Volume 13 (1866) (424 pages)

The Mining and Seientific Press. Mechanical, A Now Material for Roofing, The production of a cheap, incombustible and durable roofing material is a matter of great pohlic importance. It is a question pbout which moch has been said and written, and a large amount of money nnd time hus heen spent in aiming at a sati-fuctory solution of the prohlem. Tho value of a really snfe aod relinhle suhstitato for the numerous unsale and unrelintle materials sn genernlly employed in this city, could scarcely hu calculated. Our long, dry suonmers, with high winds, render a combustible material bighly dangerous; nnd the great extremes of contrnction and expausion between suminer and winter, makes the nuisance of * pntching” a inatter of frequent necessity, and often a most ineffectunl remedy ngainst a plivinl interference with ona’s domestic arrangement, huuschold goods and perishnhle stores. An interesting discovery in this direction has been made hy Wm. L. Potter, of Clifton Park, N. Y.,and by his permissiou was aonounced to the world nhout a yeur ago, through tle Fariwers’ Club of the same Stato. Solon Robinson, of Ohio, having carefully examined into the merits of the discovery, also gave the weight of his influence in its favor; and in a few months, according to the report which has reached us, the company which had heen organized in New York city for its manufacture, was cémpletely overrun with orders. The material employed is common slate rock ground to a fine powder, and in that state mixed with mastic or any bituminous substance fo the consistency of a thick paint,in which condition it is applied to canvass, cloth, paper, felt, or any similar substance. It soon hardens, and by the action of the elements or by means of chemical action within itself, be. conies so indurated as to he almost as impervions to the action of fire or water, as slate rock itself, thongh less hrittla. Slate-stone and coal-tar are too well known to require a description. Associated in geolozy—perhaps originally combined, an affinity is found to exist, and the slate being pnlverized and brought into contact, a wien is forined of so firm a nature as to yicld only to extreme heat or great violence. A material—at once cheap and abundant in every civilized conntry on the globe, so simple “in preparation and application that common sense Is tha only qualification for using it. A mastic—it adapts itself to cvery shape and condition. Adhesive—it needs no anils or hooks to hold it. Non-combustible—-it is not the means of destroying your proparty, hut of protecting it. Impervious—water, vor even steam, can penctrate or dissolve it. Repairable—“‘a little more of the same sort” and a hrusl or trowel restores it from accidental injuries. Renewable—the waste from the friction of falling water may he returned once in fen or twenty years forever by the use of the brush. This mastic, it will he readily inferred, is a very different material from the suhstance usuully entployed in this city, which consista of a mixture of asphaltum and coarse waterworn gravel. There is in this new preparation an intimate mixing and comhining of the material, by having the slate first pulverized to an impalpahle powder, and io tbat state brought into contact with the adhesive substance. There are various other uses to which this material has been applied, such as cement for cisterns, tanks, cellar floors, leaky hydrants, Pipes, pumps, ete. Inkstauds have heeu made of it while in a plastic stata, which have become as hard as stone. It has been applied asa cheap paint to out-buildings, fences, etc., where it preveuts decay. Experiments with this new material were in progress for ten or twelve years, before it was fully made public, a year ago last June. A Ustrut Cement is made by taking two parts of finely sifted unoxidized iron filings, mixing them with one part of perlectly dry and finely powdered loam, and kneading the mixture witb strong vinegar until a pertcetly homogeneous plastic mass is formed, when the cement is raady for use. It must he made as wanted, for it quickly hardens, and once set is never fit for uss again. ‘Ibe cement is said to resist fire aud water. Onservations made upon twenty-six cokeburning engines, upon the London and SouthWestern Railway, showed that the duration of a set of hrags tubes of No. 13 gauge was from Eye to 127,080 miles, averagieg 94,518 miles. 179 Wetnixo Bower Prates.—A cylindrical boiler, fonr feetin diameter, with an internal flue, has recently been inado in England, with welded joints throughout, not one rivet being used. ‘The plates aro of 7-16 in. iron, and the hoiler was tested withont lenkago to o pressuro of 150 ths. per squaro inch. Mr. Mackworth, en Enclish mechanic, constructed a locomomotive hoiler some sixteex yeurs ago, the longitudinnl joints of which wero welded iustead of being riveted. Tho lurrowing of hoiler plates so frequently ohserved ir Lnglisl locomotivos, is unkeowh in this country. ‘Phe very thin iron used in the construction of boilers, would not admit of such a practice. The English boiler makers reduco the strength of the entire boiler to what would ho equnl to iron of the thickness oljthe plates at the lines of the furrows. All the excess of thickness in tho plutes abova the parts at those reduced lines is so much iron worse tban wasted. Waren as a Luonicator.