[Illustration: Issue Title. ]

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

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

NEW YORK, MARCH 29, 1879. 

Vol. XL. , No. 13. [NEW SERIES. ]

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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. 

ESTABLISHED 1845. 

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VOL. XL. , NO. 13. [NEW SERIES. ] _THIRTY-FOURTH YEAR_. 

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1879. 

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CONTENTS. 

(Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk. )

 Africa crossed again 193 Aluminum 197 Barometer, aneroid 201 Bolt, door, improved* 198 Bread, snow-raised 199 Buffalo, domestication of the 197 Carpet beetle, remedy for the 195 Chimney flues 198 Clocks, pneumatic 196 Cooper, Peter, as an inventor 193 Crusher, ore, novel* 194 Electricity, statical, phenom. In 194 Flour, banana 195 Furnace, imp. , for burn'g garbage* 198 Hardware, English & American 201 Ice cave of Decorah, Iowa 196 Inventions, new agricultural 199 Iron, advance in 201 Light, albo-carbon 201 Magnetism, curious facts in 194 Motor, Gary, the* 196 Natural science, charms of 200 Neutral line, Gary's 196 Notes and queries 203 Patent laws 192 Patents, American, recent 194 Pen, stencil, new* 195 People, a strange 195 Phosphorescence 199 Plants protected by insects 201 Pleuro-pneumonia 192 Railway, Vesuvius 200 Reading and eyesight 199 Reading, taste for 193 Regulator, engine, novel* 195 Spain a field for machinery 193 Sponges, glass* 200 Table, ironing, new* 194 Telegraph, writing 196 Telegraph, writing, Cowper's 197 Telegraphy, ocean, progress of 195 Tiller, steam, new* 191 Tree, pottery 200 Vase, Greek, ancient* 199

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TABLE OF CONTENTS OF

THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT

NO. 169, FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 29, 1879. 

Price 10 cents. For sale by all newsdealers. 

I. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS. --The Herreshoff Torpedo Boat, recentlybuilt at Bristol, R. I. , for the British Government. The novelties inthe placing of the screw, etc. The Peculiar Boiler. 4figures. --Improved Hopper Steam Dredger. 2 figures. --The St. GothardTunnel. --The Beacon Tower of Lavezzi. 3 figures. 

II. ARCHITECTURE. --Bath Abbey Church. Full page illustration. 

III. TECHNOLOGY. --The Achison Stone Cutting Machine. 1 engraving. --TheDeep Mines of the World. --Shoemakers' Wax. --Gruber's New Method ofGermination. 1 engraving. --Improved Process for Treating Wood, etc. , for Paper Manufacture. --Bronzing Plaster of Paris Casts. --Sal Soda forUnhairing Hides and Skins. --Sieburger's Paste. --To Tan Lace Leatherwith Softsoap. 

Practical Dyeing Recipes: Blue white zephyr, Scotch blue on worsted, Scotch green on worsted, jacquineaux on worsted, drab on worsted, goldon venetian carpet yarn, red brown slubbing, scarlet braid, slatebraid, light drab on cotton, blue on cotton, brown on cotton, chromeorange on cotton carpet yarn, black on common mixed carpet yarn forfilling, black on cotton and wool mixed yarn. 

Damar Varnish for Negatives. --To Make Vignetters by Means ofGelatino-Chromate. --Resorcine Colors. --Phosphate Soaps. --Substitutionof Different Metals in Ultramarine Colors. --A Harmless Green for PaperHangings. --Siegwart's Bath for Etching Glass. --Composition of FrenchBronzes. --A New Enemy to the Tea Plant. --The Bradford Oil Sand. 

IV. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. --Apparatus for Titration, 1figure. --Palladium. --Hæmocyanin. --Test for Alcohol in Ethereal Oilsand Chloroform. --Reaction of Tartaric and Citric Acid. --A PeculiarObservation. --Insolubility of Iodate of Lead. --Mode of Preventing theContamination of Water with Lead. --Separating Phosphorus from Iron andSteel. --Production of Alcohol without Fermentation. 

V. ELECTRICITY, LIGHT, HEAT, ETC. --Some Facts in regard to Telescopicand Stereoscopic Vision. --The Centenary of the Birth of Sir HumphryDavy. His boyish days. His first chemical experiments. His firstlecture at the Royal Institution. A very entertaining biographicalsketch. --Light and Heat in Gas Flames. --Nickel Needles forCompasses. --The Nature of the Elements. --A New Compound Prism forDirect Vision Spectroscopes. 

VI. MEDICINE AND HYGIENE. --Filaria in the Eye. By CHAS. S. TURNBULL, M. D. --The Species of Tapeworm now Prevalent. --Nitrous Oxide underPressure. 

VII. NATURAL HISTORY, GEOLOGY, ETC. --A Gigantic American Deep-seaCrustacean, 1 engraving. --Glaciers in the United States. --The ToulomneCave. --Archæological Explorations in Tennessee. By F. W. PUTNAM. 6figures. --Memorably Cold Winters. --Life at Timber Line. By ProfessorC. E. ROBINS, Summit, Colorado. --The Walled Lake in Iowa. 

VIII. ASTRONOMY. --Is the Moon Inhabited? By CAMILLE FLAMMARION. Thevarious opinions that have been held in regard to the moon. The bestwe can do with our present telescopes. The means we possess forjudging of the condition of the moon. Recent changes on the moon. Photographs of the moon and their defects. Facts that have beenobserved by the persevering eyes of astronomers. 

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A NEW STEAM TILLER. 

Steam is now made to perform almost everything in the way of heavylabor, to the saving of muscle and energy that may be more profitablyemployed; and since inventive genius has devised means of governingsteam with absolute accuracy, there seems to be no limit to itseconomical application. 

A recent invention in steam engineering, which exhibits in a markeddegree the controllability and adaptability of steam, is Mr. HerbertWadsworth's steam tiller, an engraving of which we present herewith. 

[Illustration: Fig. 1, 2, 3. ]

This machine (Fig. 1) is provided with a steam cylinder, similar tothe cylinder of a steam engine, containing a piston, the rod of whichis attached to a crosshead, A, that slides on ways, B, secured to thebed supporting the cylinder. 

The tiller, D, as it is carried to starboard or port, slides through asocket, E, pivoted to the crosshead. 

The motion of the rudder is communicated to the steam cut-off by meansof the shaft, C, crank, J, rod, K, crank, I, and the hollow valvespindle. When the tiller is amidships the valve handle, H, is at rightangles to the cylinder, and parallel to the tiller. By moving thelever, H, to right or left, steam is admitted to one end or the otherof the cylinder, which, acting on the tiller through the piston, piston rod, and crosshead, moves the rudder; and when the rudderreaches the desired position the cut-off will have been moved theamount necessary to prevent further entrance of steam. When the rudderis influenced by the waves or by the expansion or contraction ofsteam, the cut-off alters its position in relation to the valve andautomatically arranges the steam passages so that the piston isreturned to its proper position. The details of the cut-off are shownin Fig. 2; the valve, G, which covers the cut-off, F, acts like a fourway cock. The spindle of the cut-off, F, is connected with the lever, I, and is moved by the rudder, as already described. By enlarging orgradually narrowing the ends of the steam ports great rigidity orelasticity may be given to the hold of this engine, according to therequirements of the particular vessel. 

Few and simple as are the parts of this machine it is possible, bybalancing the valves and suiting the diameter of the cylinder to thework to be performed, to overcome great resistances with a slighteffort. The inventor says that this system of valves is considered byexperts to be novel and very valuable. 

In Fig. 3 is shown a pattern of a slide valve suited to specialpurposes. Its working is essentially the same as that of the valvealready described. The ports are set side by side, parallel with thesides of the valve. The supply port is in the middle, the other portslead to opposite ends of the cylinder. 

[Illustration: Fig. 4. ]

In Fig. 4 is shown another application of the controlling valve andcut-off described above. Two oscillating steam cylinders are employedin working the rudder. They are placed on opposite sides of the chest, A, and are supplied with steam through the controlling valve, B. Thepiston rods of the two cylinders are connected with cranks placed onopposite ends of the shaft, C, at right angles to each other. Uponthis shaft, half-way between the pillow blocks which support it, thereis a worm which engages a toothed sector, D, on the rudder-post, E. Toan extension of the rudder-post is secured an arm, F, which isconnected with the arm, G, of the controlling valve. By shifting thelever, H, the supply of steam to the two cylinders may be increased ordiminished, or its direction may be changed, so that the engines willbe reversed or stopped. This engine is remarkable for its simplicity. The cylinders may be detached and changed if required, one size of bedanswering for three different sizes of cylinder, which may vary onlyin diameter, the stroke being the same, so that the castings forengines of different power are the same except in the matter of thecylinders and pistons, and all the parts are interchangeable--afeature of modern engine building that cannot be too highly valued. 

Further information may be obtained from Herbert Wadsworth, 26Merchants' Bank Building, 28 State street, Boston, Mass. 

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HOW OUR PATENT LAWS PROMOTE AND IMPROVE AMERICAN INDUSTRIES. 

On another page we print in full a most suggestive paper recentlyread before the Manchester (Eng. ) Scientific and Mechanical Society, by Mr. Frederick Smith, a prominent builder of that city, contrastingthe qualities, styles, and prices of American and English builders'hardware--a paper which the _Ironmonger_ pronounces one of the mostserious indictments yet preferred against British workmanship in thatdepartment. 

The field covered by the paper--the supplying of house builders'hardware--embraces a multitude of conveniences, but no realnecessities. Why is it that America has been prolific in novel devicesand clever improvements in this department of manufacture as in somany others, while England has gone on stolidly copying ancient forms, changing only to cheapen by the introduction of poor material and shamconstruction? Mr. Smith mentions several reasons that Englishmanufacturers have given him for the state of things he, as anEnglishman, so greatly deplores; but evidently he is not satisfiedwith any of them, and very justly; for none of them touches the realcause--the radically different attitude of the public mind towardinventions, characteristic of the two countries. 

In England the user of household inconveniences accepts them asmatters of fact; or if he grumbles at them he never thinks of tryingto change them. It is not his business; and if he should devise animprovement, ten to one he could not get it made. To patent it ispractically out of the question, for if it were not condemned off-handas trivial, the patent fees would make it cost more than it was likelyto be worth. The mechanic who makes such things is trained to work topattern, and not waste his time on experiments. Besides, if he shouldmake a clever invention he would not be able to raise the necessaryfees for a patent, or to get any one to help him thereto. Themanufacturer "makes what his customers call for. " Why should he spendhis money and spoil his plant to introduce improvements? So things go, until some pestilent Yankees flood the markets with better articles ata lower price; and British consumers suddenly discover that they wantsomething that the native manufacturer cannot make. The need wasthere; but invention did not follow. How happened it that the Americanmanufacturer did not pursue the same uninventive course? What producedthe radically different attitude of the American mind towardnewfangled notions out of which inventions proceeded and flourished?

No doubt several causes have been at work: freedom of thought andaction; popular education; a blending of races; and the tide ofadventurous spirits naturally resorting to a new and free land. Thesehave had their influence undoubtedly; but all these have existed, moreor less completely, in other new lands, without that outburst ofcreative energy which has made America the nursery of inventions, great and small. The determining cause, the one condition thatprevailed here and not elsewhere, was the circumstance that almostfrom the start new ideas were given a market value in this country. Unlike all others, the American patent law directly encouragedindependent thinking in all classes. The fees were low and theprotection offered fairly good. Men soon found that it paid to invent;that one of the surest roads to competency was a patented improvementon something of general use. If a household utensil or appliance wentwrong or worked badly, every user was directly interested in devisingsomething better; and, more than that, he was interested in making hisinvention known and in securing its adoption. The workman at his benchhad an ever-present inducement to contrive something at once cheaperand better than the article he was hired to make. He could patent hisimprovement, or the wholly original device he might hit upon, for afew dollars; and his patent would count as capital. It would make himhis own master, possibly bring him a fortune. The manufacturer couldnot rest contented with the thing he set out to make, for the meanesthired man in his employ might suddenly become a competitor. He must beconstantly alert for possible improvements, or his rivals would getahead of him. The result is a nation of inventors, at whose hands thenewest of lands has leaped to the leadership in the arts, almost at abound. 

There is talk of changing all this; of emulating the conservativespirit of the Old World; of putting inventors under bonds; of stoppingthe rush of industrial improvement--to enable a few short-sighted yetgrasping corporations to get along without paying license fees forsuch inventions as they happen to approve of. They profess to wantinventors to go on making improvements. They are willing to ascribeall honor to the successful inventor; but they are determined not topay him for his work. Still more they are determined to change theattitude of the public mind toward inventors and inventions, if such achange can be wrought by plausible misrepresentations. The fact thatthey were able to inveigle one branch of the American Congress intoassenting to their unjust and mischievous scheme is one of theanomalies of our recent history. It should be taken as a timelywarning of impending danger to all the industrial interests of thecountry. It is outrageous that the inventors of the land, after havingraised their country to the first rank among industrial nations, should have to defend their constitutional rights againstCongressional invasion; but the fact exists; and the defense should bemade a matter of personal interest and effort not only by everyinventor and manufacturer, but by every honest citizen. 

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PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 

The cattle plague, which is creating so much anxiety throughout theEastern States, is a contagious fever, affecting cows chiefly, characterized by extensive exudations into the respiratory organs, andattended by a low typhus inflammation of the lungs, pluræ, andbronchia. It has prevailed in Europe for ages, at times developinginto wide-spread scourges, causing incalculable loss. It was importedinto England in 1839, and again three years later; and it wasestimated that within twenty-five years thereafter the losses bydeaths alone in England had amounted to $450, 000, 000. In 1858 thedisease was carried to Australia by an English cow, and, spreading tothe cattle ranges, almost depopulated them. 

In 1843 an infected Dutch cow brought the disease to Brooklyn, whereit has since lingered, slowly spreading among the cattle in Kings andQueens counties. In 1847 several head of infected English cattle wereimported into New Jersey, and, spreading among a herd of valuablecattle, made it necessary for them all to be slaughtered, the onlycertain method of stamping out the disease. In 1859 four infected cowswere imported into Massachusetts from Holland; the plague spreadrapidly, and was stamped out only by persistent effort, the Statepaying for over 1, 000 slaughtered cattle. Since 1867 the disease hasnot been known there. Meantime the pest had invaded EasternPennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, where it has since prevailed inisolated localities. The absence of large herds of moving cattle inthese districts, except for speedy slaughter, has prevented thedisease from developing into a general plague. 

The recent action of the British Council in forbidding the importationof American live cattle is likely to prove of inestimable benefit tothis country, in forcibly calling attention to the grave risk that thepresence of the disease on Long Island and elsewhere constantlyentails. Fortunately the drift of the cattle traffic is eastward, andas yet there has been no propagation of the poison in the great cattleranges of the West. Unless summarily arrested, however, the diseasewill surely reach those sources of our cattle supply, and occasionlosses that can be estimated only in hundreds of millions of dollars. 

The experience of all countries into which this disease has gainedaccess appears to prove that there is only one way of getting rid ofit--namely, the immediate killing of all infected cattle, and thethorough disinfection of the premises in which they are found. 

The disease is purely infectious, and is never found in regions whereit has not gained a foothold by importation. Palliative measures havein every instance failed to eradicate the disease, and are onlyjustifiable, as in Australia, after the plague has reached dimensionsutterly beyond the reach of any process of extermination. 

Professor Law, of Cornell University, one of our best informedveterinary surgeons, most emphatically opposes every attempt tocontrol the disease by quarantining the sick or by the inoculation ofthe healthy. "We may quarantine the sick, " he says, "but we cannotquarantine the air. " To establish quarantine yards is simply tomaintain prolific manufacturers of the poison, which is given off bythe breath of the sick, and by their excretions, to such an extentthat no watchfulness can insure against its dissemination. Besides, the expense of thorough quarantining operations would amount to morethan the value of the infected animals whose lives might be savedthereby. Inoculation is still less to be tolerated at this stage ofthe pest. 

The Professor says: "Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, and England, have been treating the victims of this plague for nearly half acentury, but the result has only been the increase of disease anddeath. Our own infected States have been treating it for a third of acentury, and to-day it exists over a wider area than ever before. Contrast this with the results in Massachusetts and Connecticut, wherethe disease has been repeatedly crushed out at small expense, andthere can be no doubt as to which is the wisest course. As all theplagues are alike in the propagation of the poison in the bodies ofthe sick, I may be allowed to adduce the experience of two adjacentcounties in Scotland when invaded by the rinderpest. Aberdeen raised afund of £2, 000, and though she suffered several successiveinvasions, she speedily crushed out the poison wherever it appeared byslaughtering the sick beasts and disinfecting the premises. The resultwas that little more than half the fund was wanted to reimburse theowners for their losses, and the splendid herds of the county werepreserved. Forfar, on the other hand, set herself to cure the plague, with the result of a universal infection, the loss of many thousandsof cattle, and the ruin of hundreds of farmers. Finally the malady wascrushed out in the entire island by the method adopted by Aberdeen andother well advised counties at the outset. "

And again, "Cattle have been inoculated by the tens of thousands inBelgium and Holland, and of all Europe these are the countries nowmost extensively infected. France, Prussia, Italy, Austria, andEngland have each practiced it on a large scale, and each remains ahome of the plague. Australia has followed the practice, and is nowand must continue an infected country. Our own infected States haveinoculated, and the disease has survived and spread in spite of it, and even by its aid. Whatever country has definitively exterminatedthe plague (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holstein, Mecklenburg, Switzerland, Massachusetts, and Connecticut), that country hasprohibited inoculation and all other methods that prevail on theprinciple of preserving the sick, and has relied on the slaughter ofthe infected and the thorough disinfection of their surroundings. Sowill it be with us. If any State adopts or allows any of thesetemporizing measures, that State will only repeat the experience ofthe past alike in the Old World and the New, will perpetuate thedisease in the country, will entail great losses on its citizens, willkeep up the need for constant watchfulness and great expense by theadjoining States for their own protection, and will indefinitelypostpone the resumption of the foreign live stock trade, which, a fewmonths ago, promised to be one of the most valuable branches of ourinternational commerce. "

We are persuaded that the position taken by Professor Law, and othersimilar-minded veterinary surgeons, is the only safe one. The diseasecan be stamped out now with comparatively small loss. If trifled with, and tolerated, it cannot but result in a great national calamity. 

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SPAIN A FIELD FOR MACHINERY AND PATENTS. 

From a too lengthy communication to admit in full to our columns, aresident of Madrid communicates to the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN some factsrelative to the fertility of the soil of Spain, her necessity forimproved agricultural and other implements, and closes with theassertion that it is a good field withal for patents. We cull from theletter as follows:

I have lived, says the writer, for a number of years in this beautifulcountry, so little understood by foreigners, so little appreciated byits own inhabitants. The Spain of romance, poetry, and song, is thegarden as well as the California of Europe. But it stands in greatneed of the health-giving touch of the North American enterprise. Wehave here the same mineral treasures, the same unrivaled advantages ofclimate, that made Spain once the industrial and commercial emporiumof the world. 

But Spain is awakening. She is endeavoring to shake off her lethargy. The late Exhibition of Paris has proved this; and those who arefamiliar with the past history and present condition of Spain havebeen astonished at the result of this effort. A new era has commencedfor the country, and it is everywhere evident that a strong current ofenterprise and industry has set in. But it is with nations, as withindividuals, when they have remained long in complete inaction, brainand muscles are torpid and cannot at first obey the will. Spain needsthe assistance of other nations hardened and inured to toil. 

The plows now used to till the land are precisely such as were thoseleft by the Moors in the unfinished furrow, when with tears and sighsthey bade farewell to their broad fields, their mosques and palaces, whose ideal architecture is still the wonder of the world, to go forthas outcasts and exiles in obedience to the cruel edict that drove themaway to the deserts of Africa. 

I doubt whether there is an American plow in Spain, much less a steamplow. Sowing and reaping machines are here unknown, and grain is treadout by oxen and mules just as it was in Scripture times, and cleanedby women, who toss it in the air to scatter the chaff. Everything isprimitive and Oriental here as yet. 

Spain could supply all Europe with butter and cheese, and, on thecontrary, these articles are imported in large quantities fromEngland, Holland, and Switzerland. The traveler crosses leagues andleagues of meadow land where not a tree is to be seen, nor one sheeppasture, and which are nevertheless watered by broad rivers that carryaway to the ocean the water that would, by irrigation, convert thesefields into productive farms. There are many places in Spain where thewine is thrown away for want of purchasers and vats in which to keepit. In the Upper Aragon, the mortar with which the houses are built ismade with wine instead of water, the former being the most plentiful. Aragon needs an enterprising American company to convert intowholesome table wine the infinite varieties there produced, and whichour neighbors the French buy and carry away to convert into Bordeaux. 

We want American enterprise in Galicia and Asturias, where milk isalmost given away, to convert it into the best of butter and cheese;and also in those same provinces, where delicious fruit is grown insuch abundance that it is left on the ground for the swine. 

Spain needs many more railroads and canals, all of which, whenconstructed, are subsidized by the government; the railroads at therate of $12, 000 a kilometer, and many more additional advantages areoffered for canals. 

With regard to commerce with Spain, we have to lament the sameindifference on the part of the Americans. I have, for instance, anAmerican double-burner petroleum lamp. All who see it admire and covetit, but they are not to be had here. If we except one American inMadrid, who brings mostly pumps and similar articles on a very smallscale, we have no dealers in American goods here. Wooden clothes pins, lemon squeezers, clothes horses, potato peelers, and the hundreds ofdomestic appliances of American invention, elsewhere consideredindispensable, are in Spain unknown. 

We had confidently expected that the new Spanish law on patents woulddraw the attention of American inventors toward this country, thatto-day offers a wide field for every new practical invention, but I amsorry to see that, with the exception of Edison and a few others, theAmericans have not yet availed themselves of the easy facility fortaking patents for Spain, where new inventions and new industries arenow eagerly accepted and adopted. And while the Americans are thuscareless as to their own interests, the French take out and negotiate, in Spain, American patents with insignificant variations. 

Let American inventors be assured that any new invention, useful andpractical, and above all, requiring but little capital to establish itas an industry, will find a ready sale in Spain. 

I could enlarge to a much greater extent upon the indifference ofAmerican inventors, merchants, manufacturers, and business men, as tothe market they have in Spain in their respective lines, and upon theimportance of building up a trade with this country, but to do sowould require more space than I think you would feel justified inoccupying in your columns. 

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PETER COOPER AS AN INVENTOR. 

The successes of Peter Cooper's long and useful life are well known. Not so many are aware of his varied experience in the direction offailure, particularly in the field of invention. More than once he hasfound his best devices profitless because ahead of his time, orbecause of conditions, political or otherwise, which no one couldforesee. He possessed the rare qualities, however, of pluck andperseverance, and when one thing failed he lost no time in tryingsomething else. Before he was of age he had learned three trades--andhe did not make his fortune at either. 

In a familiar conversation with a _Herald_ writer recently, Mr. Cooperrelated some of his early experiences, particularly with reference toenterprises which did not succeed. His father was a hatter, and as aboy young Cooper learned how to make a hat in all its parts. Thefather was not successful in business, and the hatter's trade seems tohave offered little encouragement to the son. Accordingly he learnedthe art of making ale. Why he did not stick to that calling and becomea millionaire brewer, Mr. Cooper does not say. Most probably thenational taste for stronger tipple could not at that time be overcome, and ale could not compete with New England rum and apple-jack. Theyoung mechanic next essayed the art of coachmaking, at which he serveda full apprenticeship. At the end of his time his employer offered toset him up in business, but the offer was not accepted, through fearof losing another's money. He felt that if he took the money and lostit he would have to be a slave for life. So he quit coachmaking andwent to work for a man at Hempstead, L. I. , making machines forshearing cloth. In three years, on $1. 50 a day, Cooper had savedenough money to buy his employer's patent. Immediately he introducedimprovements in the manufacture and in the machine, which the war withEngland made a great demand for by excluding foreign cloths. At thistime Cooper married. In due time the family numbered three, and theyoung father's inventive faculty was again called upon. 

"In those days, " said Mr. Cooper to the reporter, smiling as theremembrance came to his mind, "we kept no servants as they donowadays, and my wife and myself had to do all that was to be done. After our first child was born I used to come into the house and findmy wife rocking the cradle, and I relieved her from that while I wasthere. After doing that for a few days I thought to myself that Icould make that thing go of itself. So I went into my shop, and made apendulous cradle that would rock the child. Then I attached a musicalinstrument which would sing for it, and at the same time the machinewould keep the flies off. The latter was very simple; by hangingsomething to the cross bar, as the cradle swung under it, backward andforward, it would create wind enough to drive away the flies. Themachine was wound up by a weight, and would run for nearly half anhour without stopping. I took out a patent for it, and one day apeddler came along with a horse and wagon, as they do in the country, and saw the cradle. He struck a bargain with me and bought the patentright for the State of Connecticut, giving for it his horse and wagonand all the goods he had with him. They afterward made some there, butnothing like as good as mine. It was a beautiful piece of furniture, "said Mr. Cooper regretfully, as he thought of it as a thing of thepast. "They afterward substituted springs for the weight movement, butthat kind was not so good. "

About this time the war with England ended and the market was spoiledfor the shearing machines. Then, we believe, Mr. Cooper tried his handat cabinetmaking, but that failed, and he set up a grocery store wherethe Bible House now stands. While selling groceries Mr. Cooper made aninvention which ought to have made his fortune, but it did not. Thestory is best told in Mr. Cooper's own words:

"It was just before the Erie Canal was completed, and I conceived aplan by which to tow boats by the use of all the elevated waters onthe line of the canal. To demonstrate that that was practicable I madewith my own hands a chain two miles long, and placed posts 200 feetapart in the East River from Bellevue dock down town about a mile. These posts supported grooved wheels to lay the chain in, forming anendless chain. The whole was moved by an overshot waterwheel placed atthe Bellevue dock. A reservoir twelve feet square and three deep heldthe water to turn the wheel. "

At the suggestion of Governor Clinton Mr. Cooper tightened his chainand pulled up the end post just before the grand trial of his devicewas to come off. He succeeded in getting stone enough to anchor thepost, however, and the experiment went off swimmingly. The boat washooked on to the chain, and the passage back and forward--twomiles--was made in eleven minutes. 

