has, after a manner, been applied for some years to fruit by the
jam-makers. In years of plenty, fruit is reduced to pulp, and can in
this state, if the air is carefully excluded, be made to keep well
until a time of scarcity occurs. Large quantities of apricot pulp finds
its way to this country from France, and realises a good price. In
America, a clever plan of rapid drying and evaporation of the watery
parts of fruit has come into vogue, and this industry gives employment
to many workers. A stove constructed for the purpose costs about
fifteen pounds. It is portable, and is used in many districts far from
towns where there is not a ready market for fresh fruit. As the water
slowly evaporates, the acid and starch in the fruit undergo a chemical
change, and grape-sugar is formed. When placed in water, these dried
fruits once more swell up to their original volume, and are in every
respect like fresh fruit, only that they require, when cooked, but
half the usual quantity of added sugar. All kinds of vegetables can be
preserved by this process.
A correspondent of the _Times_, writing from Iceland, gives some
interesting particulars of the present condition of that island. At
Reykiavik, its chief town, nothing was known of the reported volcanic
disturbances in the interior of the island; but this is hardly to
be wondered at, because a large portion of that area is occupied by
snow-covered mountains and glaciers which the natives never visit, and
which, it may be said, are never explored save by enterprising and
adventurous tourists. Professor Tromholt is in Iceland, pursuing his
researches on the aurora borealis, the frequency and brilliancy of
which, coupled with the exceeding clearness of the atmosphere, give him
every advantage. A large portion of Iceland still remains unexplored;
and its mineral resources, if we except the large quantities of
sulphur which are being worked by an English Company, are but slightly
developed. There is still room for a brisk trade in coal, borax,
copper, &c., which are abundant on the island. Besides these products,
the fisheries of Iceland are most prolific; and although fish and its
belongings form two-thirds of the total exports, it is believed that
they offer a promising field for the further employment of capital.
Among the wonderful engineering projects of the present day must be
mentioned the scheme for making Paris a seaport. This subject lately
engaged the attention of the Rouen Congress of the French Association
for the Advancement of Science, who gave to it two days’ discussion.
One of the chief promoters of the project explained that the proposed
way to carry it out was by transforming the river Seine, by dredging
operations, into a canal ninety-eight feet in width. The amount of soil
to be removed would measure close upon one hundred million cubic yards;
it would consist chiefly of gravel and alluvial earth. The cost of the
entire undertaking is estimated at four millions sterling.
Much attention has of recent years been called to the neglected art
of Irish lace-making. The beauty of design and careful execution of
old specimens of Irish lace contrast very remarkably with modern
productions, which are too often coarse and inartistic. An Exhibition
held last year at the Mansion House, London, and another still more
lately at Cork, have to some extent aroused popular interest in this
most beautiful class of work, and have given some impetus to the
Royal Irish School of Art Needlework. In addition to the labours
of this self-supporting Society, which is doing its best in the
dissemination of good patterns and the employment of trained teachers,
South Kensington has sent one of its emissaries, in the person of Mr
Alan Cole, who has made lace-work his particular study, to lecture
throughout the country. This gentleman is now in Ireland, travelling
about the country wherever his presence is required, and teaching the
application of artistic design to the technical requirements of the
beautiful fabric.
A pretty picture, exhibited some short time ago, represented a little
child looking up inquiringly to the intelligent face of a collie
dog, and was entitled ‘Can’t you Talk?’ Sir John Lubbock has lately
been asking this question of a little black poodle, and has been
endeavouring to teach it to make its wants known by the use of cards
with written characters upon them. Thus, one card bears the word
‘Food,’ another ‘Out;’ and the dog has been taught to bring either the
one or the other to his master, and to distinguish between the meanings
of the two. It seems doubtful whether the dog in this case uses the
faculty of sight or smell; and it would be a source of some interest
and amusement to those possessing an obedient dog, and with time at
their disposal, to carry out the same kind of experiments, using new
cards every time. It is constantly brought home to any observing owner
of a dog that the animal understands a great deal more than he is
generally credited with. In one case, we knew of a Dandy Dinmont who
became so excited when certain things were mentioned in which he was
interested, that French words had to be used in place of English ones
when he was present. Their intelligence is truly marvellous. The wife
of the editor of this _Journal_ possesses a terrier which, while his
mistress is out driving, will remain quietly in the parlour during
her absence, taking no heed of other vehicles that may come to the
front-door in the interval, but instantly recognising by some intuitive
perception the arrival of the carriage or cab that has restored his
mistress. Be it noted that the room in which Tim is confined during
these temporary partings is at the back of the house, apart altogether
from the front-door. This special power of discrimination on the part
of our favourite has always been a marvel to us.