—In an issne ahout a year since, we gavo a detailed account of somo expcriments in the nss of water as a luhricator, We fiud the following parngraph in relation to the same matter in tho London Mining Journal: The North-Eastern Railway Company’s carriage fitted with Aert’s water-box, on Sept. 4, last ycar, has heen runniug ever since betweeu Neweastle-ou-Tyne and Normanton; and Mr. Pelsenaire, the representative of the inventors io this country, writes that during that time the boxes have required no repairs, nor has anything but water been used. Under the same conditions, tho second carriage has heen running six months. ‘The experiment has been made under the control of Mr. Edward Fletcher, the engineer of tbe company, and Mr. Pelsenaire bns offered to furnish 6,000 or 8,000 hoxes at 4/ 10s. per hox, royalty included, or to receive 12. 10s. per hox royalty, in the event of ths company undertnking to make their own boxes. II the systom be admitted to he good, and the refusal is only based on the cost of applying it, that fact should be distinetly stated by the railway authorities, as their silence mnst be very prejudicial to thoss interested in the invention, hy preveuting them from finding noother market. A Userot Crart.—Mr. Charles Kinkel, of taining the width of helts to drive any givan machine. This diagram is accurately drawn, and is accompanied by an explunation of its use. From it any ove can tell by simple arithmetic what size of helt he requires to do his work. We have not seen the chart, and know nothing of the principle involved. A Cuance ror Inventors.—A premium hns hecn offered hy the Industrial Society of Amiens, in the following terms: The proprietors of steam engines are in want of a water meter which will indicate exactly the qnantity of water injected into the hoiler, whatever be the pressure. This apparatus must he one easily set up, not suhject to get out of order, and capable of registering the quantity of water to withie two per cent. of the actual volume. It is not a memoire that the society wishes for, but an npparatns in working order on which experiments can ho made; and if a water meter ho presented appearing to hs of practical utility, the society will use every effort in its power to promulgate the use of the contrivance. The meters to he experimented on sbould be sent to the office of the society befora March 1st, 1867. In the case of a fatal hoiler explosion which occurred at Toronto, Canada, in 1857, the coroner’s jury stated in their verdict, that the introduction of spirits of wine, oatmeal, and sal ummioniac into the boiler, for the purpose of removing the scale, had caused the water to foam, thereby deceiving the firemen as to tha true water-level, and thus leading to the explosion. Carerut observations have shown that the tsmperature in the smoke-boxes of tnhular marine boilers is greater at the hase of the chimney than opposite the ends of the tubes. With a temperature of 650 degrees. opposite the tuhe ends, there are often 1,000 degrees in the upper part of the up-take. Mr. Dewnancs found that the square beads of stay bolts, when projecting 2!¢ inches into locomotive fire-hoxes, hurned off to 124 inches, at which projection they remained. Tus “split bridge” for the admission of air at the back of steam boiler fnrnaces was in. vented by Josiah Parkes, in 1820. New York, has published a diagram for ascer. Scientific Miscellany. the sama time heating to a point of vivid inA New star---Remarkable Developments, What is supposed to be a new star has recently been discovered in ths constellation of the Northero Crown. The star was first secu on this coutinent on tho 12th of May, by a pupil of the Friend’s High School, in Philndelphia. It was alzo seen on the snue night by Prof. Tutweilor of Havana, Green county, Georgia. It was seen in Boston on the 14th, Each ohaervation was unknown to and independent of tho other. It was seen on the 13th of May at Rochefort, France, and on the 12th in England, by Mr. Birmingham of ‘fuam. Tho differenee of tinio hetwcen England and the United States, gives to tha latter gentle nin the honor of priority of discovery. The great numher of points at which this star was almost simultaneously detccted, as o stranger to our planet, shows how closely tha heavens ara watched, and how familiar, even to aniatours, ara the priucipal atars visihls to ths eye. The stnr, when first seen, was of about ths second magnitnde; hut it rapidly, nnd at the same time uniformly receded in brillinncy, unti] at last accounts, it had hecoms reduced to ahout the sixth in point of magnitude. The nist important observations mads with regard to this star have been the developmant brought out hy the spectroscope, applied to it by Mr. Higgings, of the Royal <Astronomica] Svcicty of England, who kept a constnot watch of it from the 16th to the 21st of May, during which time it passed through sone most extraordinary phases. When first seen, it was a bright star of nearly