"I ran that boat some ten days, " says Mr. Cooper, "to let people seewhat could be done, and carried nearly a thousand people. Part of thetime I ran two boats. Once I counted 52 people in one boat. I made thewhole chain myself and planted the posts. As I could find no wheels tosuit me I made the moulds and cast the wheels myself out of block tinand zinc. It was no small job, I can tell you. "

This was unquestionably a grand invention. In itself it was a perfectsuccess; but it was not used. Mr. Cooper tells why:

"It demonstrated completely that the elevated water power along theline of the canal and every lock in the canal could be made use of todrive the boats. Governor Clinton gave me $800 for the privilege ofbuying the right to the plan in case he should want to use it on theErie Canal. In making the canal he had promised the people along theroute that as soon as it was finished they could sell their horses totow the boats, their grain and fodder to feed the horses, and theirprovisions for the passengers. On reflection he thought that if hetook all that away from them he would have to run the gantlet again, and he could not afford to do that. There never was anything done withthe plan until a few years ago, when Mr. Welch, president of theCamden and Amboy Railroad and Canal, invented exactly the same thingand put it in practice on his locks on the canal. He found it savedhalf the time and great expense. He went to Washington to take out apatent for it, and when he got there he found that I had patented thesame thing fifty-three years before. My patent had run out, so hecould use the plan on his canal. It has also been used on one lock onthe Erie Canal. If they could have used that chain on the whole lengthof the Erie Canal it would have saved many millions of dollars. "

This would not be a bad place, were there room for it, to speak of"undeveloped" and therefore worthless inventions; and the assumptionthat if an inventor does not make his invention immediately profitableit must be good for nothing, and should be dispatented. But the moralgoes without telling. 

Mr. Cooper's next attempt at invention was made about the same time, but in quite a different direction. It was during the struggle of theGreeks for independence, and wishing to do something for theirassistance, Mr. Cooper undertook to make a torpedo boat for them. Mr. Cooper says:

"It was a small one that could be taken on board ship and used todestroy any vessel that came to destroy them. It was fixed with arotary steam engine and a screw wheel to propel it. It was intended tobe guided from the ship or the shore. There were two steel wires fixedto the tiller of the rudder, and the operator could pull on one sideor the other and guide the vessel just as a horse is guided withreins. It was so arranged that at night it would carry a light withits dark side toward the object to be destroyed, and by simply keepingthe light in range with the vessel it would be sure to hit it. Thetorpedo was carried on a little iron rod, projecting in front of thetorpedo vessel a few inches under water. Contact would discharge thetorpedo and bend this iron rod. This would reverse the action of theengine and cause the torpedo vessel to return right back from whenceit came, ready to carry another torpedo. "

Unfortunately the torpedo boat was not ready in time to go with theship carrying the contributions for Greece. It was stored in Mr. Cooper's factory (he had then turned his attention to glue) and wasdestroyed by the burning of the factory. It seems to have been quite apromising affair for the time. Mr. Cooper says:

"I experimented with it at once to see how far it could be guided. Imade a steel wire ten miles long and went down to the Narrows to testthe matter. I had steel yards fastened to one end of the wire, and tothe other end the torpedo vessel as attached. It got about six milesaway when a vessel coming into the harbor crossed the wire and brokeit. Although the experiment was not complete it showed that for atleast six miles I could guide the vessel as easily as I could guide ahorse. "

Mr. Cooper's work as the pioneer locomotive builder in this country;his later inventions and improvements in the manufacture of railwayiron and wrought iron beams for fireproof buildings; his applicationof anthracite coal to iron puddling, and his other successes arealmost as widely known as his philanthropic efforts for the educationand advancement of the industrial classes of this city. 

After all, we are not sure but the story of his long and varied andalways honorable career, told by himself, would not be worth, to youngpeople who have to make their way in life through many difficulties, more even than the advantages of the noble institution which bears hisname. 

 * * * * *

TASTE FOR READING. --Sir John Herschel has declared that "if he were topray for a taste which should stand under every variety ofcircumstance and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to himthrough life, it would be a taste for reading. " Give a man, heaffirms, that taste, and the means of gratifying it, and you cannotfail of making him good and happy; for you bring him in contact withthe best society in all ages, with the tenderest, the bravest, and thepurest men who have adorned humanity, making him a denizen of allnations, a contemporary of all times, and giving him a practical proofthat the world has been created for him, for his solace, and for hisenjoyment. 

 * * * * *

AFRICA CROSSED AGAIN. 

Information has been received by way of Lisbon, March 12, that thePortuguese explorer, Pinto, has succeeded in traversing Africa fromwest to east, and has reached Transvaal. The latitude of his courseacross is not mentioned. 

 * * * * *

CURIOUS FACTS IN MAGNETISM. 

At the meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences February 17th, thearticle in the March number of _Harper's Magazine_, entitled "Gary'sMagnetic Motor, " was incidentally alluded to, and Prof. C. A. Seeleymade the following remarks: The article claims that Mr. Gary has madea discovery of a neutral line or surface, at which the polarity of aninduced magnet, while moving in the field of the inducing pole, ischanged. The alleged discovery appears to be an exaggerated statementof some curious facts, which, although not new, are not commonlyrecognized. If a bar of iron be brought up, end on, near a magneticpole, the bar becomes an induced magnet, but an induced magnet quitedifferent from what our elementary treatises seem to predict. On thefirst scrutiny it is a magnet without a neutral point, and only onekind of magnetism--namely, that of the inducing pole. Moreover, thesingle pole is pretty evenly distributed over the whole surface, sothat if iron filings be sprinkled on the bar they will be attracted atall points and completely cover it. Now, if while the bar is coveredby filings it be moved away from the inducing pole, the filings willgradually and progressively fall, beginning at the end nearest theinducing pole and continuing to some point near the middle of the bar;the filings at the remote end will generally be held permanently. Whenthe bar is carried beyond the field of the inducing pole it is simplya weak magnet of ordinary properties--_i. E. _, of two poles and aneutral point between them. 

A plausible and simple explanation of this case is that the inducingpole holds or binds the induced magnetism of opposite name, so that ithas no external influence; the two magnetisms are related to eachother as are the positive and negative electricities of the Leydenjar. Let the inducing pole be N. ; the S. Of the bar will be attractedby it and bound, while the N. Of the bar becomes abnormally free andactive. On moving the bar from the pole the bound magnetism isreleased and a part becomes residual magnetism. Now when the residualbalances the free magnetism which is of opposite name, we are onGary's neutral line. In a restricted sense there is a change ofpolarity over the half of the bar contiguous to the inducing pole; onthe other half there is no change of pole in any sense. Experimentwith a shingle nail in the place of the filings, _à la_ Gary, bring the nail to the induced bound pole, and it may be held, exceptat the neutral line. Now if one will read the magazine article withsuch ideas as these he will feel pretty sure that the writer of it hasused words recklessly, that Gary has not made an original discovery, and that the "neutral" line, whatever it be, has only an imaginedrelation to the "principle" of the motor. 

The Gary Motor as a perpetual motion scheme, of course, is not worthyof serious notice from a society devoted to science. It has nonoteworthy novelty of construction or conception. Mr. Gary isafflicted with the very old delusion of the cut-off or shield ofmagnetism, which is to cost less than what comes from it. His cut-offis a sheet of iron, which we know acts simply as an armature. 

 * * * * *

A NEW PHENOMENON IN STATICAL ELECTRICITY. 

M. E. Duter, in a paper read before the French Academy in December, showed that when a Leyden jar is charged with either positive ornegative electricity its internal volume increases, and that thiseffect is a new phenomenon, unexplainable by either a theory of anincrease of temperature or of an electrical pressure. The experimentwas performed by means of a flask-shaped Leyden jar with a long tubeattached to its neck, and containing a liquid which served as theinner armature. The author's attention had been called to the factthat this phenomenon had been observed ten years ago by M. Gori. 

His researches, just made public, leave no doubt of the accuracy of M. Duter's view, that the glass of the jar really expands. According tothe theory of elasticity, the effect of an internal pressure in ahollow sphere is in the inverse ratio of its thickness. M. Duter, therefore, had three flasks made of the same volume, but ofthicknesses of 4 mm. , 0. 8 mm. , and 0. 5 mm. Respectively. They werefilled with water and enveloped by tin foil. Each carried a capillarythermometer tube, in which the variations of the height of liquidserved to measure the changes in volume due to electrification. Hefound that these changes were imperceptible in the thick glass, verymarked in the flask of mean thickness, and rose to 30 mm. In thethinnest. The variations in volume were very nearly in inverse ratioof the square roots of the thicknesses. 

 * * * * *

A NEW ORE CRUSHER. 

The accompanying engravings represent an improved ore crusher, whichis said to be very effective and economical in the use of power. 

[Illustration: Fig. 1. --BROWN'S ORE CRUSHER. ]

[Illustration: Fig. 2. --HORIZONTAL SECTION. ]

A short vertical cast iron cylinder, A, having in one side a dischargeopening, H, contains all of the movable parts. 

The upper portion of the cylinder is lined with chilled iron plates, L, and an inclined chute, X, leads to the discharge opening, H. 

A rigid shaft, B, carries the circular crusher, C, and moves in a balland socket joint at the upper end, and extends eccentrically throughthe boss of a bevel wheel, G, at its lower end, and rests on a stepsupported by a lever that may be adjusted by the screw, R. The wheel, G, is driven by the pinion, P, on whose shaft there are a pulley and afly-wheel. 

The double gyratory motion of the crusher, C, causes it to approachall portions of the lining, L, crushing whatever lies between. 

It is said that this machine is capable of crushing 10 tons of thehardest ore per hour. Its weight is 6, 500 lbs. --_Musée del'Industrie. _

 * * * * *

RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS. 

Enos Richmond, of Troy, N. Y. , has invented a steak tenderer, havinga plunger studded with chisel-pointed rods, and arranged in a case inconnection with an elevating spring. A blow upon the knob at the topof the plunger forces the chisel-pointed rods through holes in thecasing into the meat, the casing resting on the surface of the steak. 

Messrs. A. W. Southard and Volney R. Sears, of Falls City, Neb. , havepatented an improved invalid bedstead, which is provided withingenious mechanism for placing the invalid in different positions. 

An improved spring attachment for carriage tops, which is designed toprevent the rear bow from being bent by the weight of the top whenturned back, has been patented by Mr. Robert E. McCormick, ofDoylestown, O. 

Mr. Espy Gallipher, of Schellsburg, Pa. , has devised an axle journalhaving a groove lengthwise upon its upper side which extends back uponthe surface of the axle and communicates with an oil cup. A slidingrod occupies a portion of the groove; when this rod is drawn out itpermits the oil to fill the groove; when it is pushed into the groovein the axle, the oil is ejected and a further supply is cut off. 

An improved pill machine, invented by Messrs. W. N. Fort and R. R. Moore, of Lewisville, Ark. , is adapted to the manufacture of pills inlarge quantities. The machine has mechanism for grinding and mixingingredients, a grooved wheel and trough for forming the pills, and adevice for applying powder. 

An improvement in millstone adjustments has been patented by Mr. Stephen P. Walling, of South Edmeston, N. Y. This invention consistsin a screw applied to the end of the mill spindle on which the stoneis rigidly held, so that the running stone may be forced by the screwaway from the stationary stone and held against the action of a springat the opposite end of the spindle, the object being to prevent thestones from becoming dulled by contact with each other. 

An improved attachment for sewing machines for soaking or waxing thethread as it passes the needle, has been patented by Mr. Pedro F. Fernandez, of San Juan, Porto Rico. The invention consists in a framesecured to the arm of a sewing machine by a thumb-screw, and providedwith a clamping device for holding wax or soap. 

A novel combination of a toggle and springs and levers for operating adrag saw has been patented by Mr. Harvey Hughes, of Wheat Ridge, Ohio. The saw, while properly guided, is free to move up or down withoutaffecting the leverage. 

An improvement in filters, which consists in re-enforcing the feltdisk with a backing of wire cloth to enable it to resist heavy waterpressure, has been patented by Mr. B. P. Chatfield, of Aiken, S. C. 

A basket having light sheet metal sides attached to a wooden bottom bycrimping the edges over a rib on the periphery of the bottom, has beenpatented by Mr. Samuel Friend, of Decatur, Ill. The handle and lid maybe easily removed to permit of packing and storage. 

An improved cross bar for fastening doors, patented by Mr. RichardCondon, of La Salle, Ill. , has a spring acted portion which engages asocket on the door casing, and is retained in that position by aspring catch. 

 * * * * *

A NEW IRONING TABLE. 

The accompanying engraving represents a convenient and inexpensivetable recently patented by Mr. Albert H. Hogins, of Morrisania, N. Y. It is more especially designed for ironing, but it may be used forother purposes when closed up. The top is made in two taperingsections, A B. The section, B, is narrower than the other, and ispivoted at its wider end to a bar, E, which slides into a socketformed in the table. The table has five legs, one of which, D, isattached to a sliding rail that supports the narrower end of themovable part of the top. The table is provided with a drawer in oneend and with a tray, C, for containing blankets, etc. 

[Illustration: HOGINS IMPROVED TABLE. ]

The convenience and practicability of this table for general laundryuse, will be apparent without further explanation. The board, B, whendrawn out will be used for ironing skirts, shirts, and other garmentsrequiring a board of this character, and when the table is closedtogether and fastened by the hooks, it may be used in ironing largerarticles. When closed it presents the appearance of an ordinary tableand may be used as such. 

Further information may be obtained by addressing the inventor asabove. 

 * * * * *

A NOVEL ENGINE REGULATOR. 

The accompanying engraving represents two different styles ofregulator, invented by Mr. Stenberg, in which the effect ofcentrifugal force is utilized. In a vessel, A, of parabolic shape isplaced a disk, C, which floats on glycerine contained by the vessel, and is attached to the walls of the vessel by an annular membrane, sothat it may rise and fall in a vertical direction as the glycerine iscarried with more or less force toward the edge of the vessel bycentrifugal action. The inner surface of the vessel, A, is providedwith radial grooves, by which the rotary motion of the vessel iscommunicated to the glycerine. To the center of the disk, C, isattached a vertical rod, which extends downward through the hollowshaft and is connected with governor valve. An increase of speedthrows the glycerine toward the periphery of the valve, and, raisingthe disk, C, closes the steam valve; a diminution of speed permits theglycerine to fall back, when the disk descends and the valve opens. 

[Illustration: STENBERG REGULATOR. ]

The disk, C, has a small aperture for the admission and escape of air, and the apparatus is adjusted by pouring lead into the groove in thedisk. 

The regulator shown in Fig. 2 operates upon the same principle, but itis adjusted by means of a spring. 

This apparatus is manufactured by Blancke Bros. , Magdeburg. --_Musée del'Industrie. _

 * * * * *

A STRANGE PEOPLE. 

Botel Tobago is an island in the South Seas which has lately beenvisited by a party of United States naval officers. They weresurveying a rock east of the South Cape of Formosa, and called at thisisland. They found a curious race of Malay stock. These aborigines didnot know what money was good for. Nor had they ever used tobacco orrum. They gave the officers goats and pigs for tin pots and brassbuttons, and hung around the vessel all day in their canoes waitingfor a chance to dive for something which might be thrown overboard. They wore clouts only, ate taro and yams, and had axes, spears, andknives made of common iron. Their canoes were made without nails, andwere ornamented with geometrical lines. They wore the beards of goatsand small shells as ornaments. 

Such is the account of these strange people given by Dr. Siegfried, ina letter read at the last meeting of the Philadelphia Academy ofNatural Sciences. 

 * * * * *

REMEDY FOR THE NEW CARPET BEETLE. 

Noticing a statement made by Mr. J. A. Lintner, to the effect that thePersian insect powder would probably prove unavailing as a remedyagainst the ravages of the new carpet beetle (_Anthrenus_), W. L. Carpenter, of the U. S. A. , was led to institute some experiments withthis well known insecticide, the results of which he communicates tothe current number of the _Naturalist_. A small quantity of the powderwas introduced, on the point of a penknife, under a tumbler beneathwhich various insects were consecutively confined. The movements ofthe insects brought them in contact with the poison, which readilyadhered to their body; in endeavoring to remove it from theirappendages a few particles would be carried to the mouth and thence tothe stomach, with fatal effect. The results were briefly thus: A honeybee became helpless in 15 minutes; a mad wasp in 8 minutes; a smallant in 5 minutes; a large butterfly resisted the effects for over anhour, and apparently recovered, but died the next day; a house-flybecame helpless in 10 minutes; a mosquito in 15; and a flea in 3minutes. In experimenting on beetles, an insect was secured as nearlythe size of the carpet beetle as could be found. It was easilyaffected, and became helpless in 12 minutes. 

In these, and experiments with various other insects, the scent fromthe powder did not produce any bad effect on those subjected to itsodor where actual contact was not possible; but when carried to themandibles the effect was to produce complete paralysis of the motornerves. The experiments prove that all insects having open mouth partsare peculiarly susceptible to this popular insecticide. As a result, the writer does not hesitate to recommend the powder to housekeepersas an infallible agent in destroying the carpet beetle and preventingits ravages. The Persian insect powder liberally sprinkled upon thefloor before putting down a carpet, and afterward freely placed aroundthe edges, and never swept away, will suffice to preserve a largesized carpet. No ill effects from its use need be feared by thehouseholder, since the drug is poisonous to no kinds of animals exceptinsects. 

 * * * * *

BANANA FLOUR. 

The banana has recently found a new use in Venezuela. It has theproperty of keeping the soil moist round it, in a country wheresometimes no rain falls for months; so it has been employed to givefreshness, as well as shade, to the coffee plant, whose cultivationhas been greatly extended (Venezuela produced 38, 000, 000 kilogrammesof coffee in 1876). The Venezuelans can consume but little of thebanana fruit thus furnished, so that attention is being given toincreasing its value as an export. At the Paris Exhibition weresamples of banana flour (got by drying and pulverizing the fruitbefore maturity) and brandy (from the ripe fruit) The flour has beenanalyzed by MM. Marcano and Muntz. It contains 66. 1 per cent ofstarch, and only 2. 9 of azotized matter. 

 * * * * *

NEW STENCIL PEN. 

The accompanying engraving shows new form of stencil pen invented byMr. J. W. Brickenridge, of La Fayette, Ind. In Fig. 1 the entireapparatus is shown in perspective; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section ofthe pen; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a portion of the drivingapparatus. In this instrument compressed air is used as a motive forcefor driving the perforating needle. The inverted cup, shown in detailin Fig. 3, has its mouth closed with a flexible diaphragm, which isvibrated rapidly by a pitman having a convex end attached by itscenter to the middle of the diaphragm. The pitman is reciprocated by asimple treadle motion, which will be readily understood by referenceto Fig. 1. 

[Illustration: BRICKENRIDGE'S PNEUMATIC STENCIL PEN. ]

The cup has a small aperture covered by a valve to admit of theentrance of air when the diaphragm is drawn down. The pen, shown indetail in Fig. 2, has a cup and flexible diaphragm similar to the onealready described. The diaphragm rests upon the enlarged end of a barwhich carries at its lower end a perforating needle. The pen isconnected with the driving mechanism by a flexible tube. The needlebar is pressed lightly against the diaphragm by a spiral spring. 

When the treadle motion is operated the impelling diaphragm israpidly vibrated, and through the medium of the air contained in theflexible tube it communicates motion to the pen diaphragm andconsequently to the needle bar and needle. If, while the needle isreciprocated in this way, the pen is moved over the surface of thepaper, a line of fine perforations will be made. With this instrumentstencils may be made for making multiplied copies of maps, drawings, and manuscripts. 

 * * * * *

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF OCEAN TELEGRAPHY. 

At the celebration in this city of the twenty-fifth anniversary of theformation of the company for laying the first Atlantic cable, Monday, March 10, the projector of the enterprise, Mr. Cyrus W. Field, spokeas follows:

NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS: Twenty-five years ago this evening, in thishouse, in this room, and on this table, and at this very hour, wassigned the agreement to form the New York, Newfoundland and LondonTelegraph Company--the first company ever formed to lay an oceancable. It was signed by five persons, four of whom--Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts, and myself--are here to-night. Thefifth, Mr. Chandler White, died two years after, and his place wastaken by Mr. Wilson G. Hunt, who is also present. Of my associates, itis to be said to their honor--as might have been expected from men oftheir high position and character--that they stood by the undertakingmanfully for twelve long years, through discouragements such as nobodyknows but themselves. Those who applaud our success know littlethrough what struggles it was obtained. One disappointment followedanother, till "hope deferred made the heart sick. " We had little helpfrom outside, for few had any faith in our enterprise. But not a mandeserted the ship: all stood by it to the end. My brother Dudley isalso here, who, as the counsel of the company, was present at thesigning of the agreement, and went with Mr. White and myself the weekafter to Newfoundland, to obtain the charter, and was our legaladviser through those anxious and troubled years, when success seemedvery doubtful. At St. John's the first man to give us a heartywelcome, and who aided us in obtaining our charter, was Mr. Edward M. Archibald, then Prime Minister of Newfoundland, and now for more thantwenty years the honored representative of Her Majesty's Government atthis port, who is also here to-night. It is a matter for gratefulacknowledgment that we were spared to see accomplished the work thatwe began; and that we meet now, at the end of a quarter of a century, to look with wonder at what has been wrought since in other parts ofthe world. 

Our little company came into existence only a few weeks before theWestern Union Telegraph Company, which is entitled to share in ourcongratulations, and has kindly brought a connecting wire into thisroom, by which we can this evening communicate with every town andvillage from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and by our sea cables, withEurope, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, andSouth America. While our small circle has been broken by death butonce, very different has it been with the Atlantic Telegraph Company, which was formed in London in 1856, to extend our line across theocean. At its beginning there were eighteen English and twelveAmerican directors, thirty in all, of whom twenty-nine have eitherdied or retired from the board. I alone still remain one of thedirectors. 

Many of the great men of science on both sides of the Atlantic, whoinspired us by their knowledge and their enthusiasm, have passed away. We have lost Bache, whose Coast Survey mapped out the whole line ofthe American shores; and Maury, who first taught us to find a paththrough the depths of the seas; and Berryman, who sounded across theAtlantic; and Morse; and last, but not least, Henry. Across the waterwe miss some who did as much as any men in their generation to makethe name of England great--Faraday and Wheatstone, Stephenson andBrunel--all of whom gave us freely of their invaluable counsel, refusing all compensation, because of the interest which they felt inthe solution of a great problem of science and engineering skill. Itis a proud satisfaction to remember that while the two Governmentsaided us so generously with their ships, making surveys of the ocean, and even carrying our cables in the first expeditions, such men asthese gave their support to an enterprise which was to unite the twocountries, and in the end to bring the whole world together. 

Others there are, among the living and the dead, to whom we are undergreat obligations. But I cannot repeat the long roll of illustriousnames. Yet I must pay a passing tribute to one who was my friend, ashe was the steadfast friend of my country--Richard Cobden. He was oneof the first to look forward with the eye of faith to what has sincecome to pass. As long ago as 1851 he had a sort of prophet's dreamthat the ocean might yet be crossed, and advised Prince Albert todevote the profits of the great London Exhibition of that year to anattempt thus to unite England with America. He did not live to see hisdream fulfilled. 

But though men die, their works, their discoveries, and theirinventions live. From that small beginning under this roof, arose anart till then scarcely known, that of telegraphing through the depthsof the sea. Twenty-five years ago there was not an ocean cable in theworld. A few short lines had been laid across the channel from Englandto the Continent, but all were in shallow water. Even science hardlydared to conceive of the possibility of sending human intelligencethrough the abysses of the ocean. But when we struck out to cross theAtlantic, we had to lay a cable over 2, 000 miles long, in water over2 miles deep. That great success gave an immense impulse to submarinetelegraphy then in its infancy, but which has since grown till it hasstretched out its fingers tipped with fire into all the waters of theglobe. "Its lines have gone into all the earth, and its words to theends of the world. " To-day there are over 70, 000 miles of cable, crossing the seas and the oceans. And, as if it were not enough tohave messages sent with the speed of lightning, they must be sent inopposite directions at the same moment. I have just received atelegram from Valentia, Ireland, which reads, "This anniversarywitnesses duplex working across the Atlantic as an accomplishedfact"--by which the capacity of all our ocean cables is doubled. 

Who can measure the effect of this swift intelligence passing to andfro? Already it regulates the markets of the world. But better stillis the new relation into which it brings the different kindreds ofmankind. Nations are made enemies by their ignorance of each other. Abetter acquaintance leads to a better understanding; the sense ofnearness, the relation of neighborhood, awakens the feeling ofbrotherhood. Is it not a sign that a better age is coming, when alongthe ocean beds strewn with the wrecks of war, now glide the messagesof peace?

One thing only remains which I still hope to be spared to see, and inwhich to take a part, the laying of a cable from San Francisco to theSandwich Islands--for which I have received this very day a concessionfrom King Kalakaua, by his Minister, who is here to night--and fromthence to Japan, by which the island groups of the Pacific may bebrought into communication with the continents on either side--Asiaand America--thus completing the circuit of the globe. 

But life is passing, and perhaps that is to be left to other hands. Many of our old companions have fallen, and we must soon give place toour successors. But though we shall pass away, it is a satisfaction tohave been able to do something that shall remain when we are gone. Ifin what I have done to advance this enterprise, I have done somethingfor the honor of my country and the good of the world, I am devoutlygrateful to my Creator. This has been the great ambition of my life, and is the chief inheritance which I leave to my children. 

 * * * * *

CORRESPONDENCE. 

 * * * * *

THE GARY MOTOR. 

_To the Editor of the Scientific American:_

In your article on the "Gary Motor, " issue of March 8, page 144, yousay: "There is no neutral line in the sense that polarity changes whenMr. Gary moves his piece of sheet iron with its attached shingle nailacross the pole or near the pole of a magnet. " "The most delicateinstruments fail to detect such a change of polarity, " etc. Mr. Gary'sclaim of a neutral line is of course absurd, but you are wrong insaying that the polarity does not change under the conditionsdescribed in the _Harper's Monthly_ article. Mr. Gary is perfectlycorrect in claiming a change of polarity in that experiment, althoughhis other claim of deriving from this change of polarity a continuousmotion without consuming energy are manifestly absurd. 

