The Royal Agricultural Society's _Journal_, No. 25, recently published,
abounds with information likely to interest other persons as well as
farmers. There is a good account of the implements exhibited at the
Philadelphia Centennial Show, in which many clever contrivances are
described, among them not a few shewing that Canada is by no means
deficient in inventive ingenuity. Dr Voelcker in his experiments
on roots explains that swedes when allowed to sprout a second time
transfer two-thirds of their solid substance to their tops or leaves;
and he calls attention to a series of experiments carried on in France
which lead to the conclusion that 'roots mature more readily when
planted closer, and often yield a heavier crop per acre, than when
they are planted too widely apart.' In his chemical report the doctor
exposes the trickery used in the manufacture of oil-cake, and says
that he has 'considered it his duty to refer to these matters because
he knows that mal-practices of cake crushers and dealers are again
gradually extending all over England.' Then comes an article on the
use and value of straw as food, which will surprise most readers; and
next we find a Report on analysis of butter drawn up for the Board
of Inland Revenue, in which the reporters state that the more butter
is washed and kneaded to expel the curd the better will it be; and
that 'while some of the finest and best prepared butters undergo
little or no change, there is in others a gradual disappearance of the
characteristic principles of butter, and a consequent assimilation to
the constitution of an ordinary animal fat. This change, which appears
to be due to an incipient fermentation, and is generally accompanied
by the development of fungi, is probably caused either by the use of
sour cream or by insufficient care in making the butter.' We only add
the remark that the souring of butter is more frequently caused by
negligence in washing out the milk properly than anything else.
This seems the place to mention that a reward of three hundred
marks has been offered by the Pharmaceutical Union of Leipzig for
the discovery of a sure and practical method for the detection of
the adulteration of butter by other fatty substances. The competing
descriptions are to be sent in before September 30 of the present year.
Another article in the _Journal_, by the Rev. Canon Brereton, sets
forth the advantages offered by Cavendish College, Cambridge, as
bearing on the education of agriculturists. 'The time and the cost,' he
says, 'of a three years' residence in College, after the school course
is finished, have been considered incompatible with the obligations
both of learning and earning, in the business of a farm.' But the
reform of schools and the establishment of local examinations have 'not
only made the general school preparation itself much more effective
for after-life, but have admitted the possibility of adding to the
school the further advantage of a college course, and this within the
university, and in permanent connection, therefore, with the highest
education of the country. In short, many a lad of fifteen or sixteen
who has been taught in a good school has it quite in his reach to take
a university degree at eighteen or nineteen, and then enter on his
professional studies and duties with all the advantages of a completed
education. To secure practically this important result, and to offer to
such lads the best university instruction, with suitable protection and
associates, and at a very moderate cost, the new Cavendish College is
now being founded in Cambridge.'
In a recent _Month_ (_ante_ 270) we mentioned an exhaust nozzle for
quieting the noise of safety-valves and escape-pipes. This nozzle
has since been described in the _Journal of the Franklin Institute_
(Philadelphia). It consists of a spiral coil of wire so compressed as
to leave a slight space between the individual turns of the coil. This
when properly adjusted is fitted into the end of the escape-pipe: the
steam rushes out; but instead of communicating its vibrations to the
air, communicates them to the coil. 'As, however, the individual turns
of the coil cannot vibrate to any considerable extent without coming in
contact with the adjacent ones, interference occurs to such an extent
that the vibrations are _not_ transmitted to the air.'
This useful invention (Shaw's Spiral Exhaust Nozzle) has been reported
on by a Committee of the Institute, who in concluding their very
favourable Report, recommend the grant of a premium and a medal to the
inventor, and remark: 'In view of the annoyance, fright, and danger
arising from the roar of escaping steam, and of the completeness with
which the nozzle destroys this roar, we are of the opinion that Mr
Shaw has done a great service to the community, and particularly to
the transportation interests, in overcoming an obnoxious and dangerous
feature in the use of steam.' The nozzle, we are informed, has already
been largely adopted in America. Shall we have long to wait for its
introduction here? People who dwell in the neighbourhood of factories
and thousands of travellers, are ready to give it a welcome.
Steam-power for tramways instead of horse-power continues to be a
subject of experiment, with a view to prevent noise and escape of
steam, so that passengers may not be deafened nor horses frightened.