the second magnitude; on the 15th and 16th it had assumed a nebulous appearance with a central nucleus; on the 17th and 18th this uebulosity hnd entirely dis” appeared. What strange, what stupendous changes must have heen wrought in that distant orb, within those five or six days . A few years ago, we had no means of even the most distant guessing atthe nature of thesa changes. Of late, however, the genius and scientific researches of man have placed witbin the hands of the astronomer a curious instrumeut whicb is able to detect, witb almost uperring certainty, the constituents of all incandescent or burning “hodies, which may he brought within the range of ohservation. This singular instrument is the spectroscope, which, in the heuds of Mr. iliggings, and applied to this remarkable star, has hgen made to develop some niost wonderfnol phenomena in scientific researches, and has led astronomers to most unexpected conclusions with regard to the physical constitution and condition of ournew heavanly visitor. It has becn ascertained that the light of tha star is compound, and emanates from two distinct. sources, each of which forms its own spectrum. The principal spectrum is analogous to that of tha sun, and is derived from a light emitted by an incandescent solid or liquid body, but which bas suffered partial ahsorption by passing through an atmosphere of vapors existing at a temperature lower than tbat of ths central and more dense incandescent body. The secondary spectrum is formed hy a light which must bs cmittsd from matter in a state of gas—undoubtedly the gas surrouuding the incandescent nucleus already nlluded to. On tbe 17th of May, this secondary spectrum gave the most unmistakable evidence of hurning hydrogen, produced by the induction spark. This appearance continusd up to the latast reports—the 21st of May—the onty changes being a gradual reduction. in brilliancy. “The sudden blazing forth of this star, and tbe subsequentrapid fading away of its light,” says the ohserver in his communication to tbe Royal Astronomical Society, “suggests the rather bold speculation that, in consequence of some great internal convulsiou,a large volume of bydrogen and other gases wero evolved. The hydrogen, by its combination witb some otber element, (tbe spectra of which do not coincide with those of oxygen) giving out the light represented hy the hright lines, and at cand e tha solid matter of tha photosphere. * * * These and other importaet ohgervations we hays msde, suggest that hydrogen prohably plays an important part in the changes and physical differences of the stars. * * * On the 18th, I several times received the impression of a bluish tinge, as if the yollow of tha star were seen through an overlying film of blue tint.” Another astronomer expresses the npinion that this star will turn out to hea variable one of long and irragular period, instead of a new one. Tue Surrocation or Fire.—Ons of the most notable instances of extinguishing a fire which could not be renched by wnter was that of a coal nine in Scotland, in 1834, It had heen burning thirty years, and hoflled all efforts to extinguish jt. Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney, who was distinguished for the pplication of tho steain jet for ventilating mines, was asked if he could extinguish it. IIgs undertook tho work. Je covered all ths openings of the mine, lenving only two holes, into one of which’ he.forced steam, iniugled with the products of the combustion of a coke fire, which generated impurs carbonic acid and nitrogen. In six weeks the bra waa extinguished, bnt then a new difficulty pressnted itself—how to cool the hoated mine, so that when fresh air wns te admitted, combustion would not again hegin. This was, however, affected, hy mixing a spray of water with the jet of suffocating gas. A process like this would instantly extinguish any fire, where the oir enn he kept out, ned if the gas was well purified, it would not soil goods which might be exposed to its influences. Lives of THR Souar Spectnum.— Many years ago Brewster discovered in the solar spectrom certain dark bands which hecome mors and moro marked as the sun descends. ‘These bands have heen resolved into fine and welldefined lines, visible in diffcrent degrces, at all bights of the sun, hey ars now supposed to be visible, only hy reasou of our atmosphere, or by the presence of the vapor of water in it. Ata hight of 2,682 feet in Switzerland they are much less vi8ibla than on the plain. What seems a further aud conclusive proof that the cause of tbese lines resides in our atmospbere is, that when at thnt hight a honlire was examined near by, the spectrum was continuous, hut when the same flame was examined from a distance, they were very plain. A Newry Discoveren CHARACTERISTIC OF Sutpuo-cyanme or Ammontun.