[Illustration: Gary Motor A. ]

[Illustration: Gary Motor B. ]

The change of polarity is easily explained. If a bar of soft iron, whose length is two or three times the distance between the poles ofthe horseshoe magnet, be placed in front of the latter as in thesketch, and at some distance, poles will be induced, as shown by theletters N S. Now let the bar approach the magnet. When within a shortdistance consequent points will be formed and the polarity at the endswill be reversed, the bar having four poles, as in the second sketch. The bar of soft iron must have certain dimensions depending on thesize and power of the horseshoe magnet. By using a powerfulelectro-magnet in place of a permanent one, a soft iron bar ofconsiderable size may be used, and the change of polarity exhibited byshowing the repulsion in one case for the south pole and in the otherfor the north pole of a heavy permanent magnet. When in the properposition a very small movement of the soft iron bar is sufficient toproduce the change. 

WM. A. ANTHONY. 

Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. , March 2, 1879. 

 * * * * *

GARY'S NEUTRAL LINE. 

_To the Editor of the Scientific American:_

I have just read the article in the issue of March 8, on the GaryMotor, and cannot refrain from offering a suggestion on the subject. When I read the article referred to in _Harper's_, I formed the sameopinion of the so-called invention that the writer in the SCIENTIFICAMERICAN has expressed, and, in the main, such is my opinion still. I, however, tried the experiment by which Gary claims to prove theexistence of his neutral line, and soon found the same explanationthat the writer in the AMERICAN has given. I then, curiously enough, modified the experiment in precisely the manner he suggests, placingthe magnet in a vertical position, and using first a piece of sheetiron and then an iron wire under it. This was before seeing thearticle in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. My experiment is well illustratedby the writer's diagram, except that the nail should be at the end ofthe iron wire, where its polarity is of course most strongly marked. But the result is not as he states it. For, as the wire is brought uptoward the magnet, the nail drops off before the wire touches themagnet. When the sheet iron is used, the point at which the nail dropsoff is farther from the magnet than in the case of the wire, and whenit is brought nearer it will again pick up the nail, which thencontinues to cling until the iron touches the magnet and afterwards. Thus the existence of a line in which the soft iron, or inducedmagnet, does not attract the nail, and above and below which it doesattract it, is demonstrated. That the polarity of the induced magnetis reversed when it crosses this line may be demonstrated as follows:When it is held beyond (or below) this line (Fig. 1), the negativepole of the permanent magnet, the positive being kept at a distance, may be made to approach the iron and touch it, without causing thenail to drop. (Fig. 3. ) But when contact occurs, the whole of the ironmust possess the polarity of that part of the magnet which it touches, namely, negative. Hence in the position indicated in Fig. 1, thepolarity of the induced magnet does not correspond with that of thepermanent magnet, but is as indicated by the letters. On the otherhand, if the positive pole alone be made to approach, the nail willdrop; but when it is very near, or in contact, it again holds thenail, and the iron is now positive; and if the negative pole also benow brought into contact, the polarity of the soft iron willcorrespond with that of the magnet, as shown in Fig. 2. 

[Illustration: Gary's Neutral Line A. ]

[Illustration: Gary's Neutral Line B. ]

[Illustration: Gary's Neutral Line C. ]

These experiments should be performed with the soft iron under bothpoles of the magnet, and the ends of the former should extend somewhatbeyond the poles of the latter, or the nail is liable to jump to themagnet as the "neutral" line is crossed. The position of the lettersin Fig. 1, of the previous article, represents the polarity of theinduced magnet to be the same as that of the permanent, which is trueonly within (or above) the line described; and this, together with hisstatement that no such line can be discovered, appears to indicatethat the writer relied upon his knowledge of the laws of magnetism tostate what would be the result, without testing it experimentally. Itis probable that this reversal of polarity is susceptible ofexplanation by the known laws of magnetic currents, but if it hashitherto escaped observation, its discovery is certainly deserving ofnotice, and may lead to valuable results. Of the fact, any one mayeasily convince himself by the simple experiments above described. 

G. H. FELTON, M. D. 

Haverhill, Mass. , February 28, 1879. 

 * * * * *

PNEUMATIC CLOCKS. 

_To the Editor of the Scientific American:_

In the description of the pneumatic clock, copied from _La Nature_, and published in your journal of date 1st of March, the invention iscredited to me. Such is not the case. By an arrangement between Mr. Wenzel, Mr. Brandon of Paris, and myself, patents have been obtainedin France, England, etc. , for the clock, and issued in my name; butthe honor of the invention belongs exclusively to Hermann J. Wenzel, of San Francisco. 

Yours faithfully, E. J. MUYBRIDGE. 

San Francisco, Cal. , February 27, 1879. 

 * * * * *

THE ICE CAVE OF DECORAH, IOWA. 

_To the Editor of the Scientific American:_

Some years ago I visited the "Ice Cave" of Decorah, Winneshiek county, Iowa, and having since been unable to receive any explanation of thewonderful phenomenon exhibited by it, I write, hoping that you or somecorrespondent may explain the paradox. 

The thriving town of Decorah lies in a romantic valley of the UpperIowa River, and the cave is almost within its corporate limits. Following the left bank of the stream, one soon reaches the vicinity, and with a hard scramble through a loose shale, up the side of aprecipitous hill, forming the immediate bank of the river, theentrance is gained--an opening 5 feet wide and 8 feet high. Thesedimensions generally describe the cave's section. From the entrancethe course is a steep decline--seldom less than 40°. At times theceiling is so low that progress on hands and knees is necessary. About125 feet from the entrance the "Ice Chamber" is reached. At this spotthe cave widens into a well proportioned room, 8 by 12 feet. The flooris solid ice of unknown thickness, and on the right hand wall of theroom a curtain of ice drops to the floor, from a crevice extendinghorizontally in the rock at the height of one's eyes. Closeexamination discovers the water oozing from this crevice, and as itfinds its way down the side it freezes in the low temperature of thechamber. Singularly this one crevice, and that no wider than a knifeedge, furnishes this, nature's ice house, with the necessary water. Itwas a hot day in August, the thermometer marking 80° in the shadewhen the visit was made, and comparatively the cold was intense. Incommon with all visitors, we detached some large pieces of ice andwith them hurriedly departed, glad to regain the warmth of the outsideworld. 

The most remarkable fact in connection with this wonder is that thewater only freezes in the summer. As the cold of actual winter comeson the ice of the cave gradually melts, and when the river below isfrozen by the fierce cold of Northern Iowa, the ice has disappearedand a muddy slush has taken the place of the frigid floor. I would addthat the ice chamber forms the terminus of the cave. Beyond a shallowcrevice in the crumbling rock forbids further advance. The rockformation of this region is the Portland sandstone. 

Why should the temperature of the ice chamber be such as to freeze thewater trickling into it? And above all, why should the ice disappearwith the cold of winter?

Mansfield, O. H. M. W. 

 * * * * *

THE WRITING TELEGRAPH. 

On the evening of February 26, 1879, the writing telegraph of Mr. E. A. Cowper, of London, was exhibited in operation before the Society ofTelegraph Engineers, in that city. It is a curious and remarkableinvention. By its use the handwriting of the operator may betransmitted, but a double circuit, that is, two telegraph wires, areused. The operator moves with his hand an upright pointer or stylus, with which he writes the message on paper. The stylus has two armsconnected with it, one of which arms, when the stylus makes an upwardmovement, causes a current to be sent over one wire, while the otherarm causes a current to pass over the other wire when the stylus ismoved laterally. These two motions are, at the receiving end of theline, made to operate on the needles of galvanometers, and the latterare by silk threads combined or connected with a delicately suspendedink tube, from which a minute stream of ink falls upon the strip ofpaper below it; the arrangement being such that the combined motionsof the galvanometers so move the ink pen as to make it correspond tothe motion of the stylus at the sending end. The apparatus is said towork very well, and it is expected that it will form a useful adjunctto the art of telegraphy. We present herewith a facsimile of writingdone by this new instrument, which has been worked with success over aline of forty miles length. It is hardly probable that it can competein rapidity with some of the telegraph instruments now in use; but formany purposes it is likely to become important, while in point ofingenuity it is certainly a great achievement, and the author isdeserving of the highest credit. 

[Illustration: Writing Telegraph. ]

 * * * * *

A RARE GEOLOGICAL SPECIMEN. 

Rev. R. M. Luther, while absent in attendance upon the MissionaryConvention, held in Addison, Vt. , obtained through the kindness of theRev. Mr. Nott a rare and curious geological specimen from the shoresof Lake Champlain. It is a slab of limestone, about eleven inches longby six inches wide, which seems to be composed almost entirely offossils. There is not half an inch square of the surface which doesnot show a fossil. There are many varieties, some of which have notbeen identified, but among those which have been are many remains ofthe Trinucleus conceniricus, some specimens of Petraia, fragments ofthe Orthis, a number of Discinæ, several well preserved specimens ofLeptenæ, and impressions of Lingula. The latter is the only shellwhich has existed from the first dawn of life until the present timewithout change. The specimens of existing Lingula are preciselysimilar to those found in the earliest geological formations. Thereare also in the slab several rare specimens of seaweed, remains ofwhich are seldom found at so early an age in the geological history ofthe world. The slab belongs to the lower Silurian formation, the firstin which organic remains are found. It is probably from the Trentonepoch of that age. If geologists can be trusted, at the time thelittle animals, whose remains are thus preserved, were living, theonly part of this continent which had appeared above the primevalocean was a strip of land along the present St. Lawrence River and thenorthern shores of the great lakes, with a promontory reaching outtoward the Adirondacks, and a few islands along what is now theAtlantic coast line. --_Bennington (Vt. ) Banner. _

 * * * * *

COWPER'S WRITING TELEGRAPH. 

The most recent of the brilliant series of telegraphic marvels whichhas from time to time, and especially of late, engaged the attentionof the world, is the "telegraphic pen" of Mr. E. A. Cowper, the wellknown engineer of Great George street, Westminster. This ingeniousapparatus, which constitutes the first real telegraph, was publiclyshown by its inventor at the meeting of the Society of TelegraphEngineers on Wednesday, February 26. 

There had been no lack of copying telegraphs hitherto. We haveBakewell's, Casselli's, Meyer's, and D'Arlincourt's, so recently triedat our General Post Office by Mr. Preece. All of these instrumentstelegraph an almost perfect copy of the writing or sketch submitted tothem by means of synchronous mechanism. But the process is necessarilycomplex and slow; whereas by the new device a person may take thewriting pencil in his hand, and himself transmit his message in theact of writing it. 

The principle which guided Mr. Cowper to a solution of the problemwhich he has successfully overcome, is the well known mathematicalfact that the position of any point in a curve can be determined byits distance from two rectangular co-ordinates. It follows, then, thatevery position of the point of a pencil, stylus, or pen, as it forms aletter, can be determined by its distance from two fixed lines, saythe adjacent edges of the paper. Moreover it is obvious that if thesedistances could be transmitted by telegraph and recombined so as togive a resultant motion to a duplicate pen, a duplicate copy of theoriginal writing would be produced. But inasmuch as the writing stylusmoves continuously over the paper, the process of transmission wouldrequire to be a continuous one; that is to say, the current traversingthe telegraph line, and conveying the distances in question (or whatcomes to the same thing, the up and down, and direct sidelong rangesof the stylus) would require to vary continuously in accordance withthe range to be transmitted. 

Mr. Cowper effects this by employing two separate telegraphiccircuits, each with its own wire, battery, sending, and receivingapparatus. One of these circuits is made to transmit the up and downcomponent writing of the pencil's motion, while the othersimultaneously transmits its sidelong component. At the receivingstation these two components are then recomposed by a pantographarrangement of taut cords, or levers, and the resultant motion iscommunicated to the duplicate pen at that place. The plan adopted byMr. Cowper to transmit each continuously varying component is to causethe resistance of the circuit to vary very closely with the componentin question. Fig. 5 shows how the apparatus is theoretically arrangedfor this purpose. P is the writing style, which is held in thewriter's hand in the ordinary way, while he shapes the letters one byone on paper pulled uniformly underneath by means of clockwork. To Pare attached, at right angles, two arms, a a, one for each circuit;but as it is only necessary to consider one of the circuits, say thatsending up and down motions, we will confine our attention for thepresent to the arm, a. One pole of the sending battery, B, isconnected to the arm, a, the other pole being connected to earth. Nowthe arm, a, is fitted with a sliding contact at its free extremity, and as the pencil, P, is moved in writing, a slides lengthwise acrossthe edges of a series of thin metal contact plates, C, insulated fromeach other by paraffined paper. Between each pair of these platesthere is a resistance coil, C, and the last of these is connectedthrough the last plate to the line, L. It will be seen that as aslides outward across the plates the current from the battery has topass through fewer coils, since a short-circuits a number of coilsproportional to its motion. But the fewer of these coils in circuitthe stronger will be the current in the line; so that the extent ofthe motion of the arm, a, in the direction of its length, that is tosay, the direct component of the motion of the pencil along the lineof the arm, a, is attended by a corresponding change in the currenttraversing the line. If the pencil makes a long up and down strokethere will be a strong current in the line, if a short one there willbe a weak current, and so on. A precisely similar arrangement is usedto transmit the sidelong motion of the pencil along the line, L. 

[Illustration: Fig. 5. ]

The current from the line, L, flows at the receiving station through apowerful galvanometer, G, to earth. The galvanometer has a stoutneedle, one tip of which is connected to a duplicate pen, P, by athread, t, which is kept taut by a second thread stretched by aspring, s'. The current from the line, L', flows through a similargalvanometer, G', to earth. The needle of G' is also connected to thepen, P, by a taut thread, t', stretched by means of the spring, s. Now, since the needle of each of these galvanometers deflects inproportion to the strength of the current flowing through its coil, the points of these two needles keep moving with the varying currents. But since these currents vary the motions of the sending pen, thereceiving pen controlled by the united movements of the needles willtrace out a close copy of the original writing. We give on anotherpage a facsimile of a sentence written by Mr. Cowper's telegraph. 

[Illustration: THE COWPER WRITING TELEGRAPH. ]

The receiving pen is a fine glass siphon, drawing off aniline ink froma small glass holder. There are thirty-two coils, C, in each circuit, with a corresponding number of contact plates, c, so as to getaccuracy of working. A few Daniell's cells are sufficient to operatethe apparatus, and writing has been already sent successfully over aline 40 miles in length. The writing may be received either of thesame size or larger or smaller than the original, as the case may be. At present the writing must not be too hurried, that is, unless thecharacters are bold and well formed; but further improvement will, ofcourse, quicken the working of the apparatus. 

The engravings, Figs. 1 to 4, illustrate the actual apparatus. Fig. 4is a plan of the sending instrument, with the writing pencil, a, thetraveling paper, b, the light connecting rods or arms, d (whichcorrespond to a in the theoretical diagram above), the series of metalcontact plates over which these arms slide, the resistance coilsconnected to these plates, and the battery and line wires. It will beseen that each arm, d, is connected to its particular battery, andeach set of contact plates to its particular line. Fig. 3 is anelevation of the sending instrument, in which a is the pencil asbefore, c c the contact plates over which the arms, d d, slide, f fthe coils, and b the traveling slip of paper. 

Fig. 2 is a plan of the receiving instrument, in which h h are thelight pivoted needles surrounded by coils of fine insulated copperwires, i i, and controlled in their zero position by theelectro-magnets, j j j j, placed underneath, the whole forming a pairof galvanoscopes or current detecters, one for each line. It will beunderstood that the varying currents from the lines are allowed toflow through the coils, i i, so as to deflect the needles, and thatthe deflections of the needles follow, so to speak, the variations ofthe currents. The electro-magnets are magnetized by a local battery;permanent magnets might, however, take their place with a gain insimplicity. 

Now the writing pen, k, is connected to the nearest tip of the needle, h, of each galvanoscope by threads, n n, which are kept taut by thefibers, o_{1} o_{2} o_{3}, the springs, o, and the pins, o_{4}. Inthis way the motions of the needles are recombined in the motion ofthe duplicate pen upon the paper, p. 

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the receiving instrument, in which i i arethe coils as before, j j j j the controlling electro-magnets, k is thewriting siphon dipping with its short leg into the ink well, m, and lis the bridge from which the writing siphon is suspended by means of athread and spring. The long leg of the siphon reaches down to thesurface of the paper, p, which is pulled along beneath it in contactwith the film of ink filling the point of the tube. When the siphon isat rest its point marks a zero line along the middle of the paper, butwhen the receiver is working, the siphon point forms each letter ofthe message upon the paper as it passes. --_Engineering. _

 * * * * *

ALUMINUM. 

The splendid exhibit of the French aluminum manufacturers at the lateExhibition has again called attention to that metal, which is soadmirably adapted to many purposes on account of its great lightnessand its stability under the influence of the atmosphere. Whilealuminum industry has heretofore been thought to be confined to Francesolely, we are now told by Mr. C. Bambery, in the Annual Report of theSociety of Berlin Instrument Makers, that for some years past aluminumhas been extensively manufactured in Berlin. 

Three firms especially (Stückradt, Häcke, and Schultze) are engaged inthis branch of industry. 

The articles manufactured principally are nautical instruments, assextants, compasses, etc. The German navy is supplied throughout withaluminum instruments. As a proof of the superiority of Germanaluminum, it may here be mentioned that the normal sets of weights andbalances used by the International Commission for the regulation ofweights and measures, which lately was in session at Paris, wereobtained from Stückradt, in Berlin, and not from any of the firmsat Paris, the reputed seat of aluminum industry. 

Aluminum is, in Berlin, generally used pure, and cast pieces only arecomposed of aluminum containing about 5 per cent of silver. 

Nevertheless the use of aluminum will remain limited, even in case thecost of manufacturing it could be materially reduced, until somemethod shall have been discovered by which aluminum may be soldered. 

This difficulty has, in spite of all efforts, not yet been overcome, and for some purposes, to which the metal would otherwise be welladapted, it remains so far unavailable. Here then is a chance for someingenious mind. 

 * * * * *

AN IMPROVED DOOR BOLT. 

The accompanying engraving represents, in perspective and in section, an improved door bolt, recently patented by Mr. Thomas Hoesly, of NewGlaras, Wis. 

The principal features of this bolt will be understood by reference tothe engraving. On the plate or body are cast two loops or guides forthe bolt, and the plate is slotted under the bolt, and a lug projectsinto the slot and bears against a spring contained by a small casingriveted to the back of the plate. The end of the bolt is beveled, andits operation is similar to that of the ordinary door latch. Twohandles are provided, one of which is of sufficient length to reachthrough the door, and a pawl or dog accompanies the bolt, which may beattached to the door with a single screw, and is to be used in lockingthe door. The bolt is very simple and strong, suitable for shops, out-buildings such as barns, stables, etc. , and some of the doors ofdwellings. 

[Illustration: HOESLY'S DOOR BOLT. ]

Further information may be obtained by addressing the inventor, asabove. 

 * * * * *

CHIMNEY FLUES. 

Messrs. W. H. Jackson & Co. , of this city, whose long experience intreating refractory flues gives weight to their opinion, communicateto the _American Architect_ the following useful information:

To secure a good draught the chimney should be of sufficient size, should be carried up above surrounding objects, should be as straightas possible throughout its length, and should be as smooth as possibleinside, to avoid friction. As a draught is caused by unequaltemperatures, the chimney should be so arranged as to avoid a rapidradiation of heat. If in an exterior wall there should be at least 8inches of brickwork between the flue and the exterior surface. Forcountry houses it is much better to have the chimneys run up throughthe interior, as the flue is more easily kept warm, and the heat thatis radiated helps to warm the house. The most frequent cause of a"smoky chimney" is the insufficient size of the flue for the grate orfireplace connected therewith. The flue should not be less than oneeighth the capacity of the square of the width and height of the grateor fireplace. That is, if the grate has a front opening 20 inches wideand 26 inches high, the flue should be 8 in. × 8 in. ; or, with anopening 36 inches wide and 32 inches high, the flue should be 12 in. ×12 in. ; and, to get the best result, the opening into the flue fromthe grate or fireplace should be of a less number of square inchesthan the square of the flue, and never larger, as no more air shouldbe admitted at the inlet than can be carried through the flue. Wherethere is more than one inlet to the same flue, the sum of all theinlets should not more than equal the size of the flue. A number ofstoves may be connected with the same flue, one above another, if thisrule is observed. 

A square flue is better than a narrow one, as in two flues containingthe same number of square inches the square flue would have thesmallest amount of wall surface, and consequently less friction forthe ascending currents, and less absorption of heat by the walls. Chimneys should be closely built, having no cracks nor openingsthrough which external air may be drawn to weaken the draught. If theycould be made throughout their length as impervious to air as a tubeof glass, with interior surface as smooth, one cause of smoky chimneyswould be removed. A downward current of air is frequently caused bysome contiguous object higher than the chimney, against which the windstrikes. This higher object may sometimes be quite a distance from thechimney, and still affect it badly. A good chimney top constructed toprevent a down draught will remedy this difficulty. Each grate orfireplace should have a flue to itself. Under very favorableconditions, two grates or fireplaces might be connected with the sameflue, but it is not a good plan. We have known grates and fireplacesconnected with two flues, where they have been built under a windowfor instance, and, owing to there being insufficient room for a flueof suitable size, a flue has been run up on each side of the window. This is a very bad plan, and never can work well; it requires too muchheat to warm both flues, and if the room in which the grate orfireplace is situated should be pretty close, so that there was noother entrance for air, there is danger that it would circulate downone flue and up the other, forcing smoke out of the fireplace into theroom. 

 * * * * *

IMPROVED FURNACE FOR BURNING GARBAGE. 

The refuse matter and garbage of large cities is in the main composedof animal and vegetable offal of the kitchens; of the sweepings ofwarehouses, manufactories, saloons, groceries, public and privatehouses; of straw, sawdust, old bedding, tobacco stems, ashes, oldboots, shoes, tin cans, bottles, rags, and feathers; dead cats, dogs, and other small animals; of the dust and sweepings of the streets, thecondemned fruit, vegetables, meat, and fish of the markets, all ofwhich compose a mass of the most obnoxious and unhealthy matter thatcan be deposited near human habitations. 

The inventor of the furnace shown in the accompanying engravings aimsto produce a change of form and of chemical nature and a greatreduction in bulk of all such refuse and garbage within the limits ofthe city where it accumulates, without screening, separating, preparing, or mixing, without the expense of using other fuel, withoutany offensive odors being generated in the operation, and to producean entirely unobjectionable residuum or product that may be madeuseful. 

[Illustration: Fig. 1. --FOOTE'S FURNACE FOR BURNING GARBAGE. ]

As a rule organic matter largely preponderates in the refuse, being ashigh in some instances as 94 per cent. There is always more thanenough to generate sufficient heat to fuse the earthy or inorganicportion, which is mainly composed of sand, clay, and the alkalies fromthe coal and vegetable ashes, etc. 

By producing a high degree of heat in the combustion of the organicportion of the refuse with a forced blast or forced draught, thenon-combustible elements are fused, and form a vitreous slag, which isentirely inodorous and unobjectionable, and which may be utilized formany purposes. 

The upper section or cone of the consuming furnace is built of boileriron, and lined with fire brick resting upon an iron plate, which issupported by iron columns. 

The hearth is made of fire brick, and is in the form of an invertedcone, being smaller at the bottom and larger at the top, as shown inFig. 2. 

The sides of the hearth are perforated near the bottom with arches forthe tuyeres or blast pipes, and also in front for the special blastpipe and the tapping hole. The top of the furnace is closed with aniron plate, provided with a circular opening, through which the hopperenters the top of the furnace. 

At the left in the larger engraving is seen an elevator, operated by asteam engine, for conveying the garbage and refuse to a platform, whence it is projected into the furnace by an inclined plane or chute. 

Gas or smoke conductors convey the gas from the top of the furnace tothe furnace of the boiler and to the heating oven, where it is used inheating air, which is conveyed through the iron pipes passing throughthe heating oven into a wind box, from which it enters the furnace atseveral points near the bottom by means of the tuyere pipes. 

[Illustration: SECTION OF FURNACE. ]

The consumption of the garbage is effected near the bottom of thefurnace, where the air is forced in, and is continued as long as theblast is applied, and while burning at the base it is continuallysinking down at the top, so that it is necessary to keep filling allthe time. The odoriferous gases and the hot products of suchcombustion are forced upward through the superimposed mass, and escapeto the fires of the boiler and heating oven, and, being largelycomposed of carbonic oxide and the hydrocarbon gases distilled fromthe animal and vegetable offal of the garbage, are thoroughlyconsumed; and it is said that by this means not only are all theoffensive odors destroyed, but the heat generated is utilized formaking steam and heating the air used for blast. 

The refuse in its descent through the high furnace is exposed to thedrying action of the hot gases of distillation and the hot products ofcombustion, its temperature increasing in its descent the nearer itapproaches the tuyeres, and becomes completely desiccated andcombustible when it reaches the blast. The high heat in this wayobtained by the combustion of the organic portion melts all of theinorganic portion, forming a vitreous slag or glass, which may beallowed to run continuously, or by closing the tap may be allowed toaccumulate, and can be drawn off at intervals. If there is an adequatesupply of clay and sand in the refuse to combine with the ashes, theslag will run hot and free. The combination of silex or alumina and analkali in proper portions always yields a fusible, easy-runningcompound. 

The molten slag, as it runs from the furnace, may be discharged intotanks of cold water, which will pulverize or granulate it, making itlike fine sand, or as it pours over a runner, through which it flows, if struck with a forcible air or steam blast it will be spun into finethread-like wool. 

The furnace once lighted and started may be kept running day and nightcontinuously for days, months, or years, if desired; but if it becomesnecessary to stop at any time, the tuyere pipes may be removed and theholes all stopped with clay, so as to entirely shut off the supply ofair, and it will then hold in fire for many days, and will be inreadiness to start again at any time the pipes are replaced and theblast turned on. 

This furnace is the invention of Mr. Henry R. Foote, of Stamford, Conn. 

 * * * * *

AN ANCIENT GREEK VASE. 

