all cases, and he considers that
this alteration has already been productive of very favourable results.
A Russian doctor says that he has successfully treated with cantharides
some patients who were bitten by a rabid wolf. Three men were badly
bitten by the animal in various parts of the body, and cantharides
plasters were applied to the wounds. At the same time, powdered
cantharides was administered to each in doses of one grain each day,
until certain well-known symptoms were exhibited. These patients have
now been in perfect health for eight months since the bites were given,
and it is hoped that cantharides has thus proved a successful remedy to
the dire disease with which they were threatened.
A petroleum engine has been invented by Herr Siegfried Marcus of
Vienna, and adopted by the German government as a motor for torpedo
boats. It is said to be far more powerful than a steam-engine of equal
bulk, while its fuel takes up much less space than coal. The engine is
said to work well and without any risk of explosion.
We are always glad to note anything new in the way of utilising waste
products, for such saving represents a distinct gain to the country.
The last item of this kind that has been recorded is a method,
which has been patented, of making use of spent dye liquors for the
manufacture of writing-ink. The spent liquor of bichromate of potash,
or soda, such as may have been used for mordanting wool, &c., is boiled
with the waste logwood liquor from dyeing-vats. The result, after
certain additions have been made, is a non-corrosive and permanent ink.
A successful attempt has recently been made, near Liverpool, to
acclimatise a beautiful variety of carp called the ‘Golden Orfe,’ a
fish which comes from Bavaria. The ornamental gold-fish which are
commonly seen in aquaria in our own country will not, as a rule, breed
here, and if they do, their descendants are black rather than golden.
But these Bavarian fish, while quite as beautiful, will breed freely,
and their young will retain the colour of the parents. The fish is
about one foot in length, and is said to attain a weight of six pounds.
It will be valued by anglers for the reason that it will rise to a fly
in waters which are inclosed, so that by its help fly-fishing may be
still further enjoyed in landlocked waters. Some ponds near Liverpool
have been stocked with this hopeful fish; and if present anticipations
are realised, its culture will no doubt be taken up in other parts of
the country.
The experimental crop of tobacco grown at Sydenham, close by the
Crystal Palace, by Messrs Carter & Co., has, so far as cultivation and
preparation for market are concerned, proved a decided success. The
experiment shows that the fragrant weed can be produced and prepared
by hands unused to the work, in an uncertain climate such as ours.
The total crop raised by Messrs Carter covered only three-quarters
of an acre of ground, and its estimated weight is about fifteen
hundredweight, having a market value of forty-two pounds, or at the
rate of fifty-six pounds per acre. This estimate is of course the
value of the raw material free of all duty. The operations involved in
tobacco-growing are such as could be undertaken by small cultivators,
and it remains to be seen whether the government will allow this new
kind of farming to be tried on a more extensive scale. Their decision
should come quickly, so that farmers may have time to prepare their
ground for the new crop.
A new method of preserving polyzoa and other low forms of life has been
discovered by Dr A. Fottinger. Crystals of chloral hydrate are dropped
into the vessel of water in which polypes have been placed, and in a
short time the creatures become insensible, when they can be placed in
alcohol. The advantage claimed for this method is that the polypes will
remain expanded, and can therefore be preserved when exhibiting all
their beauty of structure. The chloral acts, it would seem, in much the
same manner as it affects higher organisms—that is, as a narcotic.
The extended use of the electric light in America seems to be by no
means an unmixed blessing. It is said that in every town over a certain
size the Companies are stringing their wires over the streets to the
danger of the inhabitants. But this danger does not arise from the
risk of broken wires, so much as from wires which are so imperfectly
insulated that the electric energy can escape to neighbouring telephone
and telegraph lines. This is especially the case in storms, when
the wires are swayed to and fro in the wind, and are often knocked
together. The result of this is often a fire at the telephone or
telegraph offices, sometimes leading to loss of life. It is said by
telephone operators that it is not an uncommon thing to find, upon
opening the office in the morning, that a telephone has been burned up
during the night, its charred remains having fallen on the floor. It is
evident that such accidents are preventable; but special legislation
may be necessary to compel the Companies to adopt proper precautions
against their occurrence.