—-Ths London Journal of Science says that a uotice of an interesting property of sulpbo-cyanide of ammovium has heen published hy Mr. F, Cowles. He finds that wheu dissolved in water this salt produces intense cold; ie a short tima the atmospheric moisture hsing deposited like hoar° frost ou the sides of the vessel. This led him to trya faw experiments with weizbed quantities of watsr and of the salt. From a few trinls with differeut proportions, it appeared that the mixture of equal parts hy weight gave the inostintense cold. By mixing 1,368 grains of the salt with its weight of water at 17° C.,a cold of 12° C. was obtained. The temperature of the atmosphero at the time of tbe experiment was the same as that of tbe watsr employed. Interestino Expzainent.—M. Courdehoy introduces an clectro-magnet iuto the circuit of agalvanic pile, and breaking the circait, places the ends of the two conducting wires, separated one from the other, in a box containing metallic filings. If now one of the conducting wircs he slowly raised, a small chain,consisting of the cohsring fragments, will be drawn out, avery particle in the box adbering. Ecos.—Soms ova or eggs are so small as to ba wholly indistinguishable by the eye, while M. Geoffry de St. Hilaire, in 1854, exhibited to tha French Acadeiny sos eggs of a bird which formerly lived in Madagascar, the largest of which was over ons foot long, and nearly as wide. ‘This egg would hold nine quarts. Scuonpern states that a weak solution of psroxide of bydrogen may be prepared by shaking violently fora few seconds amalgamated granulated zine witha little distilled water coutained ina large hottle. Oxida of zine and peroxide of hydrogen are formed, but no zinc or mercury is dissolved. Ir is stated that a few drops of a solution of pennanganate of lime, added night and morning to breeding tanks, sweetena water, supplies oxygen and thus diminishes the mortality in fish batching. Tue motion of locomotive engines upon the rails is believed to assist materially in liberating steam generated in the lower parts of tbe boiler, and tbus in maintaining a proper circulation of water.

The Mining and Seientific Press. Mechanical, A Now Material for Roofing, The production of a cheap, incombustible and durable roofing material is a matter of great pohlic importance. It is a question pbout which moch has been said and written, and a large amount of money nnd time hus heen spent in aiming at a sati-fuctory solution of the prohlem. Tho value of a really snfe aod relinhle suhstitato for the numerous unsale and unrelintle materials sn genernlly employed in this city, could scarcely hu calculated. Our long, dry suonmers, with high winds, render a combustible material bighly dangerous; nnd the great extremes of contrnction and expausion between suminer and winter, makes the nuisance of * pntching” a inatter of frequent necessity, and often a most ineffectunl remedy ngainst a plivinl interference with ona’s domestic arrangement, huuschold goods and perishnhle stores. An interesting discovery in this direction has been made hy Wm. L. Potter, of Clifton Park, N. Y.,and by his permissiou was aonounced to the world nhout a yeur ago, through tle Fariwers’ Club of the same Stato. Solon Robinson, of Ohio, having carefully examined into the merits of the discovery, also gave the weight of his influence in its favor; and in a few months, according to the report which has reached us, the company which had heen organized in New York city for its manufacture, was cémpletely overrun with orders. The material employed is common slate rock ground to a fine powder, and in that state mixed with mastic or any bituminous substance fo the consistency of a thick paint,in which condition it is applied to canvass, cloth, paper, felt, or any similar substance. It soon hardens, and by the action of the elements or by means of chemical action within itself, be. conies so indurated as to he almost as impervions to the action of fire or water, as slate rock itself, thongh less hrittla. Slate-stone and coal-tar are too well known to require a description. Associated in geolozy—perhaps originally combined, an affinity is found to exist, and the slate being pnlverized and brought into contact, a wien is forined of so firm a nature as to yicld only to extreme heat or great violence. A material—at once cheap and abundant in every civilized conntry on the globe, so simple “in preparation and application that common sense Is tha only qualification for using it. A mastic—it adapts itself to cvery shape and condition. Adhesive—it needs no anils or hooks to hold it. Non-combustible—-it is not the means of destroying your proparty, hut of protecting it. Impervious—water, vor even steam, can penctrate or dissolve it. Repairable—“‘a little more of the same sort” and a hrusl or trowel restores it from accidental injuries. Renewable—the waste from the friction of falling water may he returned once in fen or twenty years forever by the use of the brush. This mastic, it will he readily inferred, is a very different material from the suhstance usuully entployed in this city, which consista of a mixture of asphaltum and coarse waterworn gravel. There is in this new preparation an intimate mixing and comhining of the material, by having the slate first pulverized to an impalpahle powder, and io tbat state brought into contact with the adhesive substance. There are various other uses to which this material has been applied, such as cement for cisterns, tanks, cellar floors, leaky