Colonel Stuart Wortley, commenting upon Sir John Lubbock’s experiments,
tells an interesting story concerning a cat which he found during the
Crimean War. The poor creature was pinned to the ground by a bayonet
which had fallen and pierced its foot. The colonel released it; and the
animal attached itself to him, and remained with him to the end of the
war. The first two mornings of their acquaintance the cat was taken to
the doctor’s tent to have his wound dressed. The third morning, the
colonel was on duty; but the cat found its way to the doctor’s all the
same, scratching at the tent for admission, and holding up its paw for
examination.
Some months ago, when every one who had more money than scientific
knowledge was hastening to invest in electric-lighting schemes, we
gave a few words of warning as to the risks involved. That we were not
wrong is evidenced by the collapse of so many of the Companies which
were then issuing rose-coloured prospectuses. We now learn that so
many people have suffered loss in this way, that there is the greatest
difficulty in floating any scheme in which the word ‘Electricity’
occurs; and although inventors are still producing wonderful things,
they cannot get support. There seems, however, to be no doubt whatever
about the genuine success of the Edison Company in New York. The
annual Report of the Company recently issued says that the Pearl
Street Station in that city is working up to its full capacity. It has
nine thousand eight hundred and eleven incandescent lamps in use, and
the machinery has been kept running night and day without cessation
since September 1882. The Company has now two hundred and forty-six
installations at work, with a total of more than sixty thousand lamps.
It may be mentioned as a matter of interest that Edison has had two
hundred and fifteen patents actually granted him, and one hundred more
have been filed. Every small item of his mechanical contrivances forms
the subject of a patent specification.
There is just now such a great demand for handsomely marked leather,
such as that obtained from alligator and boa skin, that the supply
is not nearly equal to said demand. A large proportion of leather
sold as the product of the alligator is really a photograph of the
original article. It is managed in this way. The real skin, with its
curious rectangular spaces separated by grooved markings, is carefully
photographed. From the negative thus obtained a copy is produced in
bichromated gelatine, which has the property, under the action of
light, of affording images in relief. This is easily reproduced in
metal, which serves the purpose of a die. Common cheap leather is
now taken and placed with this die under heavy pressure, when all
the delicate markings of the alligator skin are indelibly impressed
upon it. The finished product can be stained in any way required, but
is more frequently preferred to remain the brown colour left by the
tanning operation. Such is the most recent trade-application of the
fable of the jackdaw and the peacock’s feathers.
An American paper calls attention to a theory of life which, it
asserts, was held by the great Faraday. This theory makes the duration
of life depend upon the time occupied in growth, leaving all questions
of disease or accident which may shorten life out of the question
altogether. Man occupies twenty years in the business of growing. This
number multiplied by five will give the age to which he ought, under
favourable circumstances, to live—namely, one hundred years. A camel,
occupying eight years in growing, ought to live by the same rule forty
years; and so on with other animals. Human life he divided into two
periods—growth and decline, and these were subdivided into infancy,
lasting from birth to the age of twenty; youth, lasting from twenty to
fifty; virility, from fifty to seventy-five; after which comes age.