The vase shown in the accompanying engravings must not be classed withordinary ceramic ware, as it is a veritable work of art. It is thecelebrated cup of Arcesilaus, which is preserved in the collection ofthe library of Richelieu street after having figured in the DurandMuseum. It was found at Vulsei, in Etruria. It was made by a potter ofCyrene, the capital of Cyrenaica, founded by Greeks from the island ofThera. It is remarkable that Cyrene, removed from the center ofGrecian manufacture, should possess a manufactory of painted vasesfrom which have come so many works of art. The traveler, Paul Lucas, discovered in the necropolis of Cyrene, in 1714, many antique vases, both in the tombs and in the soil. One of them is still preserved inthe Museum at Leyden. The Arcesilaus, who is represented on this vase, is not the celebrated skeptical philosopher of that name; it isArcesilaus, King of Cyrenaica, who was sung by Pindar, and who wasvanquished in the Pythian games under the 80th Olympiad (458 yearsB. C. ). 

The height of this vase is 25 centimeters, its diameter 28centimeters. The paste is very fine, of a pale red. It is entirelycoated with a black groundwork, which has been generally re-coveredwith a yellowish white clay, baked on. 

According to M. Brongniart, this piece has been subjected to thebaking process at least two or three times, thus indicating that theceramic art had made considerable progress in Cyrene even at thatremote epoch. 

The following description of this vase is given in the catalogue ofthe Durand Museum: The King Arcesilaus is seated under a pavilion uponthe deck of a ship. His head is covered with a kind of hat with alarge brim, and his hair hangs down upon his shoulders. He is clothedin a white tunic and embroidered cloak or mantle, and he carries ascepter in his left hand; under his seat is a leopard, and his righthand he holds toward a young man, who makes the same gesture, and heis weighing in a large scale assafoetida, which is being let downinto the hold of the ship. We know that he deals with assafoetidabecause one of the personages (the one who lifts up his arm toward thebeam of the scale) holds in his right hand something resembling thatwhich is in the scale, and the Greek word traced near it signifies"that which prepares _silphium_. " Assafoetida, the resinousmatter of the silphium, is used largely by the Greeks in thepreparation of their food. The Orientals to-day make frequent use ofit and call it the delight of the gods; while in Europe, because ofits repulsive odor, it has long been designated as _stircus diaboli_. 

[Illustration: Fig. 1. --ANCIENT GREEK VASE. ]

[Illustration: Fig. 2. --TOP OF GREEK VASE. ]

 * * * * *

SNOW-RAISED BREAD. 

Somebody thinks he has discovered that snow, when incorporated withdough, performs the same office as baking powder or yeast. "I havethis morning for breakfast, " says a writer in the _English Mechanic_, "partaken of a snow-raised bread cake, made last evening as follows:The cake when baked weighed about three quarters of a pound. A largetablespoonful of fine, dry, clean snow was intimately stirred with aspoon into the dry flour, and to this was added a tablespoonful ofcaraways and a little butter and salt. Then sufficient cold water wasadded to make the dough of the proper usual consistence (simplystirred with the spoon, not kneaded by the warm hands), and it wasimmediately put into a quick oven and baked three quarters of an hour. It turned out both light and palatable. The reason, " adds the writer, "appears to be this: the light mass of interlaced snow crystals holdimprisoned a large quantity of condensed atmospheric air, which, whenthe snow is warmed by thawing very rapidly in the dough, expandsenormously and acts the part of the carbonic acid gas in either bakingpowder or yeast. I take the precise action to be, then, not due in anyway to the snow itself, but simply to the expansion of the fixed airlodged between the interstices of the snow crystals by application ofheat. This theory, if carefully followed out, may perchance give aclew to a simple and perfectly innocuous method of raising bread andpastry. " And stop the discussion as to whether alum in baking powdersis deleterious to health or otherwise. 

 * * * * *

NEW AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS. 

An improved gate, invented by Messrs. P. W. McKinley and George L. Ellis, of Ripley, O. , is designed for general use. It is operated bycords and pulleys, and can be opened without dismounting from thehorse. It is constructed so that it cannot sag, and is not liable toget out of order. 

An improved apparatus for pressing tobacco has been patented by Mr. F. B. Deane, of Lynchburg, Va. It consists mainly in the construction ofa suspended jack, arranged to travel over a row of hogsheads, so thata single jack gives successively to each hogshead the desiredpressure. 

An improved combined harrow and corn planter has been patented by Mr. M. McNitt, of Hanover, Kan. In this machine the opening, pulverizing, planting, and covering teeth are combined with a single frame. 

A machine, which is adapted to the thrashing and cleaning of peas andseeds, and for cleaning all kinds of grain, has been patented by Mr. J. J. Sweatt, of Conyersville, Tenn. 

Mr. Amos M. Gooch, of Farmington, W. Va. , has patented an improvedcorn planter, which drops the fertilizer simultaneously with the seed, and is provided with a device for pressing the soil around the seed, leaving over the seed a portion of loose earth. 

An improved machine for harvesting cotton has been patented by R. H. Pirtle, of Lowe's, Ky. This machine carries two vertical cylindersarmed with teeth or spurs, and two inclined endless belts providedwith teeth. The teeth of the cylinders and the belts remove the cottonfrom the plants, and deliver it to a receptacle carried by themachine. 

Messrs. Julius Fern and Samuel Bligh, of Oneonta, N. Y. , have patentedan improved power for churning and other purposes where little poweris required. It consists in the combination of a drum and weight, atrain of gearing, and a pallet wheel arranged to oscillate a balancedbeam. 

An improvement in the class of feed cutters in which two or moreknives work between parallel bars attached to the cutter box, has beenpatented by Messrs. J. N. Tatum and R. C. Harvey, of Danville, Va. Theimprovement consists in arranging the knives so that one begins andfinishes its cut in advance of the other. 

Mr. William Bradberry, of Darrtown, O. , has invented an improvement inreciprocating churns. The aim of this inventor is to utilize theresistance of the milk as a source of power. To accomplish this apeculiar combination of mechanism is required, which cannot be clearlydescribed without an engraving. 

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READING AND EYESIGHT. 

M. Javel, in a recent lecture, tries to answer the question, "Why isreading a specially fatiguing exercise?" and also suggests someremedies for this fatigue. First, M. Javel says reading requires anabsolutely permanent application of eyesight, resulting in a permanenttension of the organ, which may be measured by the amount of fatigueor by the production of permanent myopy. Secondly, books are printedin black on a white ground; the eye is thus in presence of the mostabsolute contrast which can be imagined. The third peculiarity lies inthe arrangement of the characters in horizontal lines, over which werun our eyes. If we maintain during reading a perfect immobility ofthe book and the head, the printed lines are applied successively tothe same parts of the retina, while the interspaces, more bright, alsoaffect certain regions of the retina, always the same. There mustresult from this a fatigue analogous to that which we experience whenwe make experiments in "accidental images, " and physicists will admitthat there is nothing more disastrous for the sight than the prolongedcontemplation of these images. Lastly, and most important of all in M. Javel's estimation, is the continual variation of the distance of theeye from the point of fixation on the book. A simple calculationdemonstrates that the accommodation of the eye to the page undergoes adistinct variation in proportion as the eye passes from the beginningto the end of each line, and that this variation is all the greater inproportion to the nearness of the book to the eye and the length ofthe line. As to the rules which M. Javel inculcates in order that theinjurious effects of reading may be avoided, with reference to thepermanent application of the eyes, he counsels to avoid excess, totake notes in reading, to stop in order to reflect or even to roll acigarette; but not to go on reading for hours on end without stopping. As to the contrast between the white of the paper and the black of thecharacters, various experiments have been made in the introduction ofcolored papers. M. Javel advises the adoption of a slightly yellowtint. But the nature of the yellow to be used is not a matter ofindifference; he would desire a yellow resulting from the absence ofthe blue rays, analogous to that of paper made from a wood paste, andwhich is often mistakenly corrected by the addition of an ultramarineblue, which produces gray and not white. M. Javel has been led to thisconclusion both from practical observation and also theoretically fromthe relation which must exist between the two eyes and the colors ofthe spectrum. His third advice is to give preference to small volumeswhich can be held in the hand, which obviates the necessity of thebook being kept fixed in one place, and the fatigue resulting fromaccidental images. Lastly, M. Javel advises the avoidance of too longlines, and therefore he prefers small volumes, and for the same reasonthose journals which are printed in narrow columns. Of course everyone knows that it is exceedingly injurious to read with insufficientlight, or to use too small print, and other common rules. M. Javelconcludes by protesting against an invidious assertion which hasrecently been made "in a neighboring country, " according to which thedegree of civilization of a people is proportional to the number ofthe short sighted shown to exist by statistics; the extreme economy oflight, the abuse of reading to the detriment of reflection and theobservation of real facts, the employment of Gothic characters and ofa too broad column for books and journals, are the conditions which, M. Javel believes, lead to myopy, especially if successive generationshave been subjected to these injurious influences. 

 * * * * *

PHOSPHORESCENCE. 

M. Nuesch records, in a recent number of the _Journal de Pharmacie_, some curious observations regarding luminous bacteria in fresh meat. Some pork cutlets, he found, illuminated his kitchen so that he couldread the time on his watch. The butcher who sent the meat told him thephosphorescence was first observed in a cellar, where he kept scrapsfor making sausages. By degrees all his meat became phosphorescent, and fresh meat from distant towns got into the same state. Onscratching the surface or wiping it vigorously, the phosphorescencedisappears for a time; and the butcher wiped carefully the meat hesent out. All parts of the animal, except the blood, acquired thephenomenon over their whole surface. The meat must be fresh; when itceases to be so, the phosphorescence ceases, and _Bacterium termo_appear. None of the customers had been incommoded. It was remarkedthat if a small trace of the phosphorescent matter were put at anypoint on the flesh of cats, rabbits, etc. , the phosphorescencegradually spread out from the center, and in three or four dayscovered the piece; it disappeared generally on the sixth or seventhday. Cooked meat did not present the phenomenon but it could be had ina weak manner, from cooked albumen or potatoes. No other butcher'sshop in the place was affected. The author is uncertain whether toattribute the complete disappearance of the phenomenon to the highertemperature of the season, or to phenic acid, or to fumigation withchlorine. 

 * * * * *

THE CHARMS OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 

The Earl of Derby, in an address at the Edinburgh University, said:"Of the gains derivable from natural science I do not trust myself tospeak; my personal knowledge is too limited, and the subject is toovast. But so much as this I can say--that those who have in them areal and deep love of scientific research, whatever their position inother respects, are so far at least among the happiest of mankind.... No passion is so absorbing, no labor is so assuredly its own reward(well that it is so, for other rewards are few); and they have thesatisfaction of knowing that, while satisfying one of the deepestwants of their own natures, they are at the same time promoting in themost effectual manner the interests of mankind. Scientific discoveryhas this advantage over almost every other form of successful humanefforts, that its results are certain, that they are permanent, thatwhatever benefits grow out of them are world-wide. Not many of us canhope to extend the range of knowledge in however minute a degree; butto know and to apply the knowledge that has been gained by others, tohave an intelligent appreciation of what is going on around us, is initself one of the highest and most enduring of pleasures. "

THE VESUVIUS RAIL WAY. --The Italian Ministry of Public Works, in unionwith the Ministry of Finance and the Prefecture of Naples, has issuedthe concession for the construction of the Vesuvius Railway. The linewill run along that part of the mountain which has been proved, afterthe experience of many years, to be the least exposed to theeruptions. The work is to be commenced immediately, and it is believedthat it will come into use during the present year. A sufficientnumber of carriages are being built to convey 600 persons during theday. The line is to be constructed upon an iron bridge, built after apatented system. 

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THE POTTERY TREE. 

Among the various economic products of the vegetable kingdom, scarcely any hold a more important place than barks, whether formedicinal, manufacturing, or other purposes. The structure andformation of all barks are essentially very similar, being composed ofcellular and fibrous tissue. The cell contents of these tissues, however, vary much in different plants; and, for this reason, we havefibrous or soft, woody, hard, and even stony barks. To explaineverything which relates to the structure of bark would lead us intolong details which our space will not permit. Briefly stated, the barkof trees (considering, now, those of our own climate) consists ofthree layers. The outermost, called the "cortical, " is formed ofcellular tissue, and differs widely in consistency in differentspecies; thus, in the cork oak, which furnishes man with one of hismost useful commercial products, the cortical layer acquiresextraordinary thickness. The middle layer, called the "cellular" or"green bark, " is a cellular mass of a very different nature. The cellsof which it is composed are polyhedral, thicker, and more looselyjoined, and filled with sap and chlorophyl. The inner layer (next thewood), called the "liber, " consists of fibers more or less long andtenacious. It is from the liber that our most valuable commercialfibers are obtained. In some plants the fibrous system prevailsthroughout the inner bark; but what we wish to refer to moreparticularly at present is a remarkable example of the harder and moresilicious barks, and which is to be found in the "Pottery Tree" ofPara. This tree, known to the Spaniards as _El Caouta_, to the Frenchas _Bois de Fer_, to the Brazilians as _Caraipe_, is the _Moquileautilis_ of botanists, and belongs to the natural order _Ternstroeiaceæ_. It is very large, straight, and slender, reaching a height of 100 feetbefore branching; its diameter is from 12 to 15 inches; and its woodis exceedingly hard from containing much flinty matter. Although thewood of the tree is exceedingly sound and durable, the great value ofthe tree to the natives exists in the bark for a purpose which, to saythe least, is a novel one in the application of barks--that of themanufacture of pottery. The Indians employed in the manufacture ofpottery from this material always keep a stock of it on hand in theirhuts for the purpose of drying and seasoning it, as it then burns morefreely, and the ashes can be gathered with more ease than when fresh. In the process of manufacturing the pottery the ashes of the bark arepowdered and mixed with the purest clay that can be obtained from thebeds of the rivers; this kind being preferred, as it takes up a largerquantity of the ash, and thus produces a stronger kind of ware. Thoughthe proportions of ash and clay are varied at the will of the maker, and according to the quality of the bark, a superior kind of potteryis produced by a mixture of equal parts of fine clay and ashes. Allsorts of vessels of small or large size for household or otherpurposes are made of this kind of ware, as are also vases orornamental articles, many of which are painted and glazed. Thesearticles are all very durable, and are able to stand almost any amountof heat; they are consequently much used by the natives for boilingeggs, heating milk, and indeed for culinary purposes generally. Abrief glance at the structure of the bark will show how it comes to beso well adapted for this purpose. The bark seldom grows more than halfan inch thick, and is covered with a skin or epidermis; when fresh, itcuts somewhat similar to a soft sandstone, but when dry, it is verybrittle and flint like, and often difficult to break. On examinationof a section under the microscope, all the cells of the differentlayers are seen to be more or less silicated, the silex forming in thecells when the bark is still very young. In the inner bark the flintis deposited in a very regular manner, the particles being straightand giving off branches at right angles; that of the porous cells ofthe bark, however, is very much contorted, and ramifies in alldirections. In the best varieties of the tree, those growing in richand dry soil, the silex can be readily detected by the naked eye; butto test the quality of the various kinds of bark, the natives burn itand then try its strength between their fingers; if it breaks easilyit is considered of little value, but if it requires a mortar andpestle to break, its quality is pronounced good. From an analysis ofthis singular bark, that of old trees has been found to give 30. 8 percent of ash, and that of young 23. 30 per cent. Of the different layersof old bark, the outer gave 17. 15 per cent, the middle 37. 7, and theinner 31. The wood of the tree, in comparison with the bark, isrelatively poor in silex, the duramen of an old tree giving only 2. 5per cent of silex. 

 * * * * *

GLASS SPONGES. 

The natural history of sponges had, up to the middle of this century, been comparatively neglected. Until 1856, when Lieberkuhn publishedhis treatise on sponges, very little or nothing had been written onthe subject. Later, Haeckel did much to determine their exact nature, and it is now universally admitted that sponges form one of theconnecting links between the animal and the vegetable kingdom. 

Sponges, generally considered, consist of fine porous tissue, covered, during life, with viscid, semi-liquid protoplasm, and are held inshape and strengthened by a more or less rigid skeleton, consistingchiefly of lime or silica. The tissue consists of a very fine networkof threads, formed probably by gradual solidification of the threadsof protoplasm. The inorganic skeleton is formed by larger and smallercrystals and crystalline threads. In the various families of spongesthe quantity of inorganic matter varies greatly; some sponges arenearly devoid of an inorganic skeleton, while other families consistchiefly of lime or silica, the organic tissue being only rudimentarilydeveloped. 

As observed in their natural state, sponges are apparently lifeless. When, however, a live sponge is placed in water containing some finelypowdered pigment in suspension, it will be noticed that in regular, short intervals water is absorbed through the pores of the tissue andejected again through larger openings, which are called "osculæ. "Following up these into the interior, we find them divided intonumerous branches, the walls of which are, under the microscope, foundto be covered with minute cells, fastened at one end only andoscillating continually. By means of these cells the sponge receivesits nourishment. 

Sponges with very rigid inorganic skeletons may be divided into twoclasses--calcareous and silicious--according to whether the skeletonis chiefly composed of lime or silica. 

Our engravings represent two species of the latter kind, which are, onaccount of the peculiar appearance of their skeleton, called glasssponges. 

Fig. 1 represents the "sprinkling pot sponge, " _Eucleptellaaspergillum_. It is generally found in very deep water throughout thePacific. Specimens were found over fifty years ago, but, as they hadto be brought up from depths between 500 and 800 fathoms, theyremained very scarce and sold at fabulous prices. 

[Illustration: Fig. 1. --SPRINKLING POT SPONGE. --(_Eucleptellaaspergillum_. )]

The skeleton is formed by small crystals and long threads of vitreoussilica, cemented together, during life, by protoplasm. They arearranged in longitudinal and annular bands so as to form a long curvedcylinder, about nine to twelve inches long, the walls of which areabout one inch in thickness. The threads and bands are interwoven withthe greatest regularity, and when the skeleton is freed from theadhering organic matter, it looks extremely beautiful. 

The mode in which the intersecting bunches of crystals are connectedis shown in Fig. 2. The upper end of the cylinder is closed by aperforated cover, which probably has given rise to the name of thesponge. The upper portion of the cylinder is surrounded by a fewirregular, annular masses of organic tissue, which adheres looselyonly to the skeleton. The lower end is formed by a bunch of longthreads, rooting firmly in the ground. 

[Illustration: Fig. 2. --SPONGE CRYSTALS MAGNIFIED. ]

Up to about ten years ago the price of specimens of this sponge wasvery high. At that time, however, a colony of Eucleptellas was foundnear the cities of Cebu and Manila, in the East Indies, in a depth notexceeding 100 fathoms, and since they have appeared in largerquantities in the market. It is remarkable that, contrary to theirhabits, these organisms have immigrated into regions to which theywere totally unaccustomed. Yet it must be regarded as a greatercuriosity that they have been accompanied to their new abode by a fewanimals living in equally deep water and never met with before atdepths less than three or four hundred fathoms. Among these animals isa _Phormosoma_ (water hedgehog), noted for its long spines. 

Glass sponges are not confined to tropical regions. They are met within latitudes as high as the Färöe Islands, where the beautiful_Holtenia Carpentaria_ abounds. It is represented in Fig. 3. Itscup-shaped skeleton is similar in structure to that of the_Eucleptella_; numerous crystalline needles protrude from the surfaceof the upper part. Lately some specimens of _Holtenia_ have been foundon the coast of Florida. 

[Illustration: Fig. 3. --HOLTENIA CARPENTERIA. ]

Glass sponges serve as dwellings for numerous animals, especiallycrustaceæ. A small shrimp inhabits the tubes of the _Eucleptella_, amale and a female generally living together. They are shut up as in aprison in their crystalline home, as they are generally too large topass through the meshes formed by the bundles of crystals. It wasformerly believed that these skeletons had actually been built by theshrimps, and we can find no explanation for this curious circumstance, other than that the shrimps entered these habitations while very smalland became too large to leave them. 

 * * * * *

PLANTS PROTECTED BY INSECTS. 

Mr. Francis Darwin, in a lecture on "Means of Self-Defense amongPlants, " delivered lately at the London Institution, said that one ofthe most curious forms of defense known is afforded by a recentlydiscovered class of plants, which, being stingless themselves, areprotected by stinging ants, which make their home in the plant anddefend it against its enemies. Of these the most remarkable is thebull's-horn acacia (described by the late Mr. Belt in his book "TheNaturalist in Nicaragua"), a shrubby tree with gigantic curved thorns, from which its name is derived. These horns are hollow and tenanted byants, which bore a hole in them, and the workers may be seen runningabout over the green leaves. If a branch is shaken the ants swarm outof the thorns and attack the aggressor with their stings. Their chiefservice to the plant consists in defending it against leaf-cuttingants, which are the great enemy of all vegetation in that part ofAmerica. The latter form large underground nests, and their work ofdestruction consists in gathering leaves, which they strip to formheaps of material, which become covered over with a delicate whitefungus, on which the larvæ of the ants are fed, so that literally theyare a colony of mushroom growers. The special province of the littlestinging ants, which live in the thorns of the acacia, is, therefore, to protect the leaves of the shrub from being used by the leaf-cuttersto make mushroom beds. Certain varieties of the orange tree haveleaves which are distasteful to the leaf-cutters, this property of theleaves thus forming a means of defense. Other plants are unaccountablyspared by them--grass, for example, which, if brought to the nest, isat once thrown out by some ant in authority. The bull's-horn acacia, in return for the service rendered by the stinging ants, not onlyaffords them shelter in its thorns, but provides them with nectarsecreted by glands at the base of its leaves, and also grows for themsmall yellow pear-shaped bodies, about one twelfth of an inch inlength, at the tip of some of its leaflets, which they use as food. These little yellow bodies are made up of cells containing protoplasmrich in oil, and afford the insects an excellent food. When the leafunfolds, the ants may be seen running from one leaflet to another, tosee if these little yellow bodies are ripe; and if they are ready tobe gathered they are broken up by the ants and carried away to thenest in the thorn. Several small birds, also, build their nests in thebull's horn acacia, thus escaping from a predatory ant which iscapable of killing young birds. The trumpet tree, another plant ofSouth and Central America, is also protected by a standing army ofants; and, like the above mentioned acacia, grows for its protectorssmall food bodies containing oil, but instead of secreting nectar inits leaves it harbors a small insect (coccus), whose sweet secretionis much relished by the ants. Dr. Beccari mentions an epiphytal plantgrowing on trees in Borneo, the seeds of which germinate, like thoseof the mistletoe, on the branches of the tree; and the seedling stem, crowned by the cotyledons, grows to about an inch in length, remainingin that condition until a certain species of ant bites a hole in thestem, which then produces a gall-like growth that ultimatelyconstitutes the home of the ants. If the plant is not fortunate enoughto be bitten by an ant it dies. These ants, then, protect their planthome by rushing out fiercely on intruders, and thus are preserved thesessile white flowers which, in this plant, are developed on the tuberlike body. 

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ADVANCE IN IRON. --At a meeting of the Philadelphia Iron Merchants'Association, March 11, prices of all descriptions of merchant ironwere advanced fully 5 per cent. 

 * * * * *

THE ANEROID BAROMETER. 

The aneroid barometer was invented by M. Vidi, of Paris. It consistsessentially of a circular box, the face of which is made of thinelastic metal, rendered more elastic by being stamped and pressed intoconcentric circular wave-like corrugations. This box is nearlyexhausted of air, and its elastic face supports the pressure of theatmosphere, and yields to it with elastic resistance in proportion tothe amount of pressure. Thus, if the atmospheric pressure increases, the face is pressed inward; if atmospheric pressure diminishes, theelastic reaction of the metal moves the face outward. These movementsare communicated to an index by suitable and very delicate mechanism, and registered in largely magnified dimensions, by the movements ofthis index upon the face of the dial. 

Aneroid barometers are now made of pocket size, compensated fortemperature, and with double scales, one reading the height of thebarometer column, the other the elevation obtained. I have, says Prof. W. M. Williams, used one of these during many years, and find it avery interesting traveling companion. It is sufficiently sensitive toindicate the ascent from the ground floor to the upper rooms of athree-storied house, or to enable the traveler sitting in a railwaytrain to tell, by watching its face, whether he is ascending ordescending an incline. 

Such slight variations are more easily observed on the aneroid than onthe mercurial barometer, and therefore it is commonly stated that theaneroid is the more sensitive instrument. This, however, is afallacious conclusion. It is not the superior sensitiveness of themovements of the instrument, but the greater facility of reading them, that gives this advantage to the aneroid, the index of which has aneedle point traveling nearly in contact with the foot of thedivisions; the readings are further aided by a needle point registerattached to a movable rim, which may be brought point to point againstthe index, thus showing the slightest movement that human vision maydetect. A magnifying lens may be easily used in such a case. 

It should be understood that the aneroid barometer is not anindependent instrument; it is merely a device for representing themovements of the mercurial barometer. It is regulated by comparisonwith the primary instrument, and this comparison should be renewedfrom time to time, as the elastic properties of the metal may and dovary. 

An adjusting or regulating screw is attached to the back of theinstrument, and is usually movable by a watch key. 

Besides this, the magnified reading of course magnifies any primaryerror, and is largely dependent on the accuracy of the mechanism. 

 * * * * *

THE ALBO-CARBON LIGHT. 