hydrants, Pipes, pumps, ete. Inkstauds have heeu made of it while in a plastic stata, which have become as hard as stone. It has been applied asa cheap paint to out-buildings, fences, etc., where it preveuts decay. Experiments with this new material were in progress for ten or twelve years, before it was fully made public, a year ago last June. A Ustrut Cement is made by taking two parts of finely sifted unoxidized iron filings, mixing them with one part of perlectly dry and finely powdered loam, and kneading the mixture witb strong vinegar until a pertcetly homogeneous plastic mass is formed, when the cement is raady for use. It must he made as wanted, for it quickly hardens, and once set is never fit for uss again. ‘Ibe cement is said to resist fire aud water. Onservations made upon twenty-six cokeburning engines, upon the London and SouthWestern Railway, showed that the duration of a set of hrags tubes of No. 13 gauge was from Eye to 127,080 miles, averagieg 94,518 miles. 179 Wetnixo Bower Prates.—A cylindrical boiler, fonr feetin diameter, with an internal flue, has recently been inado in England, with welded joints throughout, not one rivet being used. ‘The plates aro of 7-16 in. iron, and the hoiler was tested withont lenkago to o pressuro of 150 ths. per squaro inch. Mr. Mackworth, en Enclish mechanic, constructed a locomomotive hoiler some sixteex yeurs ago, the longitudinnl joints of which wero welded iustead of being riveted. Tho lurrowing of hoiler plates so frequently ohserved ir Lnglisl locomotivos, is unkeowh in this country. ‘Phe very thin iron used in the construction of boilers, would not admit of such a practice. The English boiler makers reduco the strength of the entire boiler to what would ho equnl to iron of the thickness oljthe plates at the lines of the furrows. All the excess of thickness in tho plutes abova the parts at those reduced lines is so much iron worse tban wasted. Waren as a Luonicator.—In an issne ahout a year since, we gavo a detailed account of somo expcriments in the nss of water as a luhricator, We fiud the following parngraph in relation to the same matter in tho London Mining Journal: The North-Eastern Railway Company’s carriage fitted with Aert’s water-box, on Sept. 4, last ycar, has heen runniug ever since betweeu Neweastle-ou-Tyne and Normanton; and Mr. Pelsenaire, the representative of the inventors io this country, writes that during that time the boxes have required no repairs, nor has anything but water been used. Under the same conditions, tho second carriage has heen running six months. ‘The experiment has been made under the control of Mr. Edward Fletcher, the engineer of tbe company, and Mr. Pelsenaire bns offered to furnish 6,000 or 8,000 hoxes at 4/ 10s. per hox, royalty included, or to receive 12. 10s. per hox royalty, in the event of ths company undertnking to make their own boxes. II the systom be admitted to he good, and the refusal is only based on the cost of applying it, that fact should be distinetly stated by the railway authorities, as their silence mnst be very prejudicial to thoss interested in the invention, hy preveuting them from finding noother market. A Userot Crart.—Mr. Charles Kinkel, of taining the width of helts to drive any givan machine. This diagram is accurately drawn, and is accompanied by an explunation of its use. From it any ove can tell by simple arithmetic what size of helt he requires to do his work. We have not seen the chart, and know nothing of the principle involved. A Cuance ror Inventors.—A premium hns hecn offered hy the Industrial Society of Amiens, in the following terms: The proprietors of steam engines are in want of a water meter which will indicate exactly the qnantity of water injected into the hoiler, whatever be the pressure. This apparatus must he one easily set up, not suhject to get out of order, and capable of registering the quantity of water to withie two per cent. of the actual volume. It is not a memoire that the society wishes for, but an npparatns in working order on which experiments can ho made; and if a water meter ho presented appearing to hs of practical utility, the society will use every effort in its power to promulgate the use of the contrivance. The meters to he experimented on sbould be sent to the office of the society befora March 1st, 1867. In the case of a fatal hoiler explosion which occurred at Toronto, Canada, in 1857, the coroner’s jury stated in their verdict, that the introduction of spirits of wine, oatmeal, and sal ummioniac into the boiler, for the purpose of removing the scale, had caused the water to foam, thereby deceiving the firemen as to tha true water-level, and thus leading to the explosion. Carerut observations have shown that the tsmperature in the smoke-boxes of tnhular marine boilers is greater at the hase of the chimney than opposite the ends of the tubes. With a temperature of 650 degrees. opposite the tuhe ends, there are often 1,000 degrees in the upper part of the up-take. Mr. Dewnancs found that the square beads of stay bolts, when projecting 2!¢ inches into locomotive fire-hoxes, hurned off to 124 inches, at which projection they remained.

Tus “split bridge” for the admission of air at the back of steam boiler fnrnaces was in. vented by Josiah Parkes, in 1820. New York, has published a diagram for ascer. Scientific Miscellany. the sama time heating to a point of vivid inA New star---Remarkable Developments, What is supposed to be a new star has recently been discovered in ths constellation of the Northero Crown. The star was first secu on this coutinent on tho 12th of May, by a pupil of the Friend’s High School, in Philndelphia. It was alzo seen on the snue night by Prof. Tutweilor of Havana, Green county, Georgia. It was seen in Boston on the 14th, Each ohaervation was unknown to and independent of tho other. It was seen on the 13th of May at Rochefort, France, and on the 12th in England, by Mr. Birmingham of ‘fuam. Tho differenee of tinio hetwcen England and the United States, gives to tha latter gentle nin the honor of priority of discovery. The great numher of points at which this star was almost simultaneously detccted, as o stranger to our planet, shows how closely tha heavens ara watched, and how familiar, even to aniatours, ara the priucipal atars visihls to ths eye. The stnr, when first seen, was of about ths second magnitnde; hut it rapidly, nnd at the same time uniformly receded in brillinncy, unti] at last accounts, it had hecoms reduced to ahout the sixth in point of magnitude. The nist important observations mads with regard to this star have been the developmant brought out hy the spectroscope, applied to it by Mr. Higgings, of the Royal <Astronomica] Svcicty of England, who kept a constnot watch of it from the 16th to the 21st of May, during which time it passed through sone most extraordinary phases. When first seen, it was a bright star of nearly the second magnitude; on the 15th and 16th it had assumed a nebulous appearance with a central nucleus; on the 17th and 18th this uebulosity hnd entirely dis” appeared. What strange, what stupendous changes must have heen wrought in that distant orb, within those five or six days . A few years ago, we had no means of even the most distant guessing atthe nature of thesa changes. Of late, however, the genius and scientific researches of man have placed witbin the hands of the astronomer a curious instrumeut whicb is able to detect, witb almost uperring certainty, the constituents of all incandescent or burning “hodies, which may he brought within the range of ohservation. This singular instrument is the spectroscope, which, in the heuds of Mr. iliggings, and applied to this remarkable star, has hgen made to develop some niost wonderfnol phenomena in scientific researches, and has led astronomers to most unexpected conclusions with regard to the physical constitution and condition of ournew heavanly visitor. It has becn ascertained that the light of tha star is compound, and emanates from two distinct. sources, each of which forms its own spectrum. The principal spectrum is analogous to that of tha sun, and is derived from a light emitted by an incandescent solid or liquid body, but which bas suffered partial ahsorption by passing through an atmosphere of vapors existing at a temperature lower than tbat of ths central and more dense incandescent body. The secondary spectrum is formed hy a light which must bs cmittsd from matter in a state of gas—undoubtedly the gas surrouuding the incandescent nucleus already nlluded to. On tbe 17th of May, this secondary spectrum gave the most unmistakable evidence of hurning hydrogen, produced by the induction spark. This appearance continusd up to the latast reports—the 21st of May—the onty changes being a gradual reduction. in brilliancy. “The sudden blazing forth of this star, and tbe subsequentrapid fading away of its light,” says the ohserver in his communication to tbe Royal Astronomical Society, “suggests the rather bold speculation that, in consequence of some great internal convulsiou,a large volume of bydrogen and other gases wero evolved. The hydrogen, by its combination witb some otber element, (tbe spectra of which do not coincide with those of oxygen) giving out the light represented hy the hright lines, and at cand e tha solid matter of tha photosphere. * * * These and other importaet ohgervations we hays msde, suggest that hydrogen prohably plays an important part in the changes and physical differences of the stars. * * * On the 18th, I several times received the impression of a bluish tinge, as if the yollow of tha star were seen through an overlying film of blue tint.” Another astronomer expresses the npinion that this star will turn out to hea variable one of long and irragular period, instead of a new one. Tue Surrocation or Fire.