It was stated at a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, that
the best form of tramway is that which has the rails laid on continuous
wooden sleepers, and that there will not be so great a saving as is
commonly supposed by using steam instead of horses, for the repairs of
the engines will be a heavy item of expense, and the engine-fitters and
drivers will require high wages. Some inventors dispense with steam and
make use of compressed air; and mention was made of 'a pneumatic car
designed by Mr Scott Moncrieff which had been at work on the Yale of
Clyde tramways. It carries one hundred cubic feet of air at a pressure
of three hundred and fifty pounds on the square inch; and considering
that everything about it was of a rough and temporary character, the
success obtained was encouraging.' As regards capability, we are told
that 'on the level, and on gradients up to one in thirty, engines can
do all that is necessary. But the engine has yet to be designed which
will stop and start again, with a heavy car behind it, on any steeper
inclination without trouble and delay.'
On the other side of the Atlantic, a different conclusion has been
arrived at, for, as stated in the _Journal of the Franklin Institute_,
a steam tramway engine has been tried in Baltimore which, with a
load of a hundred passengers, can be easily stopped and started on a
gradient of seven feet in the hundred, or nearly three hundred and
seventy feet per mile. It drew the same load through snow and slush
ten inches deep, when four horses were required to draw an ordinary
car. This engine weighs sixteen thousand pounds. On suburban roads
it travels at from twelve to eighteen miles an hour. Compared with a
two-horse car, it shews, in its working expenses, a saving of five
hundred and fifty-eight dollars in a year. The power of traction is,
however, of less importance than the absence of smoke and of noise from
the steam that is employed. Several good specimens of smokeless and
noiseless tramway engines have been shewn in this country.
A horseshoe which is described as 'partaking of the moccasin and also
of the sandal' has been brought into use at Philadelphia for street
traffic, with, as is said, satisfactory results. It is hollow on the
under side, and the hollow is filled by a piece of tarred rope, which
by deadening concussion, lessens the severity of the horse's labour and
the wear of the paving-stones. This shoe is put on cold, and requires
not more than six nails to hold it in place. Something has been heard
too of a shoe made of compressed sole leather chemically treated, which
is lighter and more lasting than iron shoes; but of this we have as
yet no particulars. Lightness should be a recommendation; for if a set
of shoes weigh two pounds and a horse trots one step every second, he
will lift one hundred and twenty pounds in a minute; from which the
sum-total of weight lifted in a day's work may be calculated. When
farriers and all people who keep horses shall have some real knowledge
of a horse's foot, then proper horseshoes may be expected to come into
general use.
Mr Outerbridge of Philadelphia has succeeded in producing by
precipitation gold-leaf so thin that with a single grain he can cover
nearly four feet of surface. Nearly three million of such films would
be required to make an inch in thickness. The films are not, as might
be supposed, patchy, but are perfectly whole and continuous: they are
also transparent, and serve to illustrate the green appearance of gold
under transmitted light.
A good example of the economy of fuel effected by the use of compound
cylinders is to be seen in Cherry's Compound Steam-pumping Engine,
which has been recently exhibited at Birmingham and at Falmouth. With
four pounds of coal hourly for each horse-power, this engine, when
fixed in a mine, will force water from a depth of more than a thousand
feet; and it is of course applicable to overground work as well as
underground work. The characteristics, as described in the Report of
the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, are 'extreme simplicity, the
reduction of friction to a minimum, thorough efficiency of expansion;'
and the entire cost of the engine will be less than the cost of the
foundations for an ordinary pumping-engine.--With this may be noticed
Stevens' patent underground Hauling Engine, which is so compact that it
may be placed almost anywhere in a mine, requires no foundation, may be
spiked to a piece of timber or wedged to the roof, and is not affected
by the moving of the floor, which is not unfrequent in mines. Another
advantage is, that it requires but a few hours to get it into working
order, and may be driven by steam or compressed air at pleasure.
A common objection to ordinary fireplaces is too much of the heat
wasted up the chimney, and various contrivances have been tried to
prevent this waste, one of which was an iron plate instead of bars for
the bottom of the grate. An improvement on this is Wavish's patent
Coal Economiser, which has a hollow-pierced cylinder rising from the
middle of the plate. The air entering the cylinder from below the
grate is thus conveyed at once into the centre of the fire, and the
heat, instead of rushing up the chimney in undue quantity, is diffused
into the room, and coal is economised. The perfection of combustion
is achieved when, instead of feeding the cylinder with the vitiated
air of the room, it is fed by a pipe communicating with the external
air. And further, we are informed that 'if a bag of camphor or other
disinfectant is hung on the cylinder, the scent is driven into the
apartment;' and thus any room in a house may be perfumed, disinfected,
or ventilated by this contrivance, when properly fitted.
Among recent patents is one granted to Professor Sir William Thomson
for 'improvements in navigational deep-sea soundings.' With this
apparatus a sounding can be taken without stopping the progress of
the vessel, which is in itself an important advantage. The depth is
indicated by appearances in a glass tube, which shew what portion
has been occupied by air while under pressure beneath the water. A
Frenchman has invented a sounding apparatus which consists of an
india-rubber bag filled with mercury communicating with a valved
metallic chamber. The pressure of the water forces the mercury into the
chamber, and the quantity therein denotes the depth.
Hitherto the electric light, though a brilliant and powerful substitute
for sunshine, has resisted the attempts made to bring it into general
use. Clockwork has been required to keep the carbon points always
the same distance apart, and as carbon wastes by burning, there was
too often failure on the part of the wheels. But now Mr Jablochkoff,
a Russian military officer, has discovered a way of overcoming the
difficulty. His source of light being a magneto-electric machine,
strong enough to produce, say, twenty minor lights, he connects the
points where these are to be placed with the principal machine by
means of wires. At each of those points he fixes an 'electric candle,'
composed of two strips of carbon, and a central strip of a fusible and
insulating substance described as kaolin. The current flowing from the
machine passes up one of the carbon strips of the first candle, appears
as a steady light at top, passes down the other strip, and so on to
each candle in succession, and returns to the machine from the last
of the series. The candles burn about an hour; but as four are fitted
to each lamp, and take light one after the other, an uninterrupted
illumination of four hours is thus provided for.
This method has been tried with approbation in Paris, and in London at
the West India Docks. Gas appeared dull and feeble by contrast, and the
onlookers came to the conclusion that by aid of the electric light the
loading or unloading of ships could be readily carried on at night.
A further advantage is, that the light is portable, and can be taken
without danger into the hold of a vessel. Thus by subdividing a single
current and leading each division to a 'candle,' it seems that the
question of utilising the electric light is likely to be solved.
Mr C. Meldrum, F.R.S., Director of the Observatory at Mauritius,
devotes much time to observation and discussion of sun-spots, rainfall,
and cyclones. After carefully considering and comparing observations
made in all parts of the world, he finds them corroborated by those of
his own locality, and that there is a decided and apparently persistent
difference between the rainfall of the period of most sun-spots and of
fewest sun-spots: the law being, the more spots the more rain. He finds
further, that the increase and decrease have recurrent periods, that
there are cycles of rainfall, of sun-spots, and of cyclones; and he
remarks: 'Although the question has been brought forward simply by way
of hypothesis, yet it appears to me that, on the whole, the evidence
in favour of a connection between sun-spots, cyclones, and rainfall,
is so strong that any doubts or uncertainty that may now exist will
soon be dispelled.... The hypothesis does not require that the years of
fewest spots must necessarily be years of drought, and those of most
spots necessarily years of torrential rains over the whole earth. It
merely requires that the rainfall of the globe should be subject to a
variation having a period of the same length as the sun-spot period.
Observation shews, however, that the years of fewest sun-spots are
those in which severe droughts are most to be feared.'
'It would be a hopeless task,' continues Mr Meldrum, 'to try to
convince those who judge of the matter only by their sensations, that
less rain falls over the globe in some years than in others. Great
floods and great droughts, especially floods, make deep impressions
on the mind, particularly on the minds of those who may have suffered
from them. If in a certain year a man was ruined by a succession of
floods, and in another by a succession of droughts, it might be hard
to persuade him that, generally, the former was a remarkably dry year,
and the latter a remarkably wet one. The opinions of people who trust
to their sensations in a question of this kind, are swayed from side to
side by every change of weather. It is only by taking annual averages
for many places and many years that the truth comes out.'
Papers bearing on this question were read during the past session
at the Royal Society, shewing that by careful observation of the
periodical phenomena above mentioned, it would be possible to foretell
and provide against the calamitous seasons of famine which occur in
India. This would indeed be a beneficent application of physical
science; but the results of observation are not yet sufficiently
definite. General Strachey, F.R.S., read a paper to prove, by a
negative process, that 'there has been no sufficient evidence adduced
of any periodicity at all.' Thus the question remains open to further
observation and argument, of which there will be no lack; but we may
anticipate that a profitable direction will be given to both by the
new Council appointed by the Treasury to govern the Meteorological
Office. This Council comprises the Hydrographer of the Admiralty, and
five Fellows of the Royal Society eminently qualified to deal with
scientific questions and direct the work of the Office.