‘A white-elephant’ has long been the common name of a gift which is
not only useless, but is likely to entail trouble and expense upon
its owner. The animal which has lately found a temporary home at the
Zoological Gardens, London, will not be considered so unwelcome a
guest, for it has drawn thousands of sightseers to the place. It is
reported to have been bought from the king of Burmah on behalf of Mr
Barnum, the American showman. But there seems to be a conflict of
opinion on the point. Those who ought to know say that the exhibited
animal has nothing very remarkable about it, and is certainly unlike
the sacred animals of Burmah. Moreover, it is said that the king of
Burmah would as soon part with his kingdom as with a _real_ white
elephant, which is the emblem of universal sovereignty, the parting
with one of which would forebode the fall of the dynasty.
One of the attractions of the forthcoming International Health
Exhibition will be an Indian village and tea-garden with the plant
actually growing—that is to say, if it can be deluded into growing in
the smoky atmosphere of London. In a tea-house, the beverage will be
served by natives of tea districts, who are to be brought over from
India for the purpose. There will also be exhibited a native pickle
establishment. We venture to assert that if the entire Exhibition is
carried on in this spirit, it is sure to be a success. In past times,
the tea industry would have been represented by a few dozen bottles
of the dried leaf with labels attached, which none would have read.
Our authorities are now learning that if they wish to interest the
multitude in an Exhibition, it must consist of something more than the
dry-bones of the various subjects which it includes.
At a meeting of the Linnæan Society, Mr J. G. Baker lately gave a
very interesting account of a potato new to this country, but common
in Chili, which he believes would thrive well on this side of the
Atlantic. There are known to botanists seven hundred species of
_solanum_. Only six of these produce tubers, and of these six only one
has been as yet cultivated by us, and this is the common potato.[1]
Its true home, according to Mr Baker, is found in those parts of Chili
which are high and dry; but there is another species which flourishes
in moister situations, which he believes might be made to rival its
familiar fellow. When cultivated, it grows most luxuriantly, so much
so, that six hundred tubers have in one year been gathered from two
plants. Some specimens of this same potato were brought to England so
long ago as the year 1826, but they met with little attention, having
been confounded with the more common species. Two other species of
_solanum_, natives of the eastern portion of South America, and found
at Buenos Ayres, &c., are also being cultivated experimentally in
France and in the United States.
A case lately occurred which is deserving of notice, if only as a
caution to those good people who are always ready to assist any
unfortunate who may be seized with a fit. A man acting in this way
the part of good Samaritan to a woman who had fallen in an epileptic
fit, was bitten by her in the hand. In three days the wrist had
swollen to such an extent as to need medical advice, and a few hours
afterwards the poor man died. There may, of course, have been something
exceptional in his state of health, which rendered this human bite more
rapidly fatal than that of a rabid dog; but the lesson to be learned
from the sad story is, that the greatest care should be taken in
dealing with epileptic patients.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Regents, Champions, Orkney Reds, &c., are mere _varieties_ of the
common species of potato.
OCCASIONAL NOTES.
TELEGRAPH EXTENSION.
The scheme for the extension of the telegraph system, in anticipation
of the meditated introduction of the sixpence rate, is a most
comprehensive one, and indicates that the Post-office authorities
anticipate a very considerable increase of work. The arrangements cover
the entire kingdom, and the sum to be expended is half a million,
part of the sum having been voted in the official year 1883-84, and
the remainder to be voted in the new estimates. From London, upwards
of eighty new wires are to be erected to the principal towns of the
kingdom, including four additional wires to Liverpool; two each to
Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, and Newmarket; three to
Glasgow; two to Edinburgh; and one each to a large number of towns,
including, in Scotland, Aberdeen and Dundee. Within London itself, five
new pneumatic tubes are to be provided; about seventy new wires will
be erected; forty existing wires will be provided with instruments to
work ‘duplex’—that is, with the power of transmitting two different
messages by one wire from each end simultaneously; and a very large
number of offices will have simple apparatus substituted by other and
improved instruments. In the city of Liverpool, in addition to the
London wires named, three new wires to Manchester are to be put up;
and one new wire to Belfast, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bristol, Carlisle,
Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, and Newcastle. All those wires and all the new
London wires are to be ‘duplexed,’ and thus each new line practically