We need hardly remind our readers that numerous unsuccessful attemptshave been made at various times to enrich ordinary coal gas by the aidof volatile oils. Upon the present occasion we have to place beforethem particulars of a process having the same object in view, butwhich is so far dissimilar in that it deals with a solid substanceinstead of a liquid oil. The invention has been brought into itspresent practical shape by Mr. James Livesey, C. E. , of No. 9 VictoriaChambers, Westminster, in conjunction with Mr. Kidd, with whom itoriginated. The process consists in the employment of a substancecalled albo-carbon, which is the solid residuum of creosote. Thismaterial is moulded into the form of candles, which in large lamps areplaced in a metallic vessel or receiver near the gas burner. Thealbo-carbon is warmed by the heat of the burning gas, the heat beingtransmitted to the receiver by a metallic conductor. Upon thealbo-carbon being raised to the necessary temperature it volatilizes, and as the coal gas passes over it to the burner its vapor becomesmingled with the gas, and greatly raises its illuminating power. Ofcourse when first lighted the coal gas only is burned, but in a fewminutes the albo-carbon communicates its enriching vapor to it. Theonly alteration necessary to the present gas fittings is thevaporizing chamber, which is of simple construction, although atpresent the details of the various arrangements necessary for thedifferent kinds of lights have not yet been fully worked out. Thisinvention is now being tried experimentally in the eastern section ofthe Westminster Aquarium, where we recently examined it, and found itto afford a marked improvement upon the ordinary system of gasillumination, although a smaller number of burners is being used. Tried alternately with ordinary coal gas, the higher illuminatingpower of the albo-carbon light was very remarkable. It appears thatthere are 200 burners fitted at the Aquarium with the new light, andthese successfully take the place of 500 ordinary gas burnerspreviously in use. The illuminating effect is stated to be doubled, with an additional advantage as regards economy. The reduction of costarises from the smaller quantity of gas consumed with the albo-carbonprocess than without it, and the very small cost of the enrichingmaterial. According to our information, 1, 000 cubic feet of ordinarygas as generally used will, by the albo-carbon appliance, give as muchillumination as 3, 000 cubic feet without it, and the cost of thematerial to produce this result is only 1s. 6d. Experiments have beenmade with this light by Mr. T. W. Keates, the consulting chemist tothe Metropolitan Board of Works, who reports very favorably upon it, as does also Dr. Wallace, of Glasgow, who has obtained some verysatisfactory results with it. It is claimed for the albo-carbonmaterial that it is perfectly inexplosive, safe and portable, that itcauses no obstruction and leaves no residuum, and that the receiverscan be replenished almost indefinitely without any accumulation takingplace, so perfect is the evaporation of the albo-carbon. On the wholethe display at the Aquarium speaks greatly in favor of the new processof gas enrichment, which, other things being equal, bids fair to findits way into practice. --_Engineering. _

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ENGLISH AND AMERICAN HARDWARE. 

Mr. Frederick Smith, Manager of the Union Land and Building Company(limited), recently read a paper on the above subject before theManchester Scientific and Mechanical Society. Mr. H. Whiley, Superintendent of the Manchester Health Department, presided. Thefollowing is the text of the paper, as given in the London_Ironmonger_. The lecturer said:

A spectator in any of our courts of justice will generally be struckwith the amount of hard swearing which is given to the court, underthe name of evidence. He will find one set of witnesses testifying, under oath, to one thing, and another set, also under oath, to thevery opposite. Some prove too much, some too little, some are of atotally negative character, proving nothing, and some are of nocharacter at all, and therefore are willing to prove anything. To someextent the same phenomena are to be observed in reference to thequestion of foreign competition. On the one hand the manufacturershold up to our affrighted vision the picture of our mills stopped, ourmachine shops standing empty and idle, our hardware trade slippingthrough our fingers, our ships rotting in our own and in foreignports, and our greatness as a producing nation for ever passed away. On the other hand, the journalists who take the labor side of thequestion, the trades-union leaders, and a large number of the workmenthemselves, hold that we have little or nothing to fear from ourforeign rivals; that the depression, like those atmospheric ones ofwhich our American cousins are constantly warning us, will pass away, and leave us with better times to follow. I will, therefore, as far aspossible, keep out of the region of speculation, give you a few facts, show you some examples, and leave you to draw your own inferences. Some two or three years ago ordinary axle pulleys of English make weredifficult to get; the price was scandalously high, and the quality asscandalously low. Out of a dozen probably four would not turn roundwithout sticking, and the casting was--well, simply vile. I show you asample rather above the average, and the retail price for thisinferior article was 22s. Per gross. All at once the Americans delugedthe English market with the pulley which I now show to you, and itneeds no explanation of mine to satisfy the mechanical minds presentof the superiority of the transatlantic article; but when we also bearin mind that the price of the American was from 25 to 33 per cent lessthan the English pulley, you can understand how the builders exulted, and how the Volscians of the Birmingham district were fluttered. Then, and not till then, would the English maker condescend to believe thatit was possible to improve upon the wretched things which he hadfoisted upon his customers, and he at once commenced to copy theAmerican pulley. He has not yet succeeded in producing such abeautiful casting, but I venture to say that he has improved thequality more in the last eighteen months than in the previous eighteenyears. 

Now take the ordinary door furniture. For generations the Englishbuilder and householder has had to be content with the stereotyped, with all its aggravating propensities. First, the little screw (sosmall as to be scarcely perceptible to touch or to sight) shakes loosefrom its countersunk depression in the spindle, gets lost, and letsthe knob go adrift; or next, the knob itself, formed of a bit of sheetbrass, turns round on its shank and the door cannot be opened, or theshank, not having a sufficient bearing on the spindle, works loose, and the whole thing is out of repair. It is the same thing to-day asit was when it tormented my grandfather; for, of course, noimprovement could be made until Uncle Sam sent us his cheap, strong, serviceable, and sensible "Mineral Knob. "

The English maker says: "But look at the many devices which we haveinvented for door furniture. " Granted, and some of them very good, butnone of them so good as this--for the money. Plenty of them welladapted for extraordinary use, but none of them cheap enough andstrong enough to be placed in competition with this in fitting up thedwelling of the ordinary Englishman. The spindle and furniture of alock is the portion which is liable to and receives the most roughusage. 

I have here an ordinary cheap set of china furniture of English make, which I dare not drop lest I should break it, but as you see, I darethrow its Yankee competitor the whole length of this room. The retailprice of this English set is ninepence--the price of the American isless than sixpence. The English spindle is fitted with the usuallittle screw, the knob is loose, the roses are china, and liable tobreak with the least strain or blow. The American set, as you see, hasa long shank; the form of the knob is a very oblate spheroid, giving agood grip and free play for the fingers between the knob and the door. The rose is japanned iron, and has small studs or teeth projecting onits inner side effectually preventing it from turning round with thespindle; the screw is strong, and is tapped through the spindleitself, insuring both security and perfect steadiness. Several smallwashers are supplied with each spindle, enabling the slack to be takenup perfectly, and at the same time preventing the spindle fromsticking with any ordinary amount of friction. 

I will now show you a cheap American rim lock. First, you will noticethat both sides are alike. Next, that by pulling the latch forward itcan be turned half round, and is thereby converted from a right handto a left hand, or _vice versa_, in an instant. This is an importantpoint to a builder, but our lockmakers do not seem to know it. Severalattempts have been made to introduce locks of this kind, but the fancyprices put upon every article which departs, in ever so slight ameasure, from the antediluvian patterns mostly used, practicallyprohibits their adoption. The carcass of the lock is of cast iron; thecasting, like all the small American castings, is simply perfect;bosses are cast round the follower and keyholes; the box staple is onepiece of metal, neat and strong. 

But there is another point, and, to my mind, the most important one. Whatever opinions may be held as to the relative quality of this lock, whether it is better or worse than an English one, it is at least anhonest article. It makes no pretensions to be any better than it is. It does not entrap the unwary purchaser by pretending to be afirst-class article, when at the same time it may be a swindle. 

I will now show you an ordinary 6 inch rim-lock of Englishmanufacture. At a short distance it looks like a superior article; thefollower and keyhole appear as if they were bushed with brass. But letus take it to pieces, and see what we can find. The follower is arough casting, not turned at the bearings, and is in no sense a fit. The screw holes are not countersunk, but merely punched in; the key isof the roughest and worst fitting description; the inside is as roughand cheap as possible; the key is cut so as to deceive the purchaserinto the belief that there are twice as many wards in the lock as isreally the case, and the bushes prove to be thin plates of brassriveted on, and not bushes at all. In short, the whole article is avile fraud, and the maker was a swindler. This is strong language, butI think you will agree with me when I maintain that it is not strongerthan the circumstances warrant. 

But there are still its defects of bad design and useless workmanship. The lock is of the usual form given to the English rim-lock, that is, it has a flange which requires to be let into the edge of the door. Ihave fixed hundreds of them, and have never yet been able to see a usefor this flange. It is one great obstacle to the general introductionof a reversible lock; it adds to the labor of fixing without adding tothe security of the door, for if the door is to be forced from theoutside, the box staples give way first; if from the inside, theunscrewing of the box staple is all that is necessary to give egress;if the door requires easing, it effectually prevents it being done--infact, it is a nuisance, and nothing but a nuisance. But our lockmakersdo not appear to give these things a thought; their doctrine seems tobe, "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. "

Again, notice that the edges of the iron which lie against the doorand the sham bushes are ground bright. Here is labor wasted, for assoon as the lock is fixed these polished portions are hidden forever. Next, take the box staple. As is usual, it is fearfully andwonderfully made up of sheet iron, square iron, and brass; the outcomeof which is that the showy brass striking piece comes unriveted, thedoor comes unfastened, and the tenant's temper comes unhinged. Why, inthe name of common sense, could they not substitute a neat malleablecasting? In our own houses I have long since discarded the ordinarybox staple for draw-back locks, and find it cheaper to buy a cast ironstaple, and throw away the one supplied by the English lockmaker. 

Bear in mind that I have shown neither of these locks as samples ofhigh-class goods, but as samples of the furniture fixed in the housesof the working and middle classes of this country; and when I tell youthat the American lock, fitted with the mineral furniture, is at least25 per cent cheaper than the English abortion I have shown to you, youwill begin to realize what our English markets have to fear from theAmericans. 

Here is a common, cheap English mortise lock, and you will naturallyask why the outside of this lock is ground bright, when it is buriedin the door and never seen except it has to be taken out for repairs. I have asked the same question, and for 20 years have paused for areply. This lock is not reversible, the follower is not bushed, andthe inside is rough and cheap. Contrast it with this neat Americanlock, and notice again the bosses to receive the wear; notice alsothat the bolts are brass; the latch-bolt is, of course, reversible--Inever saw an American lock which was not. The body of the lock is castiron; and, seeing that there are no strains upon a mortise lock, it isquite as good as if it was of wrought iron. There is no unnecessarygrinding, but the iron is japanned, and the japan is as much superiorto the English compound as is the lacquer ware of the Japanese to thatwhich is executed in Birmingham and palmed upon the ignorant buyer asJapanese work. In fact, as you can see for yourselves, the Englishjapan looks almost like gas tar beside the American. This Americanlock is a two-lever, and there is no sham about the key, which is madeof some kind of white metal and is small and neat. This lock is only2½ per cent higher in price than the English. 

Before leaving these locks, let me say a word or two upon therelative wear upon their different portions, and their relativesafety. The English maker appears to ignore the fact thatnineteen-twentieths of the wear of a lock is upon the latch, spindle, and follower; the amount of actual wear upon the rest of the lock iscomparatively slight. Let any of you consider the number of times youopen and close a door, compared with the times you lock it. Ourdrawbacks and large rim locks are used about once a day; the greatbulk of our mortise locks are not used, except as latches, once aweek. One argument used by our manufacturers against the American lockis that, being made by machinery, there is necessarily a greatduplication of parts, and a consequent lowering of the standard ofsecurity; while their own locks, being made by hand, are not alike, and therefore cannot be so easily opened. 

Let any of you put this argument to proof, by trying how many frontdoors you can open with one key in a row of workmen's dwellings suchas are found in Manchester, ranging up to £25 rentals, and the resultwill astonish you. If our own manufacturers made their lockssufficiently well to give this security, there would be some force inwhat they say; but so far as security is concerned, they might as wellmake their locks by machinery as make them in the way they do. 

I now show you two thumb latches, one of American and one of Englishmake. Notice the general finish of the American latch; the shape, themode of construction, and everything about it proves that brains wereused when it was designed and made. The English "Norfolk latch, " onthe other hand, is ill designed, uncomfortable in hand, clumsilyfinished, the japan hangs about it in lumps, the latch is clumsy, thecatch is clumsier, and the keeper, a rough piece of hoop iron, seemsas if designed to "keep" the latch from doing its duty. In this casethe American latch is 25 per cent cheaper than the English one; andthe English latch is of the same pattern as the one that was in usewhen I was a boy, only that it is a greatly inferior article. 

I will now introduce you to the well known nuisance which we have beenaccustomed to use for fastening our cupboard doors--the cupboardturn--and without further comment, ask you to compare it with thisneat and simple latch of American make, costing about 5 per cent more, twice as efficacious, and five times as durable. In this case noimprovement has been made in the English fastener. It is just as itwas when I went to the trade, about 28 years ago, and although manyattempts have been made to improve it they have added so much to itscost as to prevent the improved articles from coming into general use. 

The difference between the English and American inventor and designerseems to consist in this--that while an Englishman devotes all hisenergies to the improvement of an existing shape, the American throwsthe old article under his bench and commences _de novo_. 

I think I have made out a case against the English hardwaremanufacturer, but when I have pointed these matters out to merchantsand ironmongers, I have been met with various reasons for thismanifest inferiority. I do not know how far these excuses may bevalid, but one man says that the reason, as regards locks, is somewhatas follows: The locksmiths of the district wherein they are made inmany cases work at their own homes; one man making one part of a lock, while other men make other parts. This goes on generation aftergeneration, and the men become mere machines, not knowing how theentire lock is constructed, and not caring to know. Another attributesit to the influence of the trades-unions, and says that if amanufacturer wants a different kind of lock, the price for the work isimmediately put higher, even though the actual labor may not beincreased. A third says it is due to the drunkenness of the hands, andtheir consequent poverty and physical and social demoralization, whichprevents them from rising to such an intellectual level as will enablethem to see the evils of their system, and adopt the right means toremove them. A fourth boldly says, "We make these goods because ourcustomers want them. " How far the reasons assigned by the first threeare correct I am unable to say, but for the fourth, the extent towhich the builders of England have patronized the Americans is acomplete answer. 

This defense, "Our customers want them, " is as old as the hills, andhas been used to cover every kind of deception and inferior articleever manufactured. Our Lancashire manufacturers use it when they arecharged with sending china clay and mildew (and call it calico) forthe mild Hindoo and the Heathen Chinee to dress themselves in. Ourbutter merchants use it when they make up grease and call it butter;and our hardware merchants use it when they send us sham locks, andcall them brass bushed, etc. 

It is the duty of the manufacturer to invent for his customers, and itis preposterous to say that the builder would prefer that embodimentof fraud--the English rim-lock, which I showed to you--to the Americanlock, which, at any rate, was an honest article, especially when thelatter had the great advantage of being considerably cheaper. I amafraid that the swindling and greed of our merchants is having theeffect of thrusting us out of the markets of the world, including ourhome markets; and when it is too late, these men who are making thename of English goods a byword and a reproach, even among the Hindoos, the Chinese, and the untutored savages of the South Sea Islands, willfind that "honesty is the best policy. "

We have been accustomed to hear a deal of buncombe talked about thehonesty of the Englishman, and the want of honesty of the Yankee;about the enterprise of our manufacturers and the skill of ourworkmen; but if what I have shown to you is to be taken as a specimen, it is time we set our house in order. Since commencing the paper Ihave read the discussion between Messrs. Chubb and Hill, and am at aloss to know why Messrs. Chubb entered into the arena. If all theEnglish makers tried to reach Chubb's standard we should keep ourmarkets, at least so far as high quality is concerned; and to seeMessrs. Chubb acting as champions of the English lockmakers issomething like seeing Messrs. Horrocks taking up the cudgels for thosepeople who manufacture china clay and call it calico, the proportionof fiber in the material being just a little greater than that foundin hair mortar. 

In conclusion, I wish it to be understood that I bring these factsbefore you in no exultant spirit. I am an Englishman, and the futurewelfare of myself and my children depends very much upon the future ofEnglish manufactures; but we cannot be blind to the fact that theapathy and conservatism of our manufacturers, the greed of ourMerchants, and the ignorance and drunkenness of our workmen, areweighing us so heavily in the race for trade that a member of our ownfamily, whose leading business should be to produce food for us, isoutstripping us with the greatest ease. Our boasted supremacy as amanufacturing people is leaving us, and leaving us under suchhumiliating circumstances--and if the men of Birmingham and thedistrict are content to dwell in their present "fools' paradise, " itis the duty of every lover of his country to speak as plainly aspossible to them. 

Of course I am prepared to be told that as I am not a lockmaker myopinion is worthless; but I have been about 28 years as man and boy, employer and workman, in the building trade, and if I have not got toknow something about builders' hardware during that period, I havemade but a poor use of my time. I do not know if I have added to yourstock of knowledge, but deeming the subject an important one, I havedone the best I could in the time at my disposal. 

In the discussion which followed the opinion of the members presentwas unanimously in favor of the American articles shown to them. 

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A high Indian official reports that the people of Cashmere are dyingof famine like flies, and at the present rate of mortality theprovince will be nearly depopulated by the end of the year. 

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TO INVENTORS. 

An experience of more than thirty years, and the preparation of notless than one hundred thousand applications for patents at home andabroad, enable us to understand the laws and practice on bothcontinents, and to possess unequaled facilities for procuring patentseverywhere. In addition to our facilities for preparing drawings andspecifications quickly, the applicant can rest assured that his casewill be filed in the Patent Office without delay. Every application, in which the fees have been paid, is sent complete--including themodel--to the Patent Office the same day the papers are signed at ouroffice, or received by mail, so there is no delay in filing the case, a complaint we often hear from other sources. Another advantage to theinventor in securing his patent through the Scientific American PatentAgency, it insures a special notice of the invention in the SCIENTIFICAMERICAN, which publication often opens negotiations for the sale ofthe patent or manufacture of the article. A synopsis of the patentlaws in foreign countries may be found on another page, and personscontemplating the securing of patents abroad are invited to write tothis office for prices, which have been reduced in accordance with thetimes, and our perfected facilities for conducting the business. Address MUNN & CO. , office SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. 

 * * * * *

BUSINESS AND PERSONAL. 

_The Charge for Insertion under this head is One Dollar a line foreach insertion; about eight words to a line. Advertisements must bereceived at publication office as early as Thursday morning to appearin next issue. _

Valves and Hydrants, warranted to give perfect satisfaction. ChapmanValve Manuf. Co. , Boston, Mass. 

Brown & Sharpe, Prov. , R. I. Best Gear Teeth Cutters and Index Platesat low prices. Send for catalogue. 

Wanted--Galvanic Battery, Induction Coil, Electro-Magnet. Address, with description and price, Box 1700, Boston, Mass. 

New Steam Governor. --Entire right for $3, 000. For circulars address E. Towns, Cisne, Ill. 

Gutta Percha, pure and sheeted, for sale in quantities to suit. Anderson & Reynolds, Salem, Mass. 

The new fragrant Vanity Fair Cigarettes. New combinations of rare OldPerique and Virginia. 

Wanted--Second-hand Corliss Engine, 100 to 125 H. P. Address P. O. Box1208, New Haven, Conn. 

17 and 20 in. Gibed Rest Screw Lathes. Geo. S. Lincoln, Hartford, Conn. 

"Downer's Anti-Incrustation Liquid" for Removal and Prevention ofScales in Steam Boilers, is spoken of in highest terms by those whohave given it a thorough trial. Circulars and price lists furnished onapplication. A. H. Downer, 17 Peck Slip, New York. 

Mr. W. B. Adams, one of the most extensive contractors and decoratorsin this city, says he has used nearly fifty thousand gallons of H. W. Johns' Asbestos Liquid Paints, and after an experience of twenty yearswith white lead and other paints, he considers them not only superiorin richness of color and durability, but owing to their wonderfulcovering properties, they are fully 20 per cent more economical thanany others. 

New Pamphlet of "Burnham's Standard Turbine Wheel" sent free by N. F. Burnham, York, Pa. 

Gaume's Electric Engine. 171 Pearl St. , B'klyn, N. Y. 

Engines, ½ to 5 H. P. G. F. Shedd, Waltham, Mass. 

Clipper Injector. J. D. Lynde, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Diamond Drills, J. Dickinson, 64 Nassau St. , N. Y. 

Eagle Anvils, 9 cents per pound. Fully warranted. 

Case Hardening Preparation. Box 73, Willimantic, Ct. 

Vertical Burr Mill. C. K. Bullock, Phila. , Pa. 

Sheet Metal Presses, Ferracute Co. , Bridgeton, N. J. 

Mundy's Pat. Friction Hoist. Eng. , of any power, double and single. Said by all to be the best. J. S. Mundy, Newark, N. J. 

Auction Sale. --The Machinery and Property of the well known Hardie'sMachine Works, 62 and 64 Church St. , Albany, N. Y. , will be sold March26, at noon. No postponement. 

To Manufacturers or Capitalists. --A rare chance to control a valuableagricultural patented implement. Address S. A. Fisher, Maplewood, Mass. 

Reflecting Telescope, 6½ inches aperture, well mounted, priceonly $70. J. Ramsden, Philadelphia, Pa. 

See Hogins' Laundry Table, illustrated on page 194. State, Canada, andentire right for sale. 

Emery. --Best Turkey Emery in bbls. , kegs, and cases in quantities tosuit. Greene, Tweed & Co. , 18 Park Place, N. Y. 

The SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Export Edition is published monthly, about the15th of each month. Every number comprises most of the plates of thefour preceding weekly numbers of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, with otherappropriate contents, business announcements, etc. It forms a largeand splendid periodical of nearly one hundred quarto pages, eachnumber illustrated with about one hundred engravings. It is a completerecord of American progress in the arts. 

Gold, Silver, and Nickel Plater wants situation. Address Plater, Oakville, Conn. 

Amateur Photo. Apparatus, including instructions; outfits complete. E. Sackmann & Co. , 278 Pearl St. , N. Y. 

Outfits for Nickel and Silver Plating, $5 to $200. Union SilverPlating Company, Princeton, Ill. 

Send for Circulars of Indestructible Boot and Shoe Soles to H. C. Goodrich, 40 Hoyne Ave. , Chicago, Ill. 

For Sale. --Brown & Sharp Universal Milling Machine; Bement ProfilingMachine; first-class 2d hand Machine Tools. E. P. Bullard, 14 Dey St. , New York. 

For Sale. --7 foot bed Putnam Planer, $350. A. A. Pool & Co. , Newark, N. J. 

Bevins & Co. 's Hydraulic Elevator. Great power, simplicity, safety, economy, durability. 94 Liberty St. N. Y. 

A Cupola works best with forced blast from a Baker Blower. WilbrahamBros. , 2, 318 Frankford Ave. , Phila. 

Shaw's Noise Quieting Nozzles and Mercury Pressure Gauges. T. Shaw, 915 Ridge Ave. , Philadelphia, Pa. 

For Solid Wrought Iron Beams, etc. , see advertisement. Address UnionIron Mills, Pittsburgh, Pa. , for lithograph, etc. 

H. Prentiss & Company, 14 Dey St. , N. Y. , Manufs. Taps, Dies, ScrewPlates, Reamers, etc. Send for list. 

Presses, Dies, and Tools for working Sheet Metal, etc. Fruit & othercan tools. Bliss & Williams, B'klyn, N. Y. 

Nickel Plating. --A white deposit guaranteed by using our material. Condit, Hanson & Van Winkle, Newark, N. J. 

Hydraulic Elevators for private houses, hotels, and public buildings. Burdon Iron Works, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

The Lathes, Planers, Drills, and other Tools, new and second-hand, ofthe Wood & Light Machine Company, Worcester, are to be sold out verylow by the George Place Machinery Agency, 121 Chambers St. , New York. 

Hydraulic Presses and Jacks, new and second hand. Lathes and Machineryfor Polishing and Buffing Metals E. Lyon & Co. , 470 Grand St. , N. Y. 

Solid Emery Vulcanite Wheels--The Solid Original Emery Wheel--otherkinds imitations and inferior. Caution. --Our name is stamped in fullon all our best Standard Belting, Packing, and Hose. Buy that only. The best is the cheapest. New York Belting and Packing Company, 37 and38 Park Row, N. Y. 

Pulverizing Mills for all hard substances and grinding purposes. Walker Bros. & Co. , 23d & Wood St. , Phila. , Pa. 

Portland Cement--Roman & Keene's, for walks, cisterns, foundations, stables, cellars, bridges, reservoirs, breweries, etc. Remit 25 centspostage stamps for Practical Treatise on Cements. S. L. Merchant &Co. , 53 Broadway, New York. 

Needle Pointed Iron, Brass, and Steel Wire for all purposes. W. Crabb, Newark, N. J. 

Manufacturers of Improved Goods who desire to build up a lucrativeforeign trade, will do well to insert a well displayed advertisementin the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Export Edition. This paper has a very largeforeign circulation. 

Band Saws, $100; Scroll Saws, $75; Planers, $150; Universal WoodWorkers and Hand Planers, $150, and upwards. Bentel, Margedant & Co. , Hamilton, Ohio. 

The best Friction Clutch Pulley and Friction Hoisting Machinery in theworld, to be seen with power applied, 95 and 97 Liberty St. , New York. D. Frisbie & Co. , New Haven, Conn. 

C. M. Flint, Fitchburg, Mass. , Mfr. Of Saw Mills and Dogs, Shingle andClapboard Machines. Circulars. 

Blake's Belt Studs; strongest, cheapest, and best fastening forLeather or Rubber Belts. Greene, Tweed & Co. , New York. 

No gum! No grit! No acid! Anti-Corrosive Cylinder Oil is the best inthe world, and the first and only oil that perfectly lubricates arailroad locomotive cylinder, doing it with half the quantity requiredof best lard or tallow, giving increased power and less wear tomachinery, with entire freedom from gum, stain, or corrosion of anysort, and it is equally superior for all steam cylinders or heavy workwhere body or cooling qualities are indispensable. A fair trialinsures its continued use. Address E. H. Kellogg, sole manufacturer, 17 Cedar St. , New York. 

The unprecedented demand for Kinney Bros. ' New Cigarette, SweetCaporal, is a good recommendation as to their merit. 

Wheels and Pinions, heavy and light, remarkably strong and durable. Especially suited for sugar mills and similar work. Pittsburgh SteelCasting Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Deoxidized Bronze. Patent for machine and engine journals. Philadelphia Smelting Co. , Phila. , Pa. 

For Sale. --4 H. P. Vertical Engine and Boiler (New York Safety SteamPower Co. 's make), as good, and in some respects better, than new. Address H. M. Quackenbush, Herkimer, N. Y. 

Wood-working Machinery, Waymouth Lathes. Specialty, Wardwell PatentSaw Bench; it has no equal. Improved Patent Planers; Elevators; DowelMachines. Rollstone Machine Company, Fitchburg, Mass. 

Galland & Co. 's improved Hydraulic Elevators. Office 206 Broadway, N. Y. , (Evening Post Building, room 22. )

The only economical and practical Gas Engine in the market is the new"Otto" Silent, built by Schleicher. Schumm & Co. , Philadelphia, Pa. Send for circular. 

Dead Pulleys that stop the running of loose pulleys and their belts, controlled from any point. Send for catalogue. Taper Sleeve PulleyWorks, Erie, Pa. 

_Vick's Illustrated Monthly Magazine_ is one of the most beautifulmagazines in the world. Each number contains a chromo of some group offlowers, and many fine engravings. Published monthly at $1. 25 peryear. Address James Vick, Rochester, N. Y. 

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[Illustration: Notes and Queries]

NOTES & QUERIES

HINTS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

No attention will be paid to communications unless accompanied withthe full name and address of the writer. 

Names and addresses of correspondents will not be given to inquirers. 

We renew our request that correspondents, in referring to formeranswers or articles, will be kind enough to name the date of the paperand the page, or the number of the question. 

Correspondents whose inquiries do not appear after a reasonable timeshould repeat them. 

Persons desiring special information which is purely of a personalcharacter, and not of general interest, should remit from $1 to $5, according to the subject, as we cannot be expected to spend time andlabor to obtain such information without remuneration. 

 * * * * *

(1) S. Q. --The speed of a circular saw at the periphery should be from6, 000 to 7, 000 feet per minute. The number of revolutions per minutewill of course vary with the diameter of the saw. 

(2) T. J. F. Asks (1) for the best way to fasten emery on a woodenwheel, to be used in place of a solid emery wheel. A. Cover the wheelwith leather devoid of grease, and coat the leather surface, a portionat a time, with good glue; immediately roll the glued surface in emeryspread out on a board. 2. How can I fasten small pieces of lookingglass on iron? A. Use equal parts of pitch and gutta percha together. 

(3) W. C. Asks: 1. What is the power of the simple electric lightdescribed in SUPPLEMENT NO. 149? A. When supplied with a strongcurrent it is equal to 5 or 6 5-foot gas burners. It is designed fortemporary use only. 2. What is the cost of manufacturing thedynamo-electric machine in SUPPLEMENT NO. 161? A. The one shown in thearticle referred to cost about $35. 

(4) L. D. Asks: 1. Which is the better conductor, silver or copper? A. Silver. 2. And the comparative resistance offered to the electriccurrent by water and the above? A. Taking pure silver as 100, 000, 000, the conductivity of distilled water would be 0. 01. 

(5) H. J. F. Writes: In SUPPLEMENT 162 a simple electric light isdescribed. I wish to light a room 20×20×10 feet. 1. How large is thebell glass? A. 2½ inches. 2. Can I use battery carbon? A. Use acarbon pencil made for electric lamps. 3. How can I make tray watertight after putting wire through? A. With gutta percha. 4. I have onelarge cell Bunsen and one Smee. How many more and of what kind shall Iget? A. One of the batteries described in SUPPLEMENTS 157, 158, 159, will do, probably 8 or 10 Bunsen elements would be the best. 

(6) W. B. F. Writes: I tried to make an electric pen, like the onedescribed in your SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, of February 22d, 1879, using aSmee's battery, a circuit breaker, and an induction coil, but it didnot work. Is there anything wrong, or is a condenser different from aninduction coil? A. A condenser consists of a number of sheets of tinfoil separated from each other by larger sheets of paper. One half ofthe tin foil sheets are connected with one terminal of the primarycoil, the other half with the other terminal; the tin foil sheetsconnected with one terminal alternate with those of the otherterminal. The condenser is essential to the working of the coil. Forcomplete directions for making induction coils, see SCIENTIFICAMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 160. 

(7) J. De F. Asks: 1. Knowing the resistance of a wire of givenconductivity, length, and diameter, will the resistance of any otherwire be in proportion inversely? A. Yes. 2. Is there heat enoughdeveloped in the secondary coil of an induction coil to prevent theuse of paraffine as an insulating material? A. With proper batterypower, no. 3. How high in the list of non-conductors does paraffinestand? A. It is one of the best. 4. Will a cotton insulator soaked inparaffine answer as well as silk? A. No, because it renders thecovering of the wire too thick. 5. Can you recommend any insulatingmaterial for making induction coils which will dry rapidly? A. Alcoholic shellac varnish. Rosin to which a little beeswax has beenadded is an excellent insulator; it must be applied in a melted state. 6. What is the composition of the black material covering theLeclanche porous cell? A. Gutta percha. 7. Is the magneto-electricmachine described in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT patented? A. To which do you refer? Most, if not all of them are patented. 

(8) B. V. F. Writes: With reference to item 8, on page 139, ofSCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, March 1, 1879, I think there is some mistakeabout the coal you think required to heat 1, 000 cubic feet space. Iburn some 8 tons coal to heat, in the whole year, such part of myhouse as must exceed 25×20×18=9, 000 cubic feet. We keep up a moderateheat at night. Ventilate more than most families do; take part only ofthe cool air, and only in part of the coldest weather, from thecellar, which at such times is opened into the main entries. Housewood, back plastered, and stands alone. If 100 lbs. Coal would heat1, 000 feet one day, I ought to burn 900 lbs. A day, or nearly 14 tonsin December and 14 more in January. A. We are glad to receive thesedata, which correspond quite closely with some obtained by recentaccurate experiments. The estimate given in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICANalso agrees well with experiments on the use of hot air heaters forvery small buildings or rooms. Of course, the larger the space to beheated, the more economically it can generally be done. 

(9) W. M. S. Asks: Will the coil described in SUPPLEMENT NO. 160 dofor the electric pen described in a recent number of the SCIENTIFICAMERICAN? If not how must it be changed? A. It is too large; make itone half the size given. 

[Illustration]

(10) B. G. --In reply to your inquiry as to Mr. Stroh's telephoneexperiment, we give the following, which we clip from the _EnglishMechanic_: A singular experimental effect, of special interest justnow from its possible bearing on the theory of the source of sound inthe Bell telephone, has just been observed by Mr. Stroh, the wellknown mechanician. If a telephone, T, with the circuit of its coilleft open, be held to the ear, and a powerful magnet, M, be movedgently up and down along the length of the magnet, as shown by thearrow, and at a distance of an inch or two from it, a faint breathingsound will be heard, the recurring pulses of sound keeping time withthe up and down motion of the magnet. The sound may be aptly comparedto the steady breathing of a child, and there is a strikingresemblance between it and the microphonic sounds of gases diffusingthrough a porous septum as heard by Mr. Chandler Roberts. Weunderstand that Professor Hughes is investigating the cause of thiscurious sound by help of the microphone. 

(11) "Enterprise" asks: What part of its volume will iron expand inpassing from a temperature of 60° to melting temperature? A. Thecubical expansion of iron for each degree (C. ) between 0° and 100° is0. 00003546 of its volume, its volume being 1. This ratio however, increases somewhat at higher temperatures, since the mean coefficientof expansion for each degree between 0° C. And 300° C. Is 0. 00004405. The question you ask has probably never been settled. You may form anapproximation by the use of the above ratios, knowing the meltingpoint of the iron. 

(12) P. L. O. Asks for a good chemistry for a beginner to studywithout a teacher. A. Fownes' "Chemistry;" Gorup-Besanez, "Inorganic, Organic and Physiological Chemistry. "

(13) L. E. M. Asks: What is the best method of keeping fine guns fromrusting, and what oil should be used? A. For the outside, clear gumcopal 1 part, oil of rosemary 1 part, absolute alcohol 3 parts. Cleanand heat the metal and apply a flowing coat of the liquid by means ofa camel's hair brush. Do not handle until the coat becomes dry andhard. For the inside of the barrel a trace of refined sperm oil is asgood as anything, but an excess should be avoided. 

(14) A. H. B. Asks how much weight, falling 10 feet, will be requiredto produce one horse power for five hours? A. One horse power for 5hours = 33, 000 × 300 = 9, 900, 000 foot pounds--so that the weightrequired is 9, 900, 000 ÷ 10 = 990, 000 lbs. 

(15) A. D. R. Asks: 1. In renewing a Leclanche battery, do the zincshave to be amalgamated? A. They are usually amalgamated. 2. Will twocells large size Leclanche battery give any light, using the simplelamp described in SUPPLEMENT NO. 162? A. No. 

(16) H. L. J. Writes: In a recent issue of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN youstate that the floating of solid iron on melted iron is on the sameprinciple as the floating of ice in water. I do not quite understandhow it can be. Please explain. A. Solid iron, at an elevatedtemperature, floats upon molten iron for the same reason that icefloats upon molten ice-water--because it is specifically lighter. Youwill find the subject discussed at length in Tyndall's "Heat as a Modeof Motion. "

(17) J. W. Will find full directions for canning corn, etc. , on p. 394(4), vol. 39, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. 

(18) "Amateur" writes: I wish to make some small bells that have aclear ring. What metal or metals can I use that I can melt easily? A. Use an alloy of tin and antimony. See SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENTNO. 17. 

(19) H. --A nutritious mixed diet is unquestionably the best, carebeing taken to avoid an excess of meat. 

(20) W. F. Writes: I have made an engine, and would like to find outwhat size of boiler it will require. The cylinder has 2¼ inch bore and3 inches stroke. A. It depends upon pressure and speed to bemaintained; probably a vertical tubular boiler, 15 inches diameter, and 32 to 36 inches high, would suit you. 

(21) R. G. (Salt Lake). --Please send full name. 

(22) J. M. G. Asks: If two persons each pull one hundred pounds onopposite ends of a rope, what will be the strain on the rope? A. Thestrain on the rope will be 100 lbs. 

(23) W. M. M. Asks: In laying off a mill stone in furrows, whatdraught is given? What amount of the space of a stone is given tofurrows and what to grinding surface? A. There is considerabledifference in the practice of various millers, and we would be glad toreceive communications from those experienced in the art of dressingmillstones. 

MINERALS, ETC. --Specimens have been received from the followingcorrespondents, and examined, with the results stated:

S. (New Orleans. )--The powder consists of a mixture of zinc oxide andfinely powdered resin. A quantitative analysis would be necessary todetermine the proportions. 

Any numbers of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT referred to in thesecolumns may be had at this office. Price 10 cents each. 

 * * * * *

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED. 

 Life Preserving Stone. By J. D. W. On Ventilation. By D. W. What is Mental Action? By N. K. Panama Railroad or Canal. By G. R. P. A Problem. By K. On the Gary Motor. By G. F. M. Magnetic Motor. By G. W. W. , W. A. A. , G. H. F. House Warming. By H. B. F. The Injector. By M. A. B. Columbus' Problem; Cure for Diphtheria; The Mullein Cure for Consumption. By R. W. L. A Visit to Tula. By L. R. On Vacuum in Pumps and the Atwood Machine. By P. J. D. On the Patent Bill. By R. 

 * * * * *

[OFFICIAL. ]

INDEX OF INVENTIONS

FOR WHICH

LETTERS PATENT OF THE UNITED STATES WERE GRANTED IN THE WEEK ENDING

February 18, 1879, AND EACH BEARING THAT DATE. 

[Those marked (r) are reissued patents. ]

A complete copy of any patent in the annexed list, including both thespecifications and drawings, will be furnished from this office forone dollar. In ordering, please state the number and date of thepatent desired, and remit to Munn & Co. , 37 Park Row, New York city. 

 Air heater, W. Pickhardt 212, 499 Anchor, A. F. White 212, 340 Animal trap, S. J. Bennett 212, 430 Axle box, vehicle, P. K. Hughes 212, 382 Axle, carriage, C. H. Kendall 212, 387 Axle for wagons, trussed, J. Herby 212, 378 Axle, vehicle, C. H. Kendall 212, 386 Barrel cover, C. Brinton 212, 350 Bed bottom, J. Flinn 212, 451 Bed bottom, spring, W. B. Crich 212, 443 Bedstead, sofa, A. N. Hornung 212, 312 Bedstead, wardrobe, H. P. Blackman 212, 348 Belt hook templet, E. Card 212, 353 Boot and shoe laster, L. Graf 212, 460 Boot and shoe sole polisher, etc. , O. Gilmore 212, 372 Boot and shoe sole edge trimmer, C. H. Helms 212, 311 Boot fronts, cutting in, C. H. Colburn 212, 357 Boot, India-rubber, G. Watkinson (r) 8, 587 Bottle filler, W. S. Paddock 212, 494 Bread board, H. Van Doren 212, 334 Brick, shed for drying, C. H. Roselius 212, 511 Bridge gate, A. Stempel 212, 329 Broom corn tabler, G. W. Foulger 212, 454 Button F. E. Williams 212, 418 Calculator, tax, P. F. Pettibone 212, 498 Car coupling, G. R. Hamilton 212, 462 Car coupling, S. A. Haydock 212, 464 Car coupling, J. Worrall 212, 529 Car heaters, coupling for pipes of railway, J. W. Graydon 212, 376 Car heater, railway, J. W. Graydon 212, 375 Car heating pipe coupling, railway, J. W. Graydon 212, 374 Car ventilation, J. Knipscheer 212, 475 Cars, heating, J. & J. W. Russell 212, 403 Cars, supplying water to wash stands on, D. H. Jones 212, 385 Carbureter feed regulator, W. H. Reed 212, 502 Card machine burr conveyer, W. C. Bramwell 212, 435 Carpet beater, J. L. Leach 212, 476 Carriage, C. H. Palmer, Jr. 212, 397 Carriage bow, F. H. Niemann 212, 491 Carriage, child's, F. H. Way (r) 8, 583 Carriage top prop, J. P. Simpson 212, 519 Carriage canopy top, D. Gleason 212, 458 Cartridge, W. W. Hubbell 212, 313 Chair foot or leg rest, M. E. Keiran 212, 474 Chimney, locomotive engine, H. R. Walker 212, 414 Chuck, lathe, J. H. Vinton 212, 413 Churn power motion, W. F. Witherington 212, 527 Cigarette, C. C. Millaudon 212, 392 Coat, reversible, N. H. Lund 212, 479 Cock and faucet, etc. , self-closing, J. Broughton 212, 436 Coffee pot, teapot, etc. , stand, D. H. Murphy 212, 395 Coffee roaster, R. Davis 212, 445 Corset, W. Thomas 212, 411 Corset steel, E. M. Smith 211, 520 Dental plugger, W. G. A. Bonwill 212, 434 Door securer and combined tool, P. E. Rudel 212, 512 Door sill and carpet strip, S. M. Stewart 212, 521 Drip pan and self-oiler for bearings, R. B. Eason 212, 449 Egg cup and opener, D. H. Murphy 212, 394 End gate, wagon, W. H. Parkin 212, 398 File, bill, E. H. Owen 212, 493 Files, recutting, M. J. Murphy 212, 490 Filter, J. W. Lefferts 212, 477 Firearm, breech-loading, H. Goodman 212, 459 Firearm lock, Kaufmann & Warnant 212, 473 Fire extinguisher, D. T. Perkins 212, 322 Fires in buildings, extinguishing, C. Barnes 212, 346 Fluid motor, Chase & Bowker 212, 356 Fountain tip, H. G. Fiske 212, 368 Furnace, G. B. Field 212, 366 Game apparatus, W. T. Ebert 212, 304 Garter, etc. , clasp, L. Lobenstein 212, 390 Gate, McKinley & Ellis 212, 482 Gate, G. W. Pyle 212, 501 Glassware, decorating, H. Feurhake 212, 365 Glassware shaper and finisher, Atterbury & Beck 212, 421 Glazier's tool, W. H. G. Savage 212, 515 Governor and friction brake for machinery, speed, T. A. Weston 212, 337 Grain drill, C. F. Davis (r) 8, 589 Harness breeching strap, H. Holt 212, 467 Harrow, toothless, J. W. Mulvey 212, 393 Harvester, W. A. Wood 212, 528 Harvester cutter, B. Pratt 212, 323 Harvester, grain binding, J. F. Appleby 212, 420 Harvester reel, B. Moreland 212, 318 Harvesting machine, Dutton & Tornquist 212, 303 Hat formers, web tender for, R. Eickemeyer 212, 450 Hay binder and elevator, P. H. Nichols 212, 319 Hay elevator, H. Barlow 212, 427 Hay tedder, E. J. Knowlton 212, 388 Headlights, signal for locomotive, W. Kelley (r) 8, 591 Heat regulator for furnaces, A. C. Norcross (r) 8, 582 Hoisting bucket, F. H. C. Mey 212, 317 Hoisting drums, etc. , friction brake and clutch for, T. A. 212, 338 Weston Hoisting machine, T. A. Weston 212, 339 Horse toe weight, G. C. Clausen 212, 440 Hydrant, J. Snell 212, 408 Hydrant, street, G. C. Morgan 212, 486 Hydraulic motor, W. S. Puckett 212, 500 Injector, steam boiler, G. R. Buckman 212, 438 Keg trussing machine, E. & B. Holmes 212, 381 Kettle, H. C. McLean 212, 483 Kitchen cabinet, C. A. Adams 212, 343 Lamp, J. H. Irwin 212, 470 Lamp burner, E. B. Requa 212, 401 Lamp, fountain, C. Stockmann 212, 522 Lamp shade holder, Brown & Taplin 212, 437 Lamp, street, J. Stewart 212, 410 Lamp wick, H. Halvorson 212, 309 Life preserver, T. Richards 212, 402 Life preserver, R. E. Rose 212, 404 Lock, W. E. Forster 212, 452 Lock gate, D. Risher, Jr. 212, 506 Mechanical movement, C. B. Hitchcock 212, 380 Metal tube maker, A. Ball 212, 425 Middlings separator, J. Schoonover 212, 406 Milker, cow, A. C. Baldwin 212, 423 Millstone adjustment, S. P. Walling 212, 525 Millstone curb or hoop, J. S. Detwiler 212, 361 Miter machine, J. J. Spilker 212, 409 Mop head, H. Murch 212, 489 Needle eye polisher, George & Payne 212, 455 Oil cup, F. Lunkenheimer 212, 480 Ore concentrator, E. W. Stephens 212, 330 Ore roaster, C. E. Robinson 212, 508 Oven bottom and slide, J. Jewett 212, 471 Oysters, board bank for fattening, F. Lang 212, 389 Package or box filler, Bolton & Strieby 212, 349 Paper cutter, J. M. Jones 212, 384 Paper folder, R. M. Hoe 212, 466 Paper machines, method and apparatus for producing a vacuum in 212, 362 the suction box of, Dunn & Hollister Paper machines, wire guide for J. W. Moore 212, 485 Paper making, treating pulp stock, S. & J. Deacon 212, 447 Paper scorer and cutter, G. L. Ingram 212, 314 Paper scorer and cutter, W. F. Lodge 212, 315 Permutation lock dial screen, Corbett & Miller 212, 359 Picture exhibitor, A. L. High 212, 465 Pill machine, Fort & Moore 212, 453 Pipe wrench, S. W. Hudson 212, 468 Pipe wrench with cutter, Franklin & Gilberds 212, 369 Plant protector, E. R. Frederick 212, 306 Plants, etc. , poison distributer for, G. Townsend 212, 412 Planter and drill, check row, G. J. Hyer 212, 469 Planter, corn, J. A. Roderick 212, 509 Plow, E. Walker 212, 524 Plow attachment, A. O. Bement 212, 429 Plow cutter, A. Aldrich 212, 419 Plow, sulky, J. R. Whitney 212, 341 Printer's roller, T. M. Fisher 212, 367 Printing machine, L. C. Crowell 212, 444 Pumping engine, duplex, G. F. Blake (r) 8, 585 Radiator for steam heaters, Covert & Snyder 212, 360 Railway crossing, Bernard & Perkins 212, 432 Railway switch, C. F. Gessert 212, 456 Ratchet mechanism and clutch for machinery, T. A. Weston 212, 336 Rocking chair, J. W. Hamburger 212, 461 Rotary engine, A. B. Haughey 212, 463 Rubber mat, E. L. Perry 212, 497 Sad iron holder, A. Failor 212, 363 Safety pin, I. W. Stewart (r) 8, 592 Salt cellar, W. Sellers 212, 518 Sandpaper roll, O. Gilmore 212, 371 Sash cord guide, Clarkson & Kesler (r) 8, 586 Sash fastener, J. Benson 212, 431 Sash fastener, G. W. Cary 212, 354 Sash fastener, J. B. Morris 212, 487 Saw, circular, G. Schleicher 212, 516 Saw handle, E. R. Osgood 212, 396 Saw, jig, G. W. Gary 212, 355 Saw mill, gang, H. D. & E. N. Wickes 212, 526 Saw mill head block, J. T. James 212, 383 Sawing machine, scroll, N. P. Selden 212, 326 Scales, platform, F. Fairbanks 212, 364 Scales, weighing, G. L. C. Coulon 212, 300 Scarf pins, etc. , making ball heads of, J. N. Allen 212, 297 Scythe snath fastening, P. E. Rudel 212, 513 Sewer trap, J. P. Cahill 212, 352 Sewing implement, A. J. Lytle 212, 481 Sewing machine, C. O. Parmenter 212, 495 Sewing machine attachment, J. B. Sulgrove 212, 523 Sewing machine plaiter, White & Bowhannan 212, 417 Sheet metal vessel bottom, F. W. Moseley 212, 484 Shoe, Searl & Bly 212, 517 Skate, C. T. Day (r) 8, 590 Skylight, J. Friend 212, 307 Slate frame, E. Butler (r) 8, 588 Sled propeller, G. F. Shaver (r) 8, 593 Smelting furnace, iron, P. L. Weimer 212, 415 Sole edge burnisher, T. P. Young 212, 342 Spoke tenoning machine, A. J. Roberts 212, 507 Sprinkling can, G. F. Payne 212, 321 Stamp, postage and revenue, K. Wheeler 212, 416 Staple machine, W. M. Collins 212, 441 Staples in paper, etc. , device for inserting metallic, G. W. 212, 316 McGill Stave crozer and chamferer, H. H. Dunlevy 212, 448 Steak tenderer, E. Richmond 212, 505 Steam boiler, fire tube, J. Cowhig 212, 301 Steam brake for locomotives, etc. , W. L. Card 212, 439 Steam piping for heating, etc. , B. F. Osborne 212, 420 Steam trap, I. W. Merrill 212, 391 Stove and furnace grate, S. Smyth 212, 407 Stove, cooking, G. H. Hess 212, 379 Stove, cooking, J. Jewett 212, 472 Stove, oil, Fleming & Hamilton 212, 305 Stove oven door and shelf, C. W. Brieder 212, 351 Strainer, gravy, J. Scheider (r) 8, 584 Strap for garments, adjusting, T. O. Potter 212, 400 Street motor, J. T. Cord 212, 442 Surveying instrument leveler, G. N. Saegmuller 212, 405 Swing, J. Ryan 212, 514 Telephone apparatus, speaking, E. Gray 212, 373 Telephony, electric, Black & Rosebrugh 212, 433 Telephony, electric, A. M. Rosebrugh 212, 510 Thill coupling, D. C. Bacon 212, 422 Thill coupling, C. E. Gillespie et al. 212, 308 Thill coupling, M. F. Ten Eyck 212, 333 Thill supporter, vehicle, H. O. Rector 212, 325 Ticket, passenger, J. H. Purdy 212, 324 Tiles for use as stands, frame for holding ornamental or fancy 212, 335 pottery, C. A. Wellington Tiles, decorative, J. G. Low 212, 478 Tiles, paving blocks, etc. , composition for drain, W. H. Haight 212, 377 Tire upsetter, B. K. Taylor 212, 332 Tobacco, curing, A. P. Poladura 212, 399 Tobacco cutter, Bauer & Seitz 212, 347 Tobacco flavoring compound, D. Sternberg 212, 331 Tobacco manufacture, J. T. Harris 212, 310 Tobacco presser, F. B. Deane 212, 446 Traction engine, J. Cooper 212, 358 Truss, J. R. Alexander 212, 344 Type distributer, A. C. Richards 212, 503 Type setter, A. C. Richards 212, 504 Umbrella, M. Girbardt 212, 457 Umbrella runner, W. H. Belknap 212, 428 Undershoe or slipper, G. Gardner 212, 370 Vehicle seat lock, W. G. Allen 212, 345 Vehicle spring, M. H. Crane 212, 302 Vehicle spring bolster, J. G. Snyder 212, 328 Velocipede, E. C. F. Otto 212, 492 Wash boiler, F. J. Boyer 212, 299 Washing and bath tub, J. B O. Shevill 212, 327 Washing machine, J. W. Patterson 212, 496 Water meter diaphragm, W. B. Mounteney 212, 488 Whip holder, Curtis & Worden (r) 8, 581 Wire measurer and cutter, G. A. Baron 212, 426 Wire, winding tubes and rods with, A. Ball 212, 424 Wrench, C. B. Billings 212, 298

 * * * * *

TRADE MARKS. 

 Boots, shoes, and brogans, W. F. Thorne & Co. 7, 037 Cigars, Sullivan & Burk 7, 035 Cigars, cigarettes, and smoking and chewing tobacco, B. Hilson 7, 038 Cotton gins, Printup, Brother & Pollard 7, 042 Fertilizers for flowers, W. H. Bowker & Co. 7, 041 Grain fans, J. Montgomery 7, 032 Hair goods for ladies' wear, M. E. Thompson 7, 040 Hoes, Semple & Birge Manufacturing Company 7, 039 Medicine for the cure of neuralgia, and the like diseases, J. S. Nicolds 7, 033 Roofing paper, carpet paper, or paper felt, and building paper, Watson & Janes 7, 043 Soap, Gallup & Hewitt 7, 036 Spool cotton, J. & J. Clark & Co 7, 031 Table cutlery, John Russell Cutlery Company 7, 034

 * * * * *

DESIGNS. 

 Carpet, T. J. Stearns 11, 029 Combined sleigh bell and terret ring, H. M. Richmond 11, 027 Crocheted body for shawls, L. Howard 11, 028 Oil cloth, C. T. & V. E. Meyer 11, 024 to 11, 026 Statue, A. Bartholdi 11, 023

 * * * * *

ENGLISH PATENTS ISSUED TO AMERICANS. 

From February 18 to February 21, inclusive. 

 Bed bottoms, etc. --C. D. Flynt, Brooklyn, N. Y. Berth. --D. Huston, Boston, Mass. Lead smelting furnace. --G. T. Lewis, Philadelphia, Pa. Locks. --A. P. Thomas _et al. _, Baltimore, Md. Railway joint. --P. T. Madison, Indianapolis, Ind. Spikes for railroads. --R. Bocklen, New York city. Ventilating buildings. --F. S. Norton, New York city. 

 * * * * *

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

 INSIDE PAGE, EACH INSERTION 75 CENTS A LINE. BACK PAGE, EACH INSERTION $1. 00 A LINE. 

(About eight words to a line. )

_Engravings may head advertisements at the same rate per line, bymeasurement, as the letter press. Advertisements must be received atpublication office as early as Thursday morning to appear in nextissue. _

 * * * * *

A RARE OPPORTUNITY, ON EASY TERMS. 

To be sold at Auction, at Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday, thefirst day of April, 1879, the Taylor Iron Works, complete and inoperation, together with all stores, stock, and work on hand on day ofsale. 

The above is a large, first-class engineering establishment, completewithin itself for all kinds of work, comprising iron and brassfoundries, boiler shop, machine shops, pattern and millwright shops, with a large stock of patterns for local machinery, and Taylorpresses. Connected with the works is a large, well-stocked engineerand mill supply store. All departments have the best of modern toolsin thorough repair. Buildings comparatively new, and convenientlyarranged on large grounds. The business was established 1844; hasalways done a large business and maintained a high reputation. Thepresent works, built since 1866, have ample facilities to work 200men. At present about 100 men are employed. For further particularsapply to the works or to JOHN F. TAYLOR, Sharon Springs, N. Y. , whowill meet parties at Albany, N. Y. , by appointment, or New York, ifpreferred. 

 * * * * *

LARGEST ASSORTMENT IN THE WORLD

of Plays, Dramas, Comedies, Farces, Ethiopian Dramas, Plays for Ladiesonly, Plays for Gentlemen only. Wigs, Beards, Moustaches, FacePreparations, Burnt Cork, Jarley's Wax Works, Tableaux, Charades, Pantomimes, Guides to the Stage, and for Amateurs Make up Book, Makeup Boxes, New Plays. SAM'L FRENCH & SON, 38 East 14th St. , UnionSquare, New York. 

CATALOGUES SENT FREE!!!

 * * * * *

50 _Latest Style_ CARDS. _Bouquet, Lawn, Floral, _ etc. , in case, _namein gold_, 10c. SEAVY BROS. , Northford, Ct. 

[Symbol: Right index] RARE OPPORTUNITY. [Symbol: Left index]

The proprietor, advanced in years and desirous of retiring from activecontrol of business, would _sell at a bargain_, or convert into ajoint stock company and retain an interest himself, a Foundry andMachine Shops, with all their machinery and fixtures complete, and nowcrowded with custom work, having cost upwards of sixty thousanddollars, and the only ones of magnitude for 120 miles on theMississippi River, on various points of which may be seen specimens ofwork of these shops at Stillwater, Winona, McGregor. Dubuque, Fulton, Lyons, Clinton, Muscatine, and on many of the boats. For particulars, address the proprietor at Clinton, Iowa. 

 A. P. HOSFORD. 

 * * * * *

FOR SALE--GEAR CUTTER. 

Been in use only eighteen months; will cut gears, bothSpur-Bevel-Miter and Spiral, from four feet to one inch in diameter. Is complete with counter-shaft and several cutters. Machine made byPond, of Worcester. Index made by Browne & Sharpe. Cost $900. Willsell for $250. 

Address J. G. STOWE, 126 Main Street, Cincinnati, O. 

 * * * * *

THE TRIUMPH NON-CONDUCTOR

weighs but 1½ lbs. To the square foot, and saves daily four pounds ofcoal. (Asbestos saves but 2 lbs. ) Price 15 cts. --5 cts. Cash and 10cts. After satisfactory trial. Agents wanted. For circulars showingWHY fuel is wasted and HOW 25 to 50 per cent. , can be saved; also, HOWto construct reduction works for mineral ores of half the presentweight and cost, to do three times the work with the fuel now used, and save 98 per cent. Of assay; also, the opinions of distinguishedengineers, address B. F. SMITH, New Orleans, La. 

 * * * * *

PHOTO VISITING CARDS--Now all the rage in Paris. One dozen beautifulgilt edged (round cornered) Cards with your name and photograph, only60 cents; 2 dozen, $1. Full particulars and a 50-page book free. E. NASON & CO. , 111 Nassau St. , New York. 

 * * * * *

"BELL" TELEPHONES. _Any_ one can make in fifteen minutes. Send three3c. Stamps for "Where to get the Parts, Prices (Total $3. 60 per pair), and how put together. "

A. H. DAVIS, 30 Hanover St. , Boston, Mass. 

 * * * * *

CATARRH. A SURE CURE. Samples by mail, 10c. GEO. N. STODDARD, Buffalo, N. Y. It cures others. _It will cure you_. Sample will prove. 

 * * * * *

ANY NUMBER OF OPPORTUNITIES

to buy what you want or sell or exchange what you don't want, in the_Property Journal_. Send 5c. For copy. 

ANDERSON & CO. , 252 Broadway, New York. 

 * * * * *

NOVELTIES, NOTIONS, WATCHES, CHEAP JEWELRY, STATIONERY PACKAGES. 

Agents and country stores supplied. Illustrated circular _free_. J. BRIDE & CO. , Manufacturers, Salesroom, 297 B'way, New York. Address letters to P. O. Box 2773. 

 * * * * *

FOR UNIVERSAL LATHE DOGS, DIE DOGS, ETC. , send for circular to C. W. LE COUNT, S. Norwalk, Ct. 

 * * * * *

ICE-HOUSE AND COLD ROOM. --BY R. G. Hatfield. With directions for construction. Four engravings. SUPPLEMENT NO. 59. Price, 10 cents. 

 * * * * *

SEND FOR OUR PRICED AND ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUES. 

Part 1st--MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENTS, 160 pages; contains list andprices of Drawing Instruments, Drawing Materials, Pocket Compasses, Surveying Compasses, Engineers' Transits and Levels, Surveying Chains, Tape Measures, Pocket Rules, and Books relating to Drawing, Engineering, and Mechanics. 

Part 2d--OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS, 144 pages; contains list and prices ofSpectacles, Eye Glasses, Lenses, Spy Glasses, Telescopes, Opera andField Glasses, Graphoscopes, Stereoscopes, Camera Obscuras, CameraLucidas, Microscopes, Microscopic Preparations, and Books on Opticsand Microscopy. 

Part 3d--MAGIC LANTERNS AND SLIDES, 112 pages; contains list andprices or Magic Lanterns for Toys, for Public and Private Exhibitions, Sciopticons, Stereopticons, Scientific Lanterns, and accessoryapparatus to be used with them; Magic Lantern Slides, both colored anduncolored. 

Part 4th--PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 188 pages; contains list and prices ofInstruments to illustrate Lectures in every department of Physics andChemical Science, Air Pumps, Electric Machines, Galvanic Batteries, Barometers, Thermometers, Rain Gauges, Globes, Spectroscopes, Auzoux'sAnatomical Models, and Books relating to Scientific Subjects. 

JAMES W. QUEEN & CO. , Optical and Philosophical Instrument Makers, 924 CHESTNUT ST. , PHILADELPHIA. 

 * * * * *

WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY, Such as Woodworth Planing, Tonguing, and Grooving Machines, Daniel'sPlaners, Richardson's Patent Improved Tenon Machines, Mortising, Moulding, and Re-Saw Machines, and Wood-Working Machinery generally. 

Manufactured by

WITHERBY, RUGG & RICHARDSON, 26 Salisbury Street, Worcester, Mass. (Shop formerly occupied by R. BALL & CO. )

 * * * * *

THE DRIVEN WELL. 

Town and County privileges for making DRIVEN WELLS and sellingLicenses under the established AMERICAN DRIVEN WELL PATENT, leased bythe year to responsible parties, by

WM. D. ANDREWS & BRO. , NEW YORK. 

 * * * * *

MINING MACHINERY. ENGINES. BOILERS, PUMPS, Coal and Ore Jigs, Dust Burning Appliances. Drawings and advice freeto customers. Jeanesville Iron Works (J. C. Haydon & Co. ). AddressHOWELL GREEN, Supt. , Jeanesville, Luzerne Co. , Pa. 

 * * * * *

IT PAYS to sell our Rubber Hand Printing Stamps. Goods delivered inany country. Circulars free. 

G. A. HARPER & BRO. , Cleveland, O. 

 * * * * *

FOR TEN DOLLARS CASH, we will insert a seven-line advertisement one week in a list of 269weekly newspapers, or four lines in a different list of 337 papers, orten lines two weeks in a choice of either of four separate anddistinct lists containing from 70 to 100 papers each, or four linesone week in all four of the same lists, or one line one week in allsix lists combined, being more than 1, 000 papers. We also have listsof papers by States, throughout the United States and Canada. Send 10cents for our 100 page pamphlet. Address GEO. P. ROWELL & CO. , Newspaper Advertising Bureau, 10 Spruce Street, New York. 

 * * * * *

MACHINERY AT VERY LOW PRICES. 

2d hand Lathes, Drills, Planers, Hand Tools for Iron Work, newWoodworth Planing Machines, Resawing, Tenoning, Moulding Machines, Scroll Saws, Portable Steam Engine. Jos. R. Blossom, Ass'e, Matteawan, N. Y. 

 * * * * *

THE GEORGE PLACE MACHINERY AGENCYMachinery of Every Description. 121 Chambers and 103 Reade Streets, New York. 

 * * * * *

60 Chromo and Perfumed Cards [no 3 alike], Name in Gold and Jet, 10c. CLINTON BROS. , Clintonville, Ct. 

 * * * * *

ROOF PAINTING. 

For $5, by Post Office Order or express, I will send the recipe formaking Langhorne's English Gum Coating Paint and other mineral paints, with full instructions for roof and sidewall painting. This paint isused by the U. S. Government. Address M. LANGHORNE, 708 E Street, Washington, D. C. 

 * * * * *

FOR SALE. --LETTERS PATENT OFWilhide's Celebrated Noiseless Self-setting Rat and Mouse Traps. Thoroughly introduced. Traps sold by all dealers. Address Owners andManufacturers, J. T. WILHIDE & BRO. , York Road, Carroll Co. , Md. 

 * * * * *

IMPORTANT FOR ALL CORPORATIONS AND MANF'G CONCERNS. --BUERK'SWATCHMAN'S TIME DETECTOR, capable of accurately controlling the motionof a watchman or patrolman at the different stations of his beat. Sendfor circular. 

J. E. BUERK, P. O. BOX 979. BOSTON, MASS

N. B. --The suit against Imhaeuser & Co. , of New York, was decided inmy favor, June 10, 1874. A fine was assessed against them Nov. 11, 1876, for selling contrary to the order of the court. Persons buyingor using clocks infringing on my patent will be dealt with accordingto law. 

 * * * * *

SPARE THE CROTON AND SAVE THE COST. 

DRIVEN OR TUBE WELLSfurnished to large consumers of Croton and Ridgewood Water. WM. D. ANDREWS & BRO. , 414 Water St. , N. Y. , who control the patent forGreen's American Driven Well. 

 * * * * *

A New and Valuable Work for the Practical Mechanic and Engineer. 

APPLETONS'

CYCLOPÆDIA OF APPLIED MECHANICS. 

A DICTIONARY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 

Illustrated by 5, 000 Engravings. 

_Edited by PARK BENJAMIN, Ph. D. _

This valuable work is now being published in semi-monthly parts, atfifty cents each. Active agents wanted. For terms and territoryaddress GEO. W. DAVIS, care of D. APPLETON & CO. , New York. 

 * * * * *

CAVEATS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADE MARKS, ETC. 

Messrs. Munn & Co. , in connection with the publication of theSCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, continue to examine Improvements, and to act asSolicitors of Patents for Inventors. 

In this line of business they have had OVER THIRTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE, and now have _unequaled facilities_ for the preparation of PatentDrawings, Specifications, and the Prosecution of Applications forPatents in the United States, Canada, and Foreign Countries. Messrs. Munn & Co. Also attend to the preparation of Caveats, Trade MarkRegulations, Copyrights for Books, Labels, Reissues, Assignments, andReports on Infringements of Patents. All business intrusted to them isdone with special care and promptness, on very moderate terms. 

We send free of charge, on application, a pamphlet containing furtherinformation about Patents and how to procure them; directionsconcerning Trade Marks, Copyrights, Designs, Patents, Appeals, Reissues, Infringements, Assignments, Rejected Cases, Hints on theSale of Patents, etc. 

_Foreign Patents_. --We also send, _free of charge_, a Synopsis ofForeign Patent Laws, showing the cost and method of securing patentsin all the principal countries of the world. American inventors shouldbear in mind that, as a general rule, any invention that is valuableto the patentee in this country is worth equally as much in Englandand some other foreign countries. Five patents--embracing Canadian, English, German, French, and Belgian--will secure to an inventor theexclusive monopoly to his discovery among about ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTYMILLIONS of the most intelligent people in the world. The facilitiesof business and steam communication are such that patents can beobtained abroad by our citizens almost as easily as at home. Theexpense to apply for an English patent is $75; German, $100; French, $100; Belgian, $100; Canadian, $50. 

_Copies of Patents_. --Persons desiring any patent issued from 1836 toNovember 26, 1867, can be supplied with official copies at reasonablecost, the price depending upon the extent of drawings and length ofspecifications. 

Any patent issued since November 27, 1867, at which time the PatentOffice commenced printing the drawings and specifications, may be hadby remitting to this office $1. 

A copy of the claims of any patent issued since 1836 will be furnishedfor $1. 

When ordering copies, please to remit for the same as above, and statename of patentee, title of invention, and date of patent. 

A pamphlet, containing full directions for obtaining United Statespatents sent free. A handsomely bound Reference Book, gilt edges, contains 140 pages and many engravings and tables important to everypatentee and mechanic, and is a useful hand book of reference foreverybody. Price 25 cents, mailed free. 

Address

MUNN & CO. , Publishers SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, 37 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. 

_BRANCH OFFICE--Corner of F and 7th Streets, Washington, D. C. _

 * * * * *

PRACTICAL DRAUGHTSMAN'S BOOK OFINDUSTRIAL DESIGNAND MACHINISTS' & ENGINEERS'DRAWING COMPANION. 

Forming a Complete Course of Mechanical, Engineering, andArchitectural Drawing. From the French of M. Armengaud the elder, Professor of Design in Conservatoire of Arts and Industry, Paris, andMM. Armengaud the younger, and Amoroux, Civil Engineers. Rewritten andarranged with additional matter and plates, selections from andexamples of the most useful and generally employed mechanism of theday. By William Johnson, Assoc. Inst. C. E. Illustrated by fifty foliosteel plates, and fifty wood cuts. A new edition, 4to.... $10

Among the contents are: Linear Drawing, Definitions, and Problems. Sweeps, Sections, and Mouldings, Elementary Gothic Forms, andRosettes. Ovals, Ellipses, Parabolas, and Volutes. Rules and PrincipalData. Study of Projections. Elementary Principles. Of Prisms and otherSolids. Rules and Practical Data. On coloring Sections, withapplications. Conventional Colors, Composition or Mixture of Colors. Continuation of the Study of Projection--Use of Sections--details ofmachinery. Simple applications--spindles, shafts, couplings, woodenpatterns. Method of constructing a wooden model or pattern of acoupling. Elementary applications. Rules and Practical Data. 

THE INTERSECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SURFACES, WITH APPLICATIONS. --TheIntersection of Cylinders and Cones. The Delineation and Developmentof Helices, Screws, and Serpentines. Application of the helix--theconstruction of a staircase. The Intersection of Surfaces--applicationsto stop cocks. Rules and Practical Data. 

THE STUDY AND CONSTRUCTION OF TOOTHED GEAR. --Involute, cycloid, andepicycloid. Involute, Cycloid. External epicycloid, described by acircle rolling about a fixed circle inside of it. Internal epicycloid. Delineation of a rack and pinion in gear. Gearing of a worm with aworm wheel. Cylindrical or Spur Gearing. Practical delineation of acouple of Spur wheels. The Delineation and Construction of WoodenPatterns for Toothed Wheels. Rules and Practical Data. 

CONTINUATION OF THE STUDY OF TOOTHED GEAR. --Design for a pair of bevelwheels in gear. Construction of wooden patterns for a pair of bevelwheels. Involute and Helical Teeth. Contrivances for obtainingdifferential Movements. Rules and Practical Data. 

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF SHADOWS. --Shadows of Prisms, Pyramids, andCylinders. Principles of Shading. Continuation of the Study ofShadows. Tuscan Order. Rules and practical data. 

APPLICATION OF SHADOWS TO TOOTHED GEAR. --Application of Shadows toScrews. Application of Shadow to a Boiler and its Furnace. Shading inBlack--Shading in Colors. 

THE CUTTING AND SHAPING OF MASONRY. --Rules and Practical Data. Remarkson Machine Tools. 

THE STUDY OF MACHINERY AND SKETCHING. --Various applications andcombinations: The Sketching of Machinery. Drilling Machines; MotiveMachines; Water wheels. Construction and Setting up of water wheels. Delineation of water wheels. Design of a water wheel. Sketch of awater wheel. Overshot water wheels. Water Pumps; Steam Motors;High-pressure expansive steam engine. Details of Construction;Movements of the Distribution and Expansion Valves; Rules andPractical Data. 

OBLIQUE PROJECTIONS. 

PARALLEL PERSPECTIVE. 

TRUE PERSPECTIVE. --Elementary principles. Applications--flour milldriven by belts. Description of the mill. Representation of the millin perspective. 

EXAMPLES OF FINISHED DRAWINGS OF MACHINERY. 

[Symbol: Right index] The above, or any of our Books, sent by mail, free of postage, at the publication price. 

Our new and enlarged CATALOGUE OF PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC BOOKS--96pages, 8vo. --sent free to any one who will furnish his address. 

HENRY CAREY BAIRD & CO. , INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHERS and BOOKSELLERS, 810 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. 

 * * * * *

STEAM PUMPS. HENRY R. WORTHINGTON, 239 Broadway, N. Y. 83 Water St. , Boston. 

THE WORTHINGTON DUPLEX PUMPING ENGINES FOR WATER WORKS--Compound, Condensing or Non-Condensing. Used in over 100 Water-Works Stations. 

STEAM PUMPS--Duplex and Single Cylinder. 

PRICE LIST ISSUED JAN. 1, 1879, WITH A REDUCTION EXCEEDING 30 PERCENT. 

WATER METERS. OIL METERS. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Truss]

THIS NEWELASTIC TRUSS

Has a Pad differing from all others, is cup-shape, with Self-AdjustingBall in center, adapts itself to all positions of the body, while theBALL in the cup PRESSES BACK the INTESTINES JUST AS A PERSON WOULDWITH THE FINGER. With light pressure the Hernia is held securely dayand night, and a radical cure certain. It is easy, durable and cheap. Sent by mail. Circulars free. 

EGGLESTON TRUSS CO. , CHICAGO, ILL. 

 * * * * *

THEHANCOCKINSPIRATOR

TESTIMONIALS. 

OFFICE OF THE HANCOCK INSP. CO. , LONDON, ENG. , Feb. 11, 1879. 

I have just received an order from the English Government for 22Number 15 Inspirators--making 24 machines in all for the Governmentthis month. 

 B. H. WARREN, Agent. 

 * * * * *

 OFFICE OF H. S. MANNING & CO. , 111 Liberty St. , NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 1879. 

GENTLEMEN: We have authority from Mr. Martin, Chief Engineer UnionFerry Co. , Brooklyn, to state that they have 17 Inspirators at work on17 of their boats, feeding their main boilers, and all givingsatisfaction, and to refer any one to him. Yours truly, H. S. MANNING & CO. , Agents. 

[Symbol: Right index] ILLUSTRATED AND DESCRIPTIVE CIRCULARS SENT ONAPPLICATION TO

HANCOCK INSPIRATOR CO. , 52 CENTRAL WHARF, BOSTON. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Corrugated Iron]

THIS NEW

MOSELEY IRON BRIDGE ANDROOF CO. CORRUGATED IRON

Buildings, Roofs, Shutters, Doors, Iron Sashes, Skylights, etc. 

5 Dey Street, New York. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Crusher]

THIS NEW

BLAKE'S STONE AND ORE BREAKER AND CRUSHER. 

For breaking hard and brittle substances to any size. Endorsed by theleading MINING, MANUFACTURING, and RAILROAD corporations in the UNITEDSTATES and FOREIGN COUNTRIES. FIRST PREMIUM wherever exhibited, andhundreds of testimonials of the _highest character_. 

A NEW SIZE FOR PROSPECTING AND LABORATORY USE. 

[Symbol: Right index] ALL STONE CRUSHERS not made or licensed by us, containing vibratory convergent jaws actuated by a revolving shaft andfly-wheel, are infringements on our patent, and makers and users ofsuch will be held accountable. Address

 BLAKE CRUSHER CO. , NEW HAVEN, CONN. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: RIVAL STEAM PUMPS. $35. And UPWARDS JOHN McGOWAN & Co. CINCINNATI, OHIO. ]

 * * * * *

PULMOCURAAN ABSOLUTE AND UNFAILING REMEDY FORCONSUMPTION

and all other diseases of the LUNGS AND THROAT. Mailed free on receiptof $1. A. A. MARTIN, Pulmocura Man'f'g Co. , sole depot for the U. S. , 60 East 12th St. , cor. Broadway, New York. 

 * * * * *

Soft, Strong, and SmoothIron or BrassCASTINGSPlain, Galvanized, Bronzed or Nickledto order promptly. 

Also patterns and models. Light work a specialty. 

LIVINGSTON & CO. , Iron Founders, Pittsburg, Pa. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Horse Shoe]

NEW STEEL HORSE SHOE

With Level Spring Platform--Continuous Calk. The best in the world. Cures Tender and Contracted Feet, Corns, Interfering, Quarter-crackLameness, and all evils resulting from the use of the common shoe. Responsible men can make money selling this Shoe. Send for pamphlet. Trial set with nails, $1. 00. To measure, place foot on paper, and drawpencil around. 

The JOHN D. BILLINGS PATENTHORSE SHOE COMPANY265 Broadway, New York. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Steel Stamps. N. Y. STENCIL WORKS, 87 Nassau St. , N. Y. ]

 * * * * *

LAP WELDED CHARCOAL IRON

Boiler Tubes, Steam Pipe, Light and Heavy Forgings, Engines, Boilers, Cotton Presses, Rolling Mill and Blast Furnace Work. 

READING IRON WORKS, 261 SOUTH FOURTH ST. , PHILA. 

 * * * * *

PHOSPHOR-BRONZEBEARINGS, PUMP-RODS, ANDSPRING WIRE. 

[Illustration: Phosphor-bronze]

Apply toTHE PHOSPHOR-BRONZE SMELTING CO. , Limited, 2038 Washington Ave. , Philadelphia, Pa. 

 * * * * *

LATHES, PLANERS, SHAPERS

Drills, Bolt and Gear Cutters, Milling Machines. Special Machinery. E. GOULD & EBERHARDT, Newark, N. J. 

 * * * * *

THE BEST STEAM PUMP in AMERICATHE DEANEMade by HOLYOKE MACHINE CO. 

More than 4500 in use. 

Send for reduced Price List. Deane Steam Pump Works85 LIBERTY ST. , NEW YORK. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Gear Wheels]

Small Tools of all kinds; GEAR WHEELS, parts of MODELS, and materialsof all kinds. Catalogues free. 

GOODNOW & WIGHTMAN, 176 Wash'n St. , Boston, Mass. 

 * * * * *

FINE PAMPHLETS printed for 75c. A PAGE per 1, 000. 1, 000 Fine 9×12Circulars, $2. 50. Price list or estimate and samples for stamp. 250Bill Heads, $1. 

"LOCAL" PRINTING HOUSE, Silver Creek, N. Y. 

 * * * * *

$77 a Month and expenses guaranteed to Agents. Outfit free. SHAW & CO. , AUGUSTA, MAINE. 

 * * * * *

LEFFEL WATER WHEELS. 

[Illustration: Water Wheel]

With recent improvements. 

PRICES GREATLY REDUCED. 

7000 in successful operation. 

FINE NEW PAMPHLET FOR 1877

Sent free to those interested

JAMES LEFFEL & CO. , Springfield, O. 

109 Liberty St. , N. Y. City. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Medal]

 Paris, 1878 Australia, 1877 Phila. , 1876 Santiago, 1875 Vienna, 1873

J. A. FAY & CO'SWOOD WORKING MACHINERY

was awarded at the Paris Exposition over all competitors THE GOLDMEDAL OF HONOR. Also highest award at Phila. , Santiago, Australia, andVienna. It is

ORIGINAL IN DESIGN, SIMPLE IN CONSTRUCTION, PERFECT IN WORKMANSHIP, SAVES LABOR, ECONOMIZES LUMBER, AND INCREASESPRODUCTS OF THE HIGHEST STANDARDOF EXCELLENCE. 

Railroad, Furniture, and Agricultural Implement Shops, Planing Mills, etc. , equipped at short notice, and the lowest cash prices. Send forCirculars. 

J. A. FAY & CO. , Cincinnati, Ohio, U. S. A. 

 * * * * *

L. F. STANDISH & CO. , SCREW MANUFACTURERS, Builders of Small Machinery and Fine Tools. 26 Artisan St. , New Haven, Ct. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Emery Wheel. ]

Emery Wheel. 

NEW YORK BELTING AND PACKING COMP'Y. 

The Oldest and Largest Manufacturers of the Original

SOLID VULCANITEEMERY WHEELS. 

All other kinds Imitations and Inferior. Our name is stamped in fullupon all our standard BELTING, PACKING, and HOSE. 

Address NEW YORK BELTING AND PACKING CO. , NEW YORK. 

JOHN H. CHEEVER, Treas. 

 * * * * *

THE SEVENTHCINCINNATIINDUSTRIALEXPOSITION

Opens for the reception of goods AUGUST 20TH. 

Opens to the public SEPTEMBER 10TH, and continues open until OCTOBER11TH, in the

NEW PERMANENT BUILDINGSERECTED FOR THE PURPOSE. 

Machinery Tested and Fully Reported upon. 

Send for Rules and Premium Lists after April 1. 

 H. McCOLLUM, Sec'y. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Amalgamating. ]

THE FORSTER-FIRMINGOLD AND SILVERAMALGAMATING COMP'Y

of Norristown, Pa. , will grant state rights or licenses or easy terms. This system works up to assay, and recovers the mercury rapidly. 