Last month, we noticed certain improvements which have been made in the
Electric Safety-lamp invented by Mr Swan of Newcastle. Another lamp
of the same type has been contrived by Mr Miles Settle of Bolton. Mr
Settle’s lamp is an incandescent electric globe which floats in another
glass globe of water. Should the glass, from any cause, break, the
electric connection is broken too, and the lamp goes out. It is made
in two sizes—one for main roads, and one for ordinary use. It gives a
brilliant light, and is adapted for use in powder-magazines as well as
in mines. Mr Settle is also the inventor of a water-cartridge which can
be exploded in a fiery mine, or in one charged with coal-dust, without
any fear of the surrounding medium catching fire. Both inventions
have lately been subjected to experiments, which clearly prove their
efficiency.
In view of the wonderful advances which have been recently made in the
field of astronomical photography, it has been proposed by the Paris
Academy of Sciences that an International Conference shall be held
in the spring for the purpose of making arrangements for obtaining a
complete chart of the heavens. This photographic map would be combined
from many hundreds of photographs taken at ten or more observations in
different parts of the globe. We shall have occasion again to refer to
this important and deeply interesting subject.
It has long been admitted that if Britain is to retain her commercial
position among the nations of the world, her workmen must have the
advantages of technical education. Much has been done in this direction
in recent years, but much more remains to be done. It would be as
well if the various Institutes throughout the country were to follow
the lead of the Finsbury Technical College, London. Here, a course
of lectures on Electric Bells has been so well attended that it will
shortly be repeated. Another course on Electro Deposition of Metals,
with special reference to Nickel Plating, has been commenced. Following
this will come the subject of Solders and Soldering. The intelligent
working-man comes to these lectures, for he knows that he must learn
something more than his father was master of, and that ‘rule of thumb’
must in these days give place to something more definite.
It is to be hoped that the conduct of an official at Bedford in
deliberately handing to the public analyst a sample of beer which had
been purposely doctored with a poisonous drug, with a view to showing
that customary analysis would not discover the addition, will not
lead the unthinking to assume that chemical analysis is valueless. In
examining a sample of beer, the analyst looks only for such ingredients
as are liable to be used for its sophistification, such as sugar, added
water, &c. In examining bread in like manner, he would look for alum
or potato; in coffee, for chicory; and so on. But it would be quite
outside his province to look for a mineral poison, unless he were told
beforehand that the presence of such a poison was suspected. If it were
the duty of the public analyst to search every sample of food submitted
to him for all the poisons known to the world, each analysis would
be an affair of many weeks, and his work would practically come to a
stand-still.
At the beginning of the year, a certain number of the new
Enfield-Martini rifles were issued to our troops, and several adverse
reports concerning their efficiency were the result. The weapons were
returned to headquarters, and have now been reissued to Portsmouth,
Aldershot, and the School of Musketry at Hythe. Those into whose hands
they are placed are required to answer several questions as to the
efficiency of various parts of the weapon, and general observations
upon its merits or demerits are invited. It is thought in many quarters
that it is now time that a magazine or repeating rifle should become
the arm of the infantry. But it has long become the fashion for Britain
not to lead, but to follow the lead of other countries in these
matters. The plan has the advantage of benefiting by the experience of
others, but it can be carried too far.
It was recently pointed out in an article which appeared in the _Times_
how little we are indebted to native talent for the more deadly and
exceptional implements of war. The Gatling, Gardner, Hotchkiss, and
Maxim machine guns are due to American ingenuity, and the practical
conception of the turret ship comes from the same source. Nordenfelt
with his machine gun and his submarine boat is a Norwegian. But what
will prove perhaps the most deadly thing of all is the dynamite
cruiser, which is about to be built for the American navy. This is
a boat two hundred and thirty feet in length, with engines which
will insure a speed of twenty knots. She is to be built of steel,
and furnished with twin screws. Her armament is to consist of three
guns, seventy feet in length, to fire dynamite shells, propelled by
compressed air. This form of gun was invented and tried with success
some months ago, and at the time we described its construction as being
similar to that of a pea-shooter. The cartridge of the gun is a copper
drum containing two hundred pounds of dynamite, and its flight of two
or three miles through the air is rendered steady by the attachment of
a wooden shaft, which acts towards it as a stick does to a rocket. It
is certain that no ship afloat could withstand the explosion of such a
terrible projectile.
The Germans have found a new use for Professor Hughes’s microphone in
the detection of leaks in water-mains. The apparatus required consists
of a steel rod, in addition to the microphone, telephone, and battery.
The rod is placed upon the stopcock in the neighbourhood of which a
leak is suspected; and by listening to the telephone placed in circuit
with it and the microphone, the slightest leakage is detected. If the
stopcock is a good one and there is no leak, no sound is heard; but
the least leakage causes a vibration, which is rendered audible by the
microphone. The operation is so simple that it is readily acquired by
unskilled hands.
As Mr Watts, the eminent Academician, has announced his intention of
bequeathing his valuable paintings to the nation, more than ordinary
interest must centre round the nine pictures which he has sent to the
Kensington Museum as what he calls ‘samples’ of his work. These include
several of his more recent productions. We may mention, too, that the
collection of fifty-five pictures by the same hand, which for some
months have been exhibited in Birmingham, is now removed to the Museum
galleries at Nottingham Castle. Mr Watts’ works will thus be rendered
familiar to many thousands of people.
We hear of a very ingenious and valuable improvement upon the
construction of the steam-engine, for which various patents have
recently been issued. This invention, which hails from the Dunfermline
Foundry Company, N.B., consists of a steam-valve of entirely original
design, which can be moved with the greatest ease, as there is no
steam-pressure on any of its working parts, causing considerable
friction, as in the case of the slide-valve at present in use. Apart
from the simplification of the steam-engine, where quick stoppage and
reversing are important considerations, its great value lies in the
certainty of its preventing various kinds of accidents of a mortal
character. Thus, where miners are being hoisted to the pit-mouth, there
is always a danger that the engineman may lose control of the stopping
arrangements, and a case of ‘overwinding’ is the result. The new valve,
however, is so easily stopped, that the ‘indicator’ can be adjusted, so
that when the cage reaches the platform at the pit-mouth, the steam is
instantly cut off and overwinding rendered impossible. At sea, also,
this valve will be most valuable, as the most powerful engines can be
stopped and reversed with the greatest ease, and this cannot be said of
the engines of the present day. The same remarks apply to locomotives.
The valve has also been adapted to steam-winches, and here another
advantage presents itself, inasmuch as, should the winch be stopped
while the load is upon the chain, the load remains suspended without
the application of a brake; in other words, the winch does not run
away, because the ‘exhaust’ steam does not leave the cylinder, but is
inclosed as a steam-brake, keeping the piston immovable.
In the neighbourhood of the mining village of Broxburn, about twelve
miles west of Edinburgh, are several large shale-oil works. In making
a new bore in connection with one of these works lately, a petroleum
spring was struck at one hundred and fifteen fathoms from the surface.
In driving a mine at a later date, petroleum was observed coming out
of the rocks. In a deep bore made in 1884 the same appearances of
petroleum oozing from the rock were observed. It was the discovery of
a petroleum spring at Alfreton, Derbyshire, by the late James Young,
which set him thinking and experimenting, and led up to his famous
discovery of the distillation of oil from shale. In Scotland, this
industry has flourished in recent years, the annual output of shale for
this having reached the enormous quantity of two million tons.
OCCASIONAL NOTES.
MILK-DIET FOR INFANTS.
In an article on ‘Infant-feeding,’ contributed to the _Lancet_, Dr E.
Paget Thurstan, M.D., publishes an interesting discovery that he has
recently made. It has been very generally admitted that, inasmuch as
salivary and pancreatic secretions are practically absent in newborn
children, all farinaceous food should be avoided in their dietary. Dr
Thurstan’s discovery entails a departure from the letter, if not the
spirit, of this axiom of child-rearing. Mothers are well aware that
very young children cannot drink pure cow’s milk, because it curdles
in a lump in their stomachs. Certain chemical substances—notably
lime-water—must be blended with the liquid to make it digestible.
These auxiliaries, however, frequently produce sickness; and it is
obviously undesirable to doctor a child with medicine for months
together if it be not absolutely necessary. Some persons imagine
they solve the problem by using condensed milk as infant-food. But
Dr Thurstan points out that, though its curd is undoubtedly more
digestible than that of uncondensed milk, the cane-sugar with which
it is prepared, itself produces indigestion in a new form, while the
condensation robs the liquid of much of its saline constituents, and
removes material required for bone-formation. Hence he sought a new
method of making cow’s milk digestible to young children; and his
final solution of the question is as simple as he declares it to be
efficacious. He mixes with the milk a small quantity of farinaceous
food, to secure a mechanical as opposed to a nutritive action. The
particles of solid intermingle with the curds as they form, and thus
prevent their coalescing into one large mass. Dr Thurstan suggests as
appropriate agents the crust of bread—when free from alum and large
quantities of potato starch—or any one of the many well-known infants’
foods. He points out that they should be added to the milk in such
small quantities and in such minute particles that it will easily pass
through the tube of a feeding-bottle. Dr Thurstan mentions in detail
the case of a weak and ailing child whose life was saved by this method
of feeding.
WOOD-PULP.
A report comes from Norway of a discovery just made at the Sognedal
Pulp Factory, after years of experimenting—that wood-pulp can be used
for the manufacture of all kinds of building ornaments which are
usually made in plaster of Paris, the pulp readily taking painting or
gilding to great advantage. The material also seems to be remarkably
tough, and not easily broken, as shown by the fact that a bar a foot
long, an inch thick, and five inches wide, was thrown with great
violence against a wall and sustained no injury. Pieces have also
been dropped from great heights with the same result. The material
is lighter than plaster of Paris, is impervious to wet, and therefore
admirably adapted for ceilings, ceiling ornaments, friezes, and
such-like, both outdoor and indoor. It can easily be fixed either with
nails or screws. One more advantage is claimed by the inventor—that
ornaments made from this material cost half the price of similar ones
made of plaster. If this discovery is really all that it is said to
be, it will prove a useful adjunct to all kinds of ornamentation
and architectural decoration, and ought therefore to be specially
acceptable in the building trade.
M. DEPREZ’ ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS.
A series of interesting experiments have been lately carried on by
M. Deprez at Creil, at the sole expense of Messrs Rothschild, with
the view to ascertain whether certain results can be obtained from
one generator and one receptor. M. Deprez now finds that with these
appliances he can transmit to a distance of thirty-five miles a force
of fifty-two horse-power, and that the machinery is now working
regularly and continuously. The maximum electro-motive force is 6290
volts, which is all the more remarkable; for before the construction
of M. Deprez’ apparatus, the maximum force did not exceed 2000. The
transmitting wires may be left uncovered on poles, so long as they
are high enough to be out of the reach of the hand. The cost of
this arrangement to provide a circular line of seventy miles, for
a fifty-horse power of transmission, is estimated at five thousand
pounds; not a high price, when all the circumstances are considered;
and a cost that would be lessened if the machines were to be frequently
manufactured or brought into general use, which is much to be desired,
as a new and very practicable motor-power will thus be made available
for industrial purposes.
SWEET DAY OF DAYS.
On the moss-grown bridge I stand,
Where you gave me once your hand,
Where a story, new, yet old,
Once without a word was told.
Still the daylight slowly dies,
Ebbing from the tender skies;
Still the river creeps along,
Crooning yet its wistful song.
Day of days, sweet day of days,
Years their shadows round us raise;
Happy they who, looking on,
Still remember days agone!
Ah! of all sweet days that day,
Gone from sight and reach away,
Even as this flower I throw
Down the old gray stream will go.
Nay—it lingers—prisoned lies,
Where the swaying willows rise,
Out of reach, love, like sweet days
Lingering yet in memory’s gaze!
Day of days, sweet day of days,
Years their shadows round us raise;
Happy they who, looking on,
Still remember days agone!
G. CLIFTON BINGHAM.
* * * * *
_Volume III. of the Fifth Series of CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL is now
completed, price Nine Shillings._
* * * * *
_A Title-page and Index, price One Penny, have been prepared, and may
be ordered through any bookseller._
* * * * *
_An elegant cloth case for binding the whole of the numbers for 1886 is
also ready._
* * * * *
_Back numbers to complete sets may at all times be had._
* * * * *
The First Monthly Part of the New Volume will contain the opening Chapters of an
original Novel, entitled:
RICHARD CABLE
THE LIGHTSHIPMAN
BY THE AUTHOR OF ‘MEHALAH,’ ‘JOHN HERRING,’ ‘COURT ROYAL,’ ETC.
* * * * *
Also an interesting Novelette, entitled:
TOLD BY TWO
BY T. W. SPEIGHT
* * * * *
END OF THE THIRD VOLUME.
Printed and Published by W. and R. Chambers, 47 Paternoster Row,
London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh.
* * * * *
_All Rights Reserved._
* * * * *
[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.
Page 818: guaze to gauze—“wire-gauze”.
Page 831: shale oil-works to shale-oil works—“shale-oil works”.]