counts as two. A number of wires out of Liverpool and the other large
towns will be converted to duplex; and Liverpool is to have eight new
pneumatic tubes for its busier local offices. At Manchester, besides
the London and Liverpool communications already named, there will be
new wires to Birmingham, Chester, Edinburgh, Leeds, Newcastle, Bolton,
Burnley, Derby, Huddersfield, Hull, Isle of Man, and Nottingham,
all duplexed. At Newcastle, an evidence of the curious ramifications
of trade is seen in the fact that a new wire is to be put up between
that town and Cardiff. Bristol obtains new wires to London, Liverpool,
Birmingham, Swansea, and Cardiff; and a share of a new wire for news
purposes with Exeter, Plymouth, &c. Sheffield in the same way has a new
wire to London, and a share in a news circuit with Nottingham, Leeds,
and Bradford. At Birmingham, a number of new local wires, and the
duplexing of others, are provided in addition to the various new trunk
wires already named. In Scotland, a considerable number of new wires
fall to be erected. Edinburgh obtains two of the new London wires, and
wires to Manchester, Kelso, and Musselburgh, with the duplexing of some
important wires, such as those to Kirkcaldy and Perth. Glasgow, with
three London wires added, gets new wires to Dundee, Leeds, Liverpool,
Oban, Kilmarnock, Falkirk, &c.; while a large number of the existing
wires will be duplexed, and in some cases re-arranged to give more
suitable service. A considerable number of new local wires are to be
erected in both cities. In Aberdeen, besides the new London wire, the
principal change will be new wires to Wick and Lerwick—the last a most
important improvement, as Shetland messages will reach London with
two steps, instead of being, as now, repeated at Wick, Inverness, and
Edinburgh or Glasgow.
We observe that the French are about to increase enormously
their telegraphic system, and that the new wires are to be laid
_under_ground. It would be well if, remembering the ever-recurring
havoc wrought upon our overhead wires by gales and snow, we followed
the example of our Gallic neighbours.
AN OIL BREAKWATER AT FOLKESTONE.
A series of experiments has been made at Folkestone, with the result of
very satisfactorily demonstrating the value of the method of spreading
oil over troubled waters which has been devised by Mr John Shields,
of Perth, and which has been already described in this _Journal_.
Many years ago, Mr Shields, observing the effect of a few drops of
oil accidentally spilt on a pond in connection with his works, began
experiments with a view to determine if this property of oil could
not be turned to account on a large scale for the saving of life and
property at sea and on our coasts. He soon arrived at the conclusion
that the problem to be solved was ‘how to get the oil on troubled
waters when it was wanted and where it was wanted.’ By trying various
methods of solving this question, first at Peterhead and then at
Aberdeen, he has worked out the system which, with the co-operation of
the South-eastern Railway Company, has at his expense been placed in
readiness for use during stormy weather off the entrance to the harbour
at Folkestone.
On the 29th January, Mr A. Shields, son of the inventor, and Mr
Gordon, of Dundee, carried out a number of experiments at Folkestone
before a distinguished company. The weather, unfortunately, was not
all that could be desired; it was too moderate, and the wind blowing
from the west did not drive such breakers across the harbour bar as
a strong south-wester would have produced. Nevertheless, the channel
near shore was sufficiently rough to prove the efficiency of Mr
Shields’ arrangements for smoothing it. What was seen by the visitors
may be told in few words. Three large casks were lying on their
sides near the pier-end, and pipes inserted in these were connected
with small force-pumps, each worked by a man. Attention was first
directed to windward towards the unfinished new pier, which juts out
to the south-west. Those who have watched these experiments on former
occasions said they could see the oil rising from a submerged pipe laid
from the old pier-head towards the new pier for a distance of five
hundred feet. The flood-tide, however, was running so strongly that it
was not until the oil had passed the pier that its effects began to be
visible, and these effects were soon more distinctly seen as the two
men stationed at the other barrels began to pump oil into a couple of
pipes, also laid on the sea-bottom, and running across the entrance of
the harbour towards Shakspeare’s Cliff for about one thousand yards. A
fully-manned lifeboat, the _Mayer de Rothschild_, had been rowed out
of the harbour, and was lying off the pier-head, rolling a good deal,
but not getting a splash while in the wide glassy strip of oil-covered
waters that soon stretched away for half a mile or more, though to
seaward of this glistening streak the waves were curling and breaking
into foam. On the harbour-side the effects of the oil were noticeable
far in-shore, and few white caps were to be seen, the film, attenuated
as it must have been, and not more than one hundred feet in width,
acting apparently as an efficient breakwater. When the pumping was
stopped, it was estimated that rather over one hundred gallons of oil
had been used.