Apply as above. 

 * * * * *

THOMAS'S CONCENTRATED DYEStuffs. (138 Recipes SENT GRATIS. ) (See SCIENTIFIC AMERICANSUPPLEMENT, March 15, '79. ) Address

 N. SPENCER THOMAS, Elmira, N. Y. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Rotary Pressure Blower. ]

BAKER ROTARY PRESSURE BLOWER. (FORCED BLAST)

Warranted superior to any other. 

WILBRAHAM BROS. 2318 Frankford Ave. PHILADELPHIA

 * * * * *

"THE 1876 INJECTOR. "

Simple, Durable, and Reliable. Requires no special valves. Send forillustrated circular. 

 WM. SELLERS & CO. , Phila. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Cold Rolled Shafting. ]

The fact that this shafting has 75 per cent. Greater strength, a finerfinish, and is truer to gauge, than any other in use renders itundoubtedly the most economical. We are also the sole manufacturers ofthe CELEBRATED COLLINS' PAT. COUPLING, and furnish Pulleys, Hangers, etc. , of the most approved styles. Price list mailed on application to

 JONES & LAUGHLINS, Try Street, 2d and 3d Avenues, Pittsburgh, Pa. 190 S. Canal Street, Chicago, Ill. , and Milwaukee. Wis. 

[Right index] Stocks of this shafting in store and for sale by

FULLER, DANA & FITZ, Boston, Mass. Geo. Place Machinery Agency, 121 Chambers St. , N. Y. 

 * * * * *

VEGETABLE AND FLOWER SEEDS

WE SELL EVERYTHING FOR THE GARDEN

Descriptive Catalogues of 175 pages sent Free

PETER HENDERSON & CO. _35 Cortlandt St. , New York. _FLOWER AND FRUIT PLANTS

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Engraving. ]

L. SMITH HOBART, President. JOHN C. MOSS, Superintendent. 

TYPE-METAL RELIEF PLATES. A SUPERIOR SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD-CUTSAT MUCH LOWER PRICES. 

Persons desiring illustrations for Books, Newspapers, Catalogues, Advertisements, or for any other purposes, can have their work done byus promptly and in the best style. 

OUR RELIEF PLATES are engraved by photo-chemical means; are mounted onblocks type-high ready for use on any ordinary press, and will wearlonger than the common stereotype plates. 

They have a perfectly smooth printing surface, and the lines are _asdeep, as even, _ and _as sharp_ as they could possibly be cut by hand. 

ELECTROTYPES may be made from them in the same manner as fromwood-cuts. 

COPY. The engraving is done either from prints or pen-drawings. Almostall kinds of prints can be re-engraved directly from the copy, provided they be in _clear, black lines_ or stipple, and on _white_ oronly slightly tinted paper. 

Pen drawings, suitable for engraving by us, must be made with_thoroughly_ BLACK ink, on _smooth, white_ paper. They should usuallybe made twice the length and twice the width of the plates desired. 

When such drawings cannot be furnished us, we can produce them fromphotographs, pencil sketches, or designs of any kind accompanied withproper instructions. Photographs taken in the usual way, and of anyconvenient size, we can use. 

CHANGE OF SIZE. --Wood-cut prints of the coarser kind may often bereduced to half their lineal dimensions, while others will admit ofvery little reduction, and some of none at all. 

Most lithographic and steel-plate prints will admit of no reduction. 

Very fine prints of any kind may be _enlarged_ moderately withoutdetriment. 

Any prints which cannot be satisfactorily reduced or enlarged may be_redrawn_ and thus brought to any desired size. 

In all cases of reduction and enlargement, the relative proportionsremain unchanged. 

PROOFS. --Whenever desired, we will furnish tintype proofs of thedrawings made by us, for approval or correction, before engraving. Aprinted proof is furnished with each plate. 

TIME. --We cannot usually engage to fill an order for a single plate inless than from three to six days; larger orders will require longertime. 

ESTIMATES will be promptly furnished when desired. That these may bedefinite and correct, the copy to be used--whether print, photograph, sketch, or drawing--should always be submitted for our examination, together with a distinct statement of the size of plate wanted, and ofany other details to be observed. 

TERMS. --To insure attention, all orders must be accompanied by anadvance of half the price charged, the balance to be paid on delivery. 

ELECTROTYPING AND PRINTING. --We have recently added to ourestablishment excellent facilities for making electrotypes, and alsothree power presses specially fitted for printing plates of all sizesin the finest manner. 

ARTIFICIAL LIGHT. --We have just introduced this most importantfacility, which enables us to prosecute our work _in cloudy weather_, and to push forward hurried orders _in the night_. 

REFERENCES. --Our plates are now used by the principal publishers inthis city, and by most of the leading houses in every State in theUnion. 

OUR GENERAL CIRCULAR contains a few specimens of the various kinds ofour work, and will be sent on receipt of stamp. We have just preparedfive special circulars, as follows:

 No. 1. Portraits and Figures. No. 2. Buildings and Landscapes. No. 3. Machinery and Apparatus. No. 4. Maps, Autographs, and Ornamental Lettering. No. 5. Reproductions from Wood-Cuts, Steel-Plate Prints, and Lithographs. 

These will be furnished at _ten cents_ each. 

 * * * * *

ADVERTISEMENTS. 

INSIDE PAGE, EACH INSERTION--75 CENTS A LINEBACK PAGE, EACH INSERTION--$1. 00 A LINE. 

(About eight words to a line. )

_Engravings may head advertisements at the same rate per line, bymeasurement, as the letter press. Advertisements must be received atpublication office as early as Thursday morning to appear in nextissue. _

ADJUSTABLE INCLINE PRESSES. 

STILES & PARKER PRESS CO. , Middletown, Conn. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Illustrated Guide. ]

136 pages beautifully illustrated, mailed to all applicants inclosing10 cents. Regular customers free. 

BLISS' ILLUSTRATED AMATEUR'S GUIDE to the FLOWER and KITCHEN GARDEN, with colored chromo; 216 pages, price 35 CENTS. 

AddressB. K. BLISS & SONS, P. O. Box 4129, New York City. 

 * * * * *

TO LARGE CONSUMERS OF FINE LIGHT MALLEABLE IRON CASTINGS, we can offerspecial inducements in the way of VERY SUPERIOR QUALITY GUARANTEED, and at fair prices. Being ourselves large consumers and requiring themost perfect castings, other work is insured the same attention. 

MALLORY, WHEELER & CO. , NEW HAVEN, CONN. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Lawn Mower. ]

THE PHILADELPHIA LAWN MOWER_Stands_ "_Head of the Class. _" Descriptive Circulars and Price Listssent on application. GRAHAM, EMLEM & PASSMORE, Patentees andManufacturers, 631 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

 * * * * *

SHAFTING PULLEYS, HANGERS, ETC. A specialty. Send for Price List toA. & F. BROWN, 57-61 Lewis Street, New York. 

 * * * * *

AIR COMPRESSORS, HOISTING ENGINES and OTHERMINING MACHINERY;MANUFACTURED BYGRIFFITH & WEDGE. ZANESVILLE, OHIO. 

 * * * * *

MILL STONES AND CORN MILLS. 

We make Burr Millstones, Portable Mills, Smut Machines, Packers, MillPicks, Water Wheels, Pulleys, and Gearing, specially adapted to FlourMills. Send for catalogue. 

 J. T. NOYE & SON, BUFFALO, N. Y. 

 * * * * *

HOW TO SELL PATENTS. --This little book fully explains how all patentscan be sold for good prices. Price 25 cents. L. D. SNOOK, Barrington, Yates Co. , N. Y. 

 * * * * *

POND'S TOOLS, Engine Lathes, Planers, Drills, &c. , DAVID W. POND, Worcester, Mass. 

 * * * * *

EDMUND DRAPER, Manufacturer of First-class Engineers' Instruments. Established in 1830. 226 Pear St. , Phila. , Pa. 

 * * * * *

J. LLOYD HAIGH, Manufacturer of

[Illustration: Wire Rope. ]

every description, for Railroad and Mining Use, Elevators, Derricks, Rope Tramways, Transmission of Power, etc. No. 81 John St. , N. Y. Sendfor price list. Plans and Estimates furnished for Suspension Bridges. 

 * * * * *

THE DINGEE & CONARD CO'SBEAUTIFUL EVER-BLOOMINGROSESTHE BEST IN THE WORLD. 

OUR GREAT SPECIALTY is _growing_ and _distributing_ these BEAUTIFULROSES. _We deliver_ STRONG POT PLANTS, suitable for _immediate_ bloom, _safely by mail_ at all post-offices. 5 SPLENDID VARIETIES, _yourchoice_, all labeled, for $1; 12 for $2; 19 for $3; 26 for $4; 35 for$5; 75 for $10; 100 for $13. 

[Symbol: Right index] Send for our NEW GUIDE TO ROSE CULTURE--60 pages, elegantly illustrated--and _choose_ from over FIVE HUNDRED FINESTSORTS. Address

THE DINGEE & CONARD CO. , ROSE GROWERS, WEST GROVE, CHESTER CO. , PA. 

 * * * * *

HOW TO SELL PATENTS. 

We send our 100 page book of instruction, containing valuableinformation, free. 

Send us your address. GEO. C. TRACY & CO. , Cleveland, O. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: NO MORE RHEUMATISM OR GOUT ACUTE OR CHRONIC SALICYLICA SURE CURE. ]

Manufactured only under the above Trade-Mark, by the

EUROPEAN SALICYLIC MEDICINE CO. , OF PARIS AND LEIPZIG. 

IMMEDIATE RELIEF WARRANTED. PERMANENT CURE GUARANTEED. Now exclusivelyused by all celebrated Physicians of Europe and America, becoming aStaple, Harmless, and Reliable Remedy on both continents. The HighestMedical Academy of Paris report 95 cures out of 100 cases within threedays. Secret--The only dissolver of the poisonous Uric Acid whichexists in the Blood of Rheumatic and Gouty Patients. $1. 00 a Box; 6Boxes for $5. 00. Sent to any address on receipt of price. ENDORSED BYPHYSICIANS. SOLD BY ALL DRUGGISTS. Address

WASHBURNE & CO. , ONLY IMPORTERS' DEPOT. 212 BROADWAY, COR. FULTON ST. , NEW YORK. 

 * * * * *

19TH ANNUAL STATEMENT OF THE EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY OF THE U. S. 

HENRY B. HYDE, PRESIDENT. 

FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1878. 

 AMOUNT OF LEDGER ASSETS, JAN. 1, 1878 $32, 477, 991. 87 Less Depreciation in Government Bonds, and Appropriation to meet any depreciation in other assets 369, 553. 27 -------- 32, 108, 438. 60 INCOME 8, 217, 943. 24 -------- $40, 326, 381. 84

DISBURSEMENTS. 

 Paid Policy Holders for Claims by Death, Dividends, Surrender Values, Discounted and Matured Endowments and Annuities 4, 935, 171. 43 Other Disbursements as per extended statement 1, 195, 841. 88 -------- NET CASH ASSETS, December 31, 1878 $34, 195, 368. 53

ASSETS. 

 Bonds and Mortgages $12, 437, 584. 93 Real Estate 6, 834, 904. 96 United States Stocks 5, 638, 768. 54 State, City, and other Stocks authorized by the Laws of the State 6, 201, 978. 16 Loans secured by United States and other Stocks 928, 000. 00 Cash and other Ledger Assets as per extended statement 2, 154, 131. 94 ------------- $34, 195, 368. 53 Market Value of Stocks over Cost 129, 796. 41 Accrued Interest, Rents, and Premiums, as per extended statement 1, 128, 927. 42 ------------- TOTAL ASSETS, DEC. 31, 1878 $35, 454, 092. 36

 TOTAL LIABILITIES, including legal reserve for reinsurance of all existing policies 28, 560, 268. 00 ------------- TOTAL UNDIVIDED SURPLUS $6, 893, 824. 36 -------------

RISKS ASSUMED IN 1878, 6, 115 POLICIES, ASSURING $21, 440, 213. 00

N. B. --For the details of the above statement, see the Society's"Circular to Policy Holders, " and other publications for 1879. 

 JAMES W. ALEXANDER, VICE-PRESIDENT. E. W. SCOTT, Superintendent of Agencies. SAMUEL BORROWE, SECRETARY. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: Bolt Cutters. ]

BOLT CUTTERS. 

Send for Catalogue of Schlenker's Automatic Bolt Cutters and ScrewCutting Machines. 

HOWARD IRON WORKS, BUFFALO, N. Y. 

 * * * * *

BIG PAY to sell our Rubber Printing Stamps. Samples free. Taylor Bros. & Co. , Cleveland, O. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: LA CAISSE GENERALE OF PARIS, FRANCE. ]

FIRE INSURANCE EXCLUSIVELY. 

 PAID UP CAPITAL $1, 458, 007. 78 NET SURPLUS, DEC. 31, 1876 530, 056. 86 CASH ASSETS IN U. S. JAN. 1, 1878 427, 881. 28 NET ASSETS IN U. S. JAN. 1, 1878 220, 000. 00

TRUSTEES IN NEW YORK:

 LOUIS DE COMEAU, ESQ. , of De Rham & Co. CHAS. COUDERT, JR. , ESQ. , of Coudert Bros. CHAS. RENAULD, ESQ. , of Renauld, Francois & Co. JULIEN LE CESNE, RESIDENT SECRETARY. T. J. TEMPLE, MANAGER FOR THE MIDDLE STATES. 

_WESTERN UNION BUILDING, N. Y. _

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THEECLIPSE ENGINE

[Illustration: Eclipse Engine. ]

Furnishes steam power for all _Agricultural_ purposes, _Driving SawMills_, and for every use where a first-class and economical Engine isrequired. Eleven first-class premiums awarded, including Centennial, '76. Refer to No. 7, issue of '77, No. 14, issue of '78, of SCIENTIFICAMERICAN, for Editorial illustrations. 

 FRICK & CO. , Waynesboro, Franklin Co. , Pa. 

When you write please name this paper. 

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THE CAMERON STEAM PUMP, Also known as the "SPECIAL" PUMP, is the standard of excellence athome and abroad. For Price Lists, address CAMERON PUMP WORKS, Foot East 23d Street, New York. 

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[Illustration: Foot Lathe. ]

SHEPARD'S CELEBRATED$50 Screw Cutting Foot Lathe. 

Foot and Power Lathes, Drill Presses, Scrolls, Circular and Band Saws, Saw Attachments, Chucks, Mandrels, Twist Drills, Dogs, Calipers, etc. Send for catalogue of outfits for amateurs or artisans. 

H. L. SHEPARD & CO. , 333, 335, & 337 West Front Street, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 

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Established 1844. JOSEPH C. TODD, ENGINEER and MACHINIST. Flax, Hemp, Jute, Rope, Oakum and BaggingMachinery, Steam Engines, Boilers, etc. I also manufacture Baxter'sNew Portable Engine of 1877. Can be seen in operation at my store. Aone horse-power portable engine, complete, $125; two horse-power, $225; two and a half horse-power, $250; three horse-power, $275. Manufactured exclusively by

J. C. TODD, 10 BARCLAY ST. , NEW YORK, OR PATERSON, N. J. 

Send for Catalogue

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STEEL CASTINGS, From ¼; to 10, 000 lbs. Weight, true to pattern, sound and solid, ofunequaled strength, toughness and durability. An invaluable substitutefor forgings or cast-iron requiring three-fold strength. Send forcircular & price list. 

CHESTER STEEL CASTINGS CO. , Evelina St. , Phila, Pa. 

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[Illustration: STEEL WIRE OF EVERY DESCRIPTION & STEEL SPRINGS. CARY & MOEN 234 W. 29. ST. NEW YORK CITY]

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SHAFTS, PULLEYS, HANGERS, ETC. Full assortment in store for immediate delivery. WM. SELLERS & CO. , 79 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK. 

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THE LEHIGH VALLEY EMERY WHEEL CO. , WEISSPORT, Carbon Co. , Pa. 

Manufacturers of Wheels and Machines. 

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CENTENNIAL AND PARIS MEDALS. MASON'S FRICTION CLUTCHES AND ELEVATORS. "New and Improved Patterns. " 20 per cent. Off list. VOLNEY W. MASON & CO. , Providence, R. I. , U. S. A. 

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RUFFNER & DUNN, PATENTEES

and Sole Manufacturers of the Excelsior Steel Tube Cleaners. Price$1. 00 per inch. Send for circular. 

SCHUYLKILL FALLS, PHILA. , PA. 

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WOODWORTH SURFACE PLANERS, $125. Planers and Matchers, $350. S. C. HILLS, 78 Chambers Street, New York. 

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[Illustration: Columbia Bicycle. ]

THE COLUMBIA BICYCLE, Made by THE POPE M'F'G CO. , 89 Summer Street, Boston. 

A practical road machine, easy to learn to ride, and when mastered onecan beat the best horse in a day's run over an ordinary road. Send 3c. Stamp for price list and 24-page catalogue with full informat'n. 

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[Illustration: Bradford Mill Company Cin. O. ]

BRADFORD MILL CO. Successors to Jas. Bradford & Co. , MANUFACTURERS OFFRENCH BUHR MILLSTONES, PORTABLE CORN & FLOUR MILLS, SMU MACHINES, ETC. 

Also, dealers in Bolting Cloths and General Mill Furnishings. 

Office & Factory, 158 W. 2d St. CINCINNATI, O. J. R. Stewart, _Pres. _ W. R. Dunlap, _Sec. _

[Symbol: Right index] PRICE LISTS SENT ON APPLICATION. 

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SECOND-HAND BOILERS AND MACHINERY FOR SALE. --Boilers from 30 to 70horse power, 15-horse power portable Engine, one 60-inch Lathe, twoUpright Drills, Blowers, etc. , etc. For prices, etc. , address JAMES F. MANN, Utica, N. Y. 

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WETHERILL & BROTHER, PHILADELPHIA. PURE WHITE LEAD

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ROCK DRILLS. NATIONAL DRILL AND COMPRESSOR CO. , 95 LIBERTY ST. , NEW YORK. AIR COMPRESSORS to be run by Steam, Water Power, or Belt. 

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[Illustration: Foot Power. ]

BARNES' FOOT POWER MACHINERY. 

13 Different machines with which Builders, Cabinet Makers, WagonMakers, and Jobbers in miscellaneous work can compete as to QUALITYAND PRICE with steam power manufacturing; also Amateurs' supplies. MACHINES SENT ON TRIAL. 

Say where you read this, and send for catalogue and prices. 

W. F. & JOHN BARNES, Rockford, Winnebago Co. , Ill. 

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NAT'L BOLT & PIPE MACHINERY CO. , Mfrs. Of Hand and Power Bolt and Pipe Cutters, Bolt Pointers, BoltHeaders, Hot and Cold Pressed Nut Machinery, Taps and Dies, etc. Sendfor Cir. Cleveland, O. 

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[Illustration: ELEVATORS HAND POWER AND HYDRAULIC FREIGHT AND PASSENGER SHAFTING PULLEYS & HANGERS S. GRAVES & SON ROCHESTER N. Y. ]

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BOILER COVERINGS. WITH THE "AIR SPACE" IMPROVEMENTS. THE CHALMERS-SPENCE CO. , FOOT E. 9TH ST. , NEW YORK. Sole owners of theAir Space Patents. 

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THE TANITE CO. , STROUDSBURG, PA. EMERY WHEELS AND GRINDERS. LONDON--9 St. Andrews St. , Holborn Viaduct, E. C. LIVERPOOL--42 The Temple, Dale St. GEO. PLACE, 121 Chambers St. , New York Agent. 

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[Illustration: ROCK DRILLING MACHINES AND AIR COMPRESSORS MANUFACTURED BY BURLEIGH ROCK DRILL CO FITCHBURG MASS. SEND FOR PAMPHLET. ]

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PATENTS AT AUCTION. 

Regular Monthly Sales. For terms, address N. Y. PATENT EXCHANGE, 67 Liberty Street, New York. 

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HOLLY'S IMPROVED WATER WORKS. 

Direct Pumping Plan. Combines, with other advantages, over oldersystems, the following: 1. Secures by variable pressure a morereliable water supply for all purposes. 2. Less cost for construction. 3. Less cost for maintenance. 4. Less cost for daily supply by the useof Holly's Improved Pumping Machinery. 5. Affords the best fireprotection in the world. 6. Largely reduces insurance risks andpremiums. 7. Dispenses with fire engines, in whole or in part. 8. Reduces fire department expenses. For information by descriptivepamphlet, or otherwise, address the

 HOLLY MANUFACTURING CO. , Lockport, N. Y. 

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EVERY MANHIS OWNPRINTER. 

[Illustration: The Excelsior. ]

THE EXCELSIOR

$3 PRESS

Prints labels, cards etc. (Self-inker $5) 9 Larger sizes For business, pleasure, young or old Catalogue of Presses, Type, Etc. , for 2 stamps. 

KELSEY & Co. MERIDEN, CONN. 

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PYROMETERS. For showing heat of ovens. Hot Blast Pipes, Boiler Flues, Superheated Steam, Oil Stills, etc. 

HENRY W. BULKLEY, Sole Manufacturer, 149 Broadway, N. Y. 

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MACHINISTS' TOOLS. 

NEW AND IMPROVED PATTERNS. Send for new illustrated catalogue. 

Lathes, Planers, Drills, &c. 

NEW HAVEN MANUFACTURING CO. , NEW HAVEN, CONN. 

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[Illustration: Sanitary Closet. ]

HERMETICAL SANITARY CLOSETGUARANTEED ABSOLUTELY WATER & GAS TIGHTSEND FOR CIRCULARJOHN S. LENG, 4 FLETCHER ST. N. Y. 

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CIGAR BOX LUMBER, MANUFACTURED by our NEW PATENT PROCESS. 

THE BEST IN THE WORLD. SPANISH CEDAR, MAHOGANY, POPLAR. 

Also thin lumber of all other kinds, 1/8 to 1/2 in. , at correspondingprices. All qualities. Equal in all respects to any made, and atprices much under any to be obtained outside of our establishment. Send for price list. 

GEO. W. READ & CO. , 186 TO 200 LEWIS STREET, N. Y. 

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BOGARDUS' PATENT UNIVERSAL ECCENTRIC MILLS--For grinding Bones, Ores, Sand, Old Crucibles, Fire Clay, Guanos, Oil Cake, Feed, Corn, Corn andCob, Tobacco, Snuff, Sugar, Salts, Roots, Spices, Coffee, Cocoanut, Flaxseed, Asbestos, Mica, etc. , and whatever cannot be ground by othermills. Also for Paints, Printers' Inks, Paste Blacking, etc. JOHN W. THOMSON, successor to JAMES BOGARDUS, corner of White and Elm Sts. , New York. 

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[Illustration: Watson Pump. ]

THE WATSON PUMP, FOR ARTESIAN, OR DEEPWELLPUMPING, PISTON ROD, PLUNGER & WELLROD IN DIRECT LINE MACHINE SIMPLE, EFFICIENT. JAMES WATSON. 1608. S. FRONT ST. PHILA. 

 * * * * *

FARM LAW. ADDRESS OF HON. EDMUND H. BENNETT, delivered before theMassachusetts State Board of Agriculture. This is an essay embracingcomplete and practical information, valuable not only to the farmerbut to every one. Showing how to Buy a Farm: Bargains that are notBinding; Boundaries, and where they are in Streams, Ponds, Lakes, oron the Seashore; what a Deed of a Farm includes; Rights in the Road. Farm Fences: their Legal Height, etc. Railway Fences. Stray cattle;Cattle on Railways; Impounding Cattle. The Farmer's Liability for hisAnimals. The Law on the Dog. The Farmer not Liable for his Dogs. WaterRights and Drainage; Damming; Diverting the Course of a Stream. Surface Water; Underground Water. Trespassing, in Summer and inWinter. Hunting and Fishing. Fruit Trees on Boundary Lines, etc. , etc. Contained in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 166. Price 10 cents. 

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[Illustration: WROUGHT IRON. BEAMS & GIRDERS]

THE UNION IRON MILLS. Pittsburgh, Pa. , Manufacturers of improvedwrought iron Beams and Girders (patented). 

The great fall which has taken place in the prices of Iron, andespecially in Beams used in the construction of FIRE PROOF BUILDINGS, induces us to call the special attention of Engineers, Architects, andBuilders to the undoubted advantages of now erecting Fire Proofstructures; and by reference to pages 52 & 54 of our Book ofSections--which will be sent on application to those contemplating theerection of fire proof buildings--THE COST CAN BE ACCURATELYCALCULATED, the cost of Insurance avoided, and the serious losses andinterruption to business caused by fire; these and like considerationsfully justify any additional first cost. It is believed, that, wereowners fully aware of the small difference which now exists betweenthe use of Wood and Iron, in many cases the latter would be adopted. We shall be pleased to furnish estimates for all the Beams complete, for any specific structure, so that the difference in cost may at oncebe ascertained. Address

 CARNEGIE, BROS. & CO. , Pittsburgh, Pa. 

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ICE AT $1. 00 PER TON. The PICTET ARTIFICIAL ICE CO. , LIMITED, Room 51, Coal and Iron Exchange, P. O. Box 3083, N. Y. 

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[Illustration: H. W. JOHNS' ASBESTOS]

LIQUID PAINTS, ROOFING, BOILER COVERINGS, Steam Packing, Sheathings, Fire Proof Coatings, Cements, &c. SEND FOR DESCRIPTIVE PRICE LIST. 

H. W. JOHNS M'F'G CO. 87 MAIDEN LANE, N. Y. 

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$10 TO $1000 Invested in Wall St. Stocks makes fortunes every month. Books sent free explaining everything. 

Address BAXTER & CO. , Bankers, 17 Wall St. , N. Y. 

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The "Scientific American" is printed with CHAS. ENEU JOHNSON & CO. 'SINK. Tenth and Lombard Sts. , Philadelphia, and 59 Gold St. , New York. 

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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

[Symbol: right Index] and [Symbol: Left index] are used where the texthad a picture of a hand with the index finger pointing right or left, respectively. 

Table of Contents: Article named "Buffalo, the domestication of" page197 was not included in the original. 

Table of Contents: Article named "Steamship, ocean, large" page 196was not included in the original. 

Table of Contents: Article named "Specimen, a rare geological" page196 was not included in the Table of Contents.