Volume 17 (1868) (428 pages)

The Mining and Scientific Press. ol Mechunical, Bearings for Shatts, The usual pressure allowed on metallic bearings for echafts, varies from 50 to 200 pounds per square inch. The best results, so far as friction is coneerned, is found to be about 90 pounds per inch on bearings, . well oiicd. A fow years since, a discnssiou iu tho English Board of Engineers developed some interesting facts with regard to the value of wood for hearings. It was stated in that discussion that an experimeut had been made wherein tho extraordinary pressuro of 8,600 pounds por equare inch was placed upon a wood bearing, with a speed ou the rubhing surfaces of 260 feet per minute. This motion was kept up continuously for three hours, without produeing tho least sensible abrasion. In these experiments no oil was used ; but the bearings were kept well covered with water. It appears that wood hearings*do mneh better with water for a lubricating modium than with oil. Trials of wood with oil Inbrication, prove that it is ahout equalin valne, for that purpose, with hrass, <Although the abeolute qnantity of heat generated is greater with hrass than with wood, in the proportion of 31 to 20; still the nonconductivo nature of the latter renders even the lower amount of heat generated by its nso with oil, more detrimental than the larger amount in the use of brass, hy reason of the liahility of the wood to char. Wood leariugs, where any cousiderable speed is eomhined with much pressure, are inexpedient, except wheu kept well covered with water, Water is better than oil, from the fact that it is a better conductor of heat. A small stream of water trickling upon a journal will eonvey away therefrom a large nniount of heat. A Foxce of a hundred ponnds applied to a woight, on easily moving wheele, ou a hard road, will move ahout twenty-five times itself—that ie, 2,500 pounds, Ifona plank ora good McAdam road, it would move ahont eixty times as much, or three tons, and on the best railway track, two hundred and eighty times, or about fourteen tons, A force of three hundred pounds applied to a eled with cast2iron ehoes will move half a ton ona sanded ‘plank road; but that is too much for a horse A trohorse mower will require 4 draught varying from three hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty“pounds. The lightest dranght required to plow n sod of stiff clay, which has remained long unplowed, to a depth of seven inches, will be nbout three hundred aud eighty pounds, nnd the heaviest about five hundred and sixty, the nverago ahout four hundred and seventy pounds. For tae Prevention or Borner Exrnostons.—The Pennsylvania Railroad Company have recently been experimenting at Alateona, Pa., with steam boilers, for the purpose of ascertaining the causes of their explosion. In view Of thegreat importance aud expense of making euch a series of experiments fnll nnd practical, it has been anggested that the General Government should offer reasonable inducements for the solution of this question, and the discovery of proyentive measuree, Inon.—A famous British minister, Mr. Horner, once said that iron was the mnehinery of civilized society, and Locke declared that if the use of iron were lost amoug mankind, they wonld unavoidably return to the savage state. At the eame time he styled the person who first made use of iron, “‘father of arts and author of plenty ;” for of iron all tools are made, and with the tools thus made man tills the earth, builds honses, makes clothes, constrnets steam engines, builde railroads, constructs steamboats—in fine, does all the business of civilized life, How to Lay Sawed Shingles. Much more depends on the manner in which sawed shingles are laid, than on the laying of shaved shingles. <A sawed shingle will last twice as long when properly laid than when improperly placed upon the roof. Quite too little attention is paid to this matter. Many poople—many, even, who call themselves carpenters—are not awaro of the importance of this matter, To lay any description of shingles well and rapidly requires considerable practico. To lay sawed shingles and make the best work that can he made with them, requires still more expericuce, or at least a more careful oye. Nearly all sawed shingles have a rough side, aud a smooth ono, z. ¢., they are sawn from the holt somewhat across the grain of the wood ; the grains lapping ono over the other on tho sides of the ehingles should be laid so that the water will run over and not into thom as it flows from the roof; in other words lay them ‘“‘right sido up with care.” If perfectly dry, they should be laid about one-eighth of an inch apart, to give them room to swell in wet weather; they shonld have but one nail in each shiugle, Hero is where most persons