Mr C. Tankerville-Chamberlain, late acting consul at Panama, gives a
hopeful account of the progress of M. de Lesseps’ giant undertaking,
the construction of the Canal across the Isthmus, which is very
different from the description of the state of things lately published
in the American newspapers. He believes that the great work will be
actually completed in about three years’ time. The line of the Canal,
forty-six miles in length, has been divided into five sections, which
have been handed over to five responsible and solvent contractors,
who are bound under heavy penalties to complete their work by the end
of 1888. The holders of railway stock and many others in America are
interested in believing, and trying to make others believe, that the
Canal is a failure and cannot succeed. That it will be a financial
success, must remain an open question, for the expense already
incurred, added to that which is to come, constitutes a larger sum than
has ever yet been sunk in a single engineering undertaking.
A proposal is now on foot to connect by means of a submarine tunnel the
defences of Portsmouth with the forts on the Solent and with the Isle
of Wight, and it is probable that preliminary borings will be made to
ascertain the practicability of the scheme. It has been before proposed
that a fort should be built half-way between Stokes Bay and Ryde, on
a bank which rises to within eight feet of high-water mark; but the
scheme was abandoned because of the difficulty of finding fresh water
for the garrison. The tying together of this proposed fort and the
other defences would at once obviate this difficulty, and would at the
same time relieve our expensive ironclads from the duty of protecting a
spot which has always been looked upon as of great importance.
Among all the wonderful things which were exhibited in the late
Colonial and Indian Exhibition, there was nothing more remarkable than
the vast variety of different woods—strange to European eyes—which were
shown in some of the Courts. These woods seemed to exhibit every shade
of colour and every variety of grain. In one Court in particular could
this be well remarked, for the different samples of wood were cut into
the shape of books and highly polished, each pseudo volume bearing its
own name. Messrs A. Ransome & Co. lately invited a number of colonial
visitors—engineers, builders, and others—to their large works at
Chelsea, in order that they might demonstrate the applicability of some
of these woods to various purposes. About forty different varieties
were subjected to the operations of tree-felling, cross-cutting,
sawing, planing, moulding, mortising, tenoning, and boring; while
various articles, from casks to doors, were actually made and
completed before the visitors’ eyes. The exhibition not only formed an
illustration of the suitability of many colonial woods for employment
in this country, but it also showed to what a marvellous pitch of
perfection wood-working machinery has been brought by Messrs Ransome.
The demonstration is likely to lead to a great shipment of colonial
woods to this country, many of which are plentiful, and therefore cheap.
The colossal statue of Liberty, which has been presented by the French
Republic to the Republic of America, and which, with the pedestal, is
over one hundred and fifty feet in height, is, at the time we write,
nearly completed. When the statue is quite finished, it is proposed
to illuminate it at night in a very novel manner. The female figure
of Liberty holds aloft a torch, which will be furnished with eight
electric arc lamps, each of six thousand candle-power, the rays from
which will be thrown upwards towards the clouds. At the same time,
several other lamps of similar power will shine on the statue itself,
causing it to stand out in strong relief from its dark surroundings.
A correspondent of the _Times_, quoting a letter recently received
from Sydney, New South Wales, gives an account of the extraordinary
instinct shown by ants and other insects which live in and on the
ground. Some months ago, the natives of a certain district predicted
the approach of floods, and left their low-lying camping-grounds for
the higher country. The floods came as predicted, several weeks later;
and the natives said that their sole information regarding them was
gathered from the insects, which had built their nests, &c. in the
trees, instead of, as usual, in the ground. The correspondent asks
whether this forecasting providence of the ant is recorded by any of
our travellers, and whether any explanation of the fact can be given.
Here are two more natural-history notes recorded by correspondents. It
is pointed out by one that, owing to our backward spring this year,
the swallows on their arrival were kept so short of food that quite
two-thirds of their number died of famine; hence the unusual plague of
flies that we have experienced during the summer. He pleads that the
little mud nests which are seen clinging under the eaves of so many
houses in country and suburbs should be protected from injury, for if
it were not for the swallows, flies would constitute a veritable pest.
In answer to this, another writer points out that sparrows will
sometimes prevent the swallows building, and will often drive the
rightful owners from their nests. This fact he has ascertained by
direct observation. He also remarks that the swarms of flies this year
may be due in great measure to the scarcity of wasps, which destroy an
immense number. The scarcity of wasps in his particular neighbourhood
is fully accounted for, one of his friends having destroyed no fewer
than sixty-seven of their nests. His plan of procedure is, as far as
we know, as novel as it is simple and effective. Tow soaked in spirits
of turpentine is thrust into the wasp’s nest at night, and the hole is
afterwards filled up—presumably with earth.
We are so accustomed to wonderful news from the land of Niagara, that
we are not much surprised to learn that the largest photographic
negative ever produced has been taken by an American worker. The glass
plate upon which the colossal picture was taken measured sixty by
thirty-six inches, and weighed more than eighty pounds. The coating
with sensitive material of such a plate was in itself a very difficult
undertaking, while for its development after exposure in the camera,
over three pailfuls of fluid had to be cast over its surface while it
was lying in a specially constructed tray. The photographer succeeded
in obtaining a good picture, as well as a silver medal to reward him
for his enterprise.
A French journal says that flowers may be preserved with all their
natural brilliancy and freshness by dipping them into a mixture
made as follows: In a well-corked bottle, dissolve six drachms of
coarsely powdered clear gum-copal; add the same quantity of broken
glass, and fifteen and a half ounces (by weight) of pure rectified
sulphuric ether. The flowers should be dipped into this varnish-like
fluid four or five times, allowing them to remain in a current of air
for ten minutes between each immersion. This plan, if it does not
interfere with the delicate texture of the petals, should be of use to
flower-painters, who often have to hurry their work unduly because of
the perishable nature of their models.
Mr Graber has lately made some curious observations upon the effect
of light upon eyeless animals, a Report of which appears in the
Proceedings of the Vienna Academy. He put a number of earthworms into
a box, which was provided with an aperture at one side, through which
light was allowed ingress. The result of many experiments showed that
the worms sought the darkest part of their temporary prison, and that
at least two-fifths of their number shunned the light. Experimenting
with rays of different colours by means of stained glass, he found that
the worms exhibited a marked preference for red light.
According to the _American Druggist_, an alloy which will solder
glass, porcelain, and metals, or one to the other, can be made in
the following manner: Copper dust, made by precipitating the metal
from a solution of bluestone by means of zinc, is put into a mortar
and treated with strong sulphuric acid. To this mass, formed by the
copper and acid, is added a little more than twice as much mercury, the
addition being made with constant stirring. The amalgam thus formed is
washed with warm water to remove the acid, and is afterwards cooled.
When required for use, it is heated, and worked in a mortar until it
becomes as soft as wax, and in this state it will cling tenaciously
to any surface to which it may be applied. It is applicable more
especially to those substances which will not bear a high temperature.
A year ago, Mr J. W. Swan of Newcastle described before the North
of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers an electric
safety-lamp which he had invented for the use of miners. This
lamp, although efficient, had no means of detecting the presence of
firedamp. In an improved lamp which the same inventor has produced,
this deficiency is supplied, for a firedamp indicator forms part of
the lamp. This indicator is based upon one invented some time ago, and
consists of a coil of platinum wire which can be switched on to the
current which supplies the lamp and brought to a red-heat. If firedamp
be present, the wire becomes far hotter, and therefore brighter than it
will in pure air; and in one form of lamp a similar coil, shut up in a
glass tube containing air, is provided, for the sake of comparison. In
another form of indicator the hot wire is made to explode the charge of
firedamp submitted to it, of course in a closed chamber, thus forming
a partial vacuum, which acts upon a column of liquid in an attached
gauge tube. By this means the exact percentage of fiery gas present can
be accurately noted. It may be hoped that these improved appliances
may come into common use; but of course electrical fittings are
somewhat expensive, and this is the initial difficulty in introducing
improvements which would lead to much saving of life.
In these enlightened times, when books without number are published to
instruct even the youngest scholars about the nature of common things,
it seems almost impossible to realise the ignorance which existed and
the nonsense which was written even as lately as the last century
concerning matters of the most elementary kind. So-called facts in
natural history of the most ludicrous kind were handed down from writer
to writer and accepted as the exact truth by all readers. Here is a
specimen of chemical knowledge which dates from the year 1747, and
is due to the pen of one George Adams. He naively remarks that ‘some
people have imagined that the sharpness of vinegar is occasioned by the
eels striking their pointed tails against the tongue and palate; but it
is very certain that the sourest vinegar has none of those eels, and
that its pungency is entirely owing to the pointed figure of its salts,
which float therein.’ There is probably some confusion here between
the sourness of vinegar and the acidity of sour paste, which latter is
accompanied, as even young microscopists know well, by the development
of innumerable so-called eels.
At a recent meeting of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, Dr
Alfred Hill, the President, delivered an opening address, which dealt
with the important subjects of the disposal of house-refuse and the
best method of treating sewage. The employment of destructive furnaces
for getting rid of dry house-refuse was strongly recommended. The
efficient disposal of sewage is of course a far more difficult problem
to solve, and one which has now for a number of years troubled the
minds of many. Dr Hill is in favour of the sewage-farm principle, which
has been so successfully tried at Birmingham. He showed that the system
had not proved a nuisance to adjoining residents nor yet injurious to
health. It was also a profitable system, for in the city referred to,
twenty thousand pounds had been realised during the past year by the
sale of stock and produce from the sewage-farm. He believed that if
a similar system were adopted for the metropolitan area, the sewage
which is now allowed to poison the Thames might realise in meat, milk,
and vegetables two hundred thousand pounds.
Mr Thomson Hankey has lately pointed out a new use for sugar, which,
however, is not new, but it is so little known that he has done good
service in calling attention to it. In the preparation of mortar and
cement, the addition of a certain quantity of unrefined sugar will
give the mixture extraordinary hardness and tenacity. In India, sugar
has been used for this purpose from time immemorial, and walls built
with mortar of this description will defy all ordinary methods of
destruction. Plaster of Paris will also set much harder if about ten
per cent. of sugar be added to the water with which it is mixed. With
plaster of Paris, it might be mentioned, the addition of alum has much
the same effect.
At one of the recent meetings of the Iron and Steel Institute, M.
Gautier of Paris read an interesting paper on ‘The Casting of Chains
in Solid Steel.’ In the course of this paper, he pointed out that in
order to compete successfully with wrought-iron in chain-making, the
steel employed must be quite solid and absolutely free from blowholes,
and it is most necessary to adopt a quick method of moulding the
chains. In the process which has been adopted by Messrs Joubert and
Leger of Lyons, these difficulties have been successfully overcome. The
process combines chilled casting with instantaneous removal from the
moulds, after which the chain is finished and annealed in oil. By this
method he claims that better chains can be manufactured than those of
wrought-iron, with the advantage of greatly diminished weight.
The deposition of dust and smoke by the passage of electricity has
been more than once adverted to in these pages, more especially in
connection with the collection of lead-fume. Messrs King, Mendham,
& Co. of Bristol have recently constructed a convenient piece of
apparatus for illustrating this phenomenon. It consists of a jar capped
at the top with a cover, through which protrudes a rod furnished with
a ball. This rod terminates inside the jar in a point; and a similar
pointed wire, which finds a termination outside the lower part of the
jar, is opposite to it. Below, there is a small combustion box, in
which a smouldering piece of brown paper will soon fill the jar with
smoke. Thus filled, the jar is connected by its brass terminals to a
Wimshurst Electrical Machine. When the handle of the machine is turned,
an electrical discharge takes place between the two pointed wires; and
the smoke, after being violently agitated, disappears, leaving the air
in the jar perfectly clear.
The Simplex Ironing Machine, which is invented by Mr S. Bash, and which
has been examined and approved by the leading tailoring establishments
in London and Paris, is designed to relieve workers from the heavy
manual labour attending the use of pressing-irons. The simplex iron is
suspended from a movable arm by a universal joint, and can be moved in
any direction over the work and with any desired degree of pressure.
This pressure is brought about by the aid of a pedal attachment. There
is also provision made for pressing long seams, a movable table being
made to travel to and fro beneath the gas-heated iron. The inventor
claims for his method a saving in fuel and more rapid and efficient
work.
A new explosive has been invented by a Russian engineer, M. Rucktchell,
about which some very curious particulars have been published, while
the nature of the compound remains the secret of its discoverer. The
explosive gives a penetrative power to projectiles ten times greater
than gunpowder. It emits neither smoke nor heat, and its discharge is
unaccompanied by any report. If this be true, can the compound—whatever
it be—be called an explosive? But this wonderful product is to be
utilised in the arts of peace as well as those of war, for it forms
the motive-power for an engine constructed by the inventor, an engine
for which he claims superiority over steam and gas engines. It will be
remembered that an engine of much the same character was invented a few
years ago in America. Its motive-power was a secret from everybody. The
necessary and inevitable Company was formed to buy up the inventor’s
rights, and then—nothing more was heard of it.
Mr W. F. Dennis has been exhibiting at Millwall, London, a continuous
wire-netting machine, which is a great improvement on former
contrivances of this kind. The machine works from bobbins of wire
only, not from bobbins and spools, as in the older machines, and these
bobbins contain a sufficient length of wire to keep the machine at work
for a whole day. In a day of ten hours, a single machine will produce
three hundred and fifty yards of wire-netting twenty-three inches in
width. The machine in question occupies a space of eleven by eight
feet, by six feet in height. Nor is it confined to the production of
netting from soft metal, for hard bright steel and iron wire can be
used, producing a most rigid product. The consumption in Europe of
wire-netting is estimated at forty million yards per annum, and the
possibility of producing it of a rigid character, hitherto thought to
be impossible, is sure to increase its fields of usefulness.