The trial, which was as satisfactory as the conditions of weather
permitted, was concluded about one o’clock; yet at four, when the
Boulogne boat came in, broad streaks of comparatively smooth, unbroken
water showed where the oil still lay on the surface. For this permanent
apparatus, lead-pipes of about one and a quarter inch diameter are
used, and at distances of one hundred feet apart there are fixed
upright pipes eighteen inches high, in each of which is a conical
valve, protected from silt by a rose. The oil used was seal-oil, some
kind of so-called fish-oil having been found by experiment to be better
for the purpose than either vegetable or mineral oils.
A second experiment was made at the same place with Mr Gordon’s
invention. This consists of firing shells filled with oil, which, when
the shells burst, spreads itself over the water. Each shell contains
about three-quarters of a gallon of oil. They are fired from mortars,
a charge of eight ounces of pebble powder being used. The shell is
simply an oil-flask, at the bottom of which is a recess for a fuse of
somewhat peculiar construction. It consists of two small chambers. In
these there is a projecting submarine fuse about an inch in length.
The fuse is capped with a composition which renders it absolutely
waterproof, and is so constructed as to secure its ignition with
unfailing certainty. Then the fuse is so timed that it bursts at the
time required, and just as the shell is touching the surface of the
water. The oil from each shell covers a very considerable area of
surface. Somewhere about a dozen of these shells were fired at a range
of from four hundred and fifty to five hundred yards. The effect was
wonderful. The hissing and raging waters were gradually allayed. For
a considerable space the sea was converted into a lake with a gentle
swell, in which a ship or a boat could ride with perfect ease. The
shells, of course, obviate the necessity of pipes, and the smallest
seaport in the kingdom might therefore, with an old mortar and a dozen
or two of gallons of oil, make a temporary harbour of refuge whenever
the necessity arose.
THE CHURCHYARD BY THE SEA.
A MEMORY.
Across the waste of years I see
One spot for ever soft and green,
Which, shrined within my memory,
In evening glow or morning sheen,
Tells of the golden, vanished years,
When smiles came oftener far than tears.
A churchyard by the restless sea,
Where, in deep calm and dreamless sleep,
The Dead lay resting peacefully,
Unheeding the tempestuous deep;
Careless alike of sun and breeze,
Or ebbing of those changeful seas.
And oft when shipwreck and despair
Came to the little sea-beat town,
Pale women, with dishevelled hair,
To the wild shore went hurrying down,
And tenderly dead eyes would close,
And smooth dead limbs for long repose.
Full many a weary, storm-tossed wight,
Year after year, in quiet was laid,
Safe from the blustering storms of night,
In this green spot, and undismayed,
Slept close beside the breakers’ roar,
Whose wrath should mar his rest no more.
And over each low-sleeping head,
Where thymy turf grew green and soft,
The wild bee hummed, and rosy-red
The brier-flower bloomed, and up aloft
The fleecy clouds went drifting by
Like shades, across the summer sky.
And ever as the years go by,
And one by one old memories creep
From out the sweet Past solemnly,
I seem to see, beside the deep,
That little, lonely, silent spot,
With many a childish dream enwrought.
J. H.
* * * * *
The Conductor of CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL begs to direct the attention of
CONTRIBUTORS to the following notice:
_1st._ All communications should be addressed to the ‘Editor, 339 High
Street, Edinburgh.’
_2d._ For its return in case of ineligibility, postage-stamps should
accompany every manuscript.
_3d._ MANUSCRIPTS should bear the author’s full _Christian_ name,
Surname, and Address, legibly written; and should be written on
white (not blue) paper, and on one side of the leaf only.