—Ons of the most notable instances of extinguishing a fire which could not be renched by wnter was that of a coal nine in Scotland, in 1834, It had heen burning thirty years, and hoflled all efforts to extinguish jt. Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney, who was distinguished for the pplication of tho steain jet for ventilating mines, was asked if he could extinguish it. IIgs undertook tho work. Je covered all ths openings of the mine, lenving only two holes, into one of which’ he.forced steam, iniugled with the products of the combustion of a coke fire, which generated impurs carbonic acid and nitrogen. In six weeks the bra waa extinguished, bnt then a new difficulty pressnted itself—how to cool the hoated mine, so that when fresh air wns te admitted, combustion would not again hegin. This was, however, affected, hy mixing a spray of water with the jet of suffocating gas. A process like this would instantly extinguish any fire, where the oir enn he kept out, ned if the gas was well purified, it would not soil goods which might be exposed to its influences. Lives of THR Souar Spectnum.— Many years ago Brewster discovered in the solar spectrom certain dark bands which hecome mors and moro marked as the sun descends. ‘These bands have heen resolved into fine and welldefined lines, visible in diffcrent degrces, at all bights of the sun, hey ars now supposed to be visible, only hy reasou of our atmosphere, or by the presence of the vapor of water in it. Ata hight of 2,682 feet in Switzerland they are much less vi8ibla than on the plain. What seems a further aud conclusive proof that the cause of tbese lines resides in our atmospbere is, that when at thnt hight a honlire was examined near by, the spectrum was continuous, hut when the same flame was examined from a distance, they were very plain. A Newry Discoveren CHARACTERISTIC OF Sutpuo-cyanme or Ammontun.—-Ths London Journal of Science says that a uotice of an interesting property of sulpbo-cyanide of ammovium has heen published hy Mr. F, Cowles. He finds that wheu dissolved in water this salt produces intense cold; ie a short tima the atmospheric moisture hsing deposited like hoar° frost ou the sides of the vessel. This led him to trya faw experiments with weizbed quantities of watsr and of the salt. From a few trinls with differeut proportions, it appeared that the mixture of equal parts hy weight gave the inostintense cold. By mixing 1,368 grains of the salt with its weight of water at 17° C.,a cold of 12° C. was obtained. The temperature of the atmosphero at the time of tbe experiment was the same as that of tbe watsr employed. Interestino Expzainent.—M. Courdehoy introduces an clectro-magnet iuto the circuit of agalvanic pile, and breaking the circait, places the ends of the two conducting wires, separated one from the other, in a box containing metallic filings. If now one of the conducting wircs he slowly raised, a small chain,consisting of the cohsring fragments, will be drawn out, avery particle in the box adbering. Ecos.—Soms ova or eggs are so small as to ba wholly indistinguishable by the eye, while M. Geoffry de St. Hilaire, in 1854, exhibited to tha French Acadeiny sos eggs of a bird which formerly lived in Madagascar, the largest of which was over ons foot long, and nearly as wide. ‘This egg would hold nine quarts. Scuonpern states that a weak solution of psroxide of bydrogen may be prepared by shaking violently fora few seconds amalgamated granulated zine witha little distilled water coutained ina large hottle. Oxida of zine and peroxide of hydrogen are formed, but no zinc or mercury is dissolved. Ir is stated that a few drops of a solution of pennanganate of lime, added night and morning to breeding tanks, sweetena water, supplies oxygen and thus diminishes the mortality in fish batching. Tue motion of locomotive engines upon the rails is believed to assist materially in liberating steam generated in the lower parts of tbe boiler, and tbus in maintaining a proper circulation of water.