fail. In nailing, it is often said that we cannot nail shingles foo well. That’s so, but there is danger of nailing sawed shingles foo much, Where they aro nailed down too close they retain moisture, and consequently rot sooner than they would if one nail only were used in each shinglo, which gives them a chance to curl up a little, and admit the air to circulate on the under side. The most practical and experienced builders prefer the ahove method of laying loosely, all kinds of sawed shingles. To make the most durable roof with such materials, it should first he covered with narrow hoards, put ahout three inches apart, across the rafters, and then lay the shingles on them as deserihed. It will also be found of great advantage to immerse them, previous to heing laid, iu lime water; or tl e7 ehould bo covered with some other antiseptic wash or paint. Seyrrues.—A complaint is often made by workmen of their scythes not acting well, or of the edge not cutting uniformly, aud the form being wrong, etc.; now the form best euited to each mower, says one who has tried it, may be tested hy a very eimple experiment. Let a man with a piece of chalk in his hand, walk up to a high wall, or barn door, and raising it as high as he can, strike a curve from right to left; the line so traced is the exact form that his scythe should be; and if he applies the edge of it, and find it to correspond, it will cut uniformly from point to heel, aud save himself much trouble and labor. Doraniniry oF Burtep Iron Prrrs.—A cast iron water pipe laid by the Old Manhattan Water Company, at the corner of John and William streets, New York, supposed to be more than forty years ago, was recently taken up and showed uo corrosion whatever. It was gray iron, which confirms Mr. MeAlpine’s opinion as to the valne of this variety for pipes. Mr, James B. Francis lately took up some cast iron water-pipes at Lowell, Mass., which were laid in 1828, With regard to the condition of the metal, he says: ‘‘39 years’ use appears to have made but little impressiou upon it.” Anzirielsat Marnir.— Machinery has been pnt iu operation in St. Louis, by which white artificial marble isbeing mantfactured, which is said to be equal in dnrability and texture to what would be called an excellent article of qugrricd marble. The process requires only a few hours to complete it, and the material cau be furnished, molded in a desirable form, and muclt cheaper than it can be cut from the quarry, even in the plainest finished style. In railway carriages, drawn by any power external to the carriage and acting upon its body above the ceuters of the axles, the weight upon the forward wheels of the carriage must be greater when it is in motion thau when itis at rest. The forward axle becomes a fulerum upon which the action of the drawing power tends to lift a part of the weight otherwise enpported by the hind wheels, Trent were 30,000 stoves made at Cleveland last year, valned at $800,000, for which 8,000 tons of pig metal were used and 38,700 tons of coal and coke. One shop turned out 10,262 lineal feet of iron bridges, valued at $250,000. Serentific Miscellany. Carnon 1N Ironx.—It is well known that thero are two states in which earbon exists iu solid iron: a stato of chemical combina. tion with tho iron, and astate of merely mechanical diffusion through its mass, It is also known that tho carbon existing in iron in the last-mentionced state is always in tho form of graphite. Dr. Phipsou has receutly announced to tho Academy of Sciencesthat he has discovered that silicinm also may exist iu cast iron either in a state of comhiuation, or ina state of diffusion merely, nnd that, like carbon, when merely difinsed through the iron, and not in combination therowith, it is always in tho graphite form. He adds, what, if true, is of great practical iwportance, that upon the condition of the silicinim in auy given sample of cast iron depends, in a very great degree, the practicahility of converting that iron into steel by the Bessemer process, He regards diffused or uncombined siliciuiu as tho least injurious, stating that while iron containing as much as three or four per cont. of /rée eilicium can be converted into excollent stecl hy the Bessemer method, the preseuce of avery much smaller quantity of combined silicium will eithor render the iron containing it incapable of being convorted into steel by that method at all, or will cause the eteel produced from such iron to be so hard and had as to be quite incapable of being worked. He,jpromises to puhlish shortly a fnll account of his method of dotermining the condition in which silicium exists in iron, with details of his experiments upou the influence of that condition upon the results of the irou hy the process referred to. Rerraction.—The determination of the refractive power of a body is often a valuahle guide in estimating its chemical purity. The adulteration of essential oils may thus often be detected with ease, where it would otherwise be difficult to ascertain it, The results ohtained hy Dr. Wollastou, with an instrument invented by him for exhibiting this quality, gave the following: Oil of Sassafras. . 1.536011 of Turpentine. Oil of Cloves. Cannda Balsa Copaiba Balsam Gilof Amber 1.55)/0i1 of Pepperm Oil ot Nutm L£97/Oi of Lavender, Oui of Linseed. 1.485) Melted Sperma Oil of Lemons. 1.470/Sulphurie Acid. = Dr. Wollastou states that genuine oil of cloves possesses a refractive power of 1.535, but that some of inferior quality, which had prohably been adulterated, had a refractive power of only 1.498. ANTIQUITY OF THER Vixe.—Recent discoveries of fossil vines and grapes, along the hanks of the Rhine, completely contradict the almost universal belief, which has heretofore attained, that the vine was introdnced into Enrope from Asia; and also carry the existence of the same far back into the early periods of geological history. Vine leaves, impressed upon coal and shales, have been found in theminee of Hesse-Darmstadt. Tossil grapes, have also been fouud there, nearly or quite identical with the wild varieties which are uow growing upon the banks of that stream. Extinct ANIMALS OF THis ConTINENT.— Prof. Leidz, of Philadelphia, has in course of publication a work of great interest, on the extinct animals of thie coutiuent, Among these are reckoned soveral which are uow confined to Asia aud Africa, such as the camel, the rhinoceros, the elephant and mastodon, The existence of these animals on the Western Coutinent is inferred from the fossil boues, particularly the teeth, of these animals, which are fonnd in considerable quantities at the West. And the conclusion to which these fossils bring tho savans, is, that this is really the o/d world, and the Eastern Continent is in fact the new world. Trurus or Scrzencr.—Nothing astonishes the earnest worker in science so mnch as to find the truth of nature was, in reality, like . what in his ignorauce he fancied it, or was} anything less than wonderful. A FraGrant Sunstancr rrom Resrx.—Mr. W. Skey has puhlished tho following : Common resin, lace or Kanuri gum, ina stato of powder, is gently heated with dilnto nitric acid for a few hours ; the mixtnre, or solution, as tho case may he, is then evaporated to dryness, or nearly so, and treated with an excess of a strong solution of common soda, canstic potash, and lime in water ; the resulting liquid is thon transferred to a retort and distilled, At first the distillate has an odor of garlic, but this gradually gives way to an odor decidedly fragrant. On redistilling the portion last drawn over from concentrated sulphuric acid, a strong aqneous solution of this odorons suhstauco is obtained; the solution itself has a warm aromatie flavor, and the odor nssimilates to that of peppermint mixed with lavender, Bichromato of potash with sulplmiric acid, also, may he used for the oxidation resin employed. There is a specios of fir tree in the Sierra Nevada, tho gum from which, when distilled for turpentine, yieldsn highly fragrant suhstanco, having a balsamie odor something like lemon peel. It possesses all the usnal properties of turpentine except the odor. Considerable quautities wero sold in this city, somo three or four years ago, put up in small bottles, to he used for cleansing silks, woolens, ete, It was much preferred for that purpose to benzine or ordinary spirits of turpentine, ou account of its pleasant fragrance, In fact it had somecorsiderable merit for porfumery. Most likely the gnm or resin of this treo, if treated after the ahove formula, would yield a much more valuable product than the eimple distillate formerly prepared. We would commeud the above suggestion to Mr. Fairbanks, of the Butte Turpentine Mills, who first discovered the peculiar gum to which we have alluded. Orn Upon Water.—The following facts are important and interesting in connection with the article which we gave last week, in reference to pouring oil upon the water, at sea, to keep down the waves, and therehy remove the danger of shipwrecks : **Drop a small quantity of oil into water agitated by the wind; it will immediately spread itself with surprising swiftness upon the surface, and the oil, though scarcely more than a teaspoonful, will produce an instant ¢alm over a epace several yards square. Itshonld be done on the windward side of the pond or river, and you will ohserve it extend to the size of nearly half an acre, making it appear as smooth as a looking-glass. One remarkahle ecircumetance in this experiment is the sndden, wide, and forcihle spreading of a drop of oil on the surface of the water; for if a drop of oil he put upon a highly-polished marhle tahle, or a looking-glass, laid horizontally, the drop remains in its place, epreading but . very little; but when dropped on water, it . spreads instantly many feet round, hecoming eo thin asto produce the prismatic col. ors for a considerahle space, and beyond them, so much thiuner as to he invisible, except in its effects in smoothing the waves at a much greater distance. It ecems as if a repulsion of its particles took place as soon as it touched the water, and so strong as to act on other bodies swimming on the surface, as straw, leaves, chips, etc., foreing them to recede every way from the drop, aefrom a center, leaving a large, clear spaco.” OxipaTion or AmyuIo Anconon.—The following statemeut ig made by A. Clans: Amylic alcohol, nitric acid having a specific grnvity of 1.5, and water, were placed in a cylinder without being mixed. After the lapse of four months the smell of alcohol disappeared, -that of amylic valerianate being substituted. The fluid was then diluted with water, and one-half of it distilled ; the distilate was fonnd to consist ebiefly of ether. The residno, on fnrther concentration, gave off nitric acid vapor, aud, on cooling, crystals of oxalic acid were separated. M. Broxptot asserts that when phosphorus préduces ozone by its slow comhustion in presence of water, phosphorie acid is produced, which, in contact with excess of phosphorus, is partly transformed into phosphorus acid. A New Prosrent.—Prof, Church has extracted from tho brilliant red feathers of the bird kuown as the ‘ plantain-eater,” a new animal pigment, which he calls “* turactpe.”

The Mining and Scientific Press. ol Mechunical, Bearings for Shatts, The usual pressure allowed on metallic bearings for echafts, varies from 50 to 200 pounds per square inch. The best results, so far as friction is coneerned, is found to be about 90 pounds per inch on bearings, . well oiicd. A fow years since, a discnssiou iu tho English Board of Engineers developed some interesting facts with regard to the value of wood for hearings. It was stated in that discussion that an experimeut had been made wherein tho extraordinary pressuro of 8,600 pounds por equare inch was placed upon a wood bearing, with a speed ou the rubhing surfaces of 260 feet per minute. This motion was kept up continuously for three hours, without produeing tho least sensible abrasion. In these experiments no oil was used ; but the bearings were kept well covered with water. It appears that wood hearings*do mneh better with water for a lubricating modium than with oil. Trials of wood with oil Inbrication, prove that it is ahout equalin valne, for that purpose, with hrass, <Although the abeolute qnantity of heat generated is greater with hrass than with wood, in the proportion of 31 to 20; still the nonconductivo nature of the latter renders even the lower amount of heat generated by its nso with oil, more detrimental than the larger amount in the use of brass, hy reason of the liahility of the wood to char. Wood leariugs, where any cousiderable speed is eomhined with much pressure, are inexpedient, except wheu kept well covered with water, Water is better than oil, from the fact that it is a better conductor of heat. A small stream of water trickling upon a journal will eonvey away therefrom a large nniount of heat. A Foxce of a hundred ponnds applied to a woight, on easily moving wheele, ou a hard road, will move ahout twenty-five times itself—that ie, 2,500 pounds, Ifona plank ora good McAdam road, it would move ahont eixty times as much, or three tons, and on the best railway track, two hundred and eighty times, or about fourteen tons, A force of three hundred pounds applied to a eled with cast2iron ehoes will move half a ton ona sanded ‘plank road; but that is too much for a horse A trohorse mower will require 4 draught varying from three hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty“pounds. The lightest dranght required to plow n sod of stiff clay, which has remained long unplowed, to a depth of seven inches, will be nbout three hundred aud eighty pounds, nnd the heaviest about five hundred and sixty, the nverago ahout four hundred and seventy pounds. For tae Prevention or Borner Exrnostons.—The Pennsylvania Railroad Company have recently been experimenting at Alateona, Pa., with steam boilers, for the purpose of ascertaining the causes of their explosion. In view Of thegreat importance aud expense of making euch a series of experiments fnll nnd practical, it has been anggested that the General Government should offer reasonable inducements for the solution of this question, and the discovery of proyentive measuree, Inon.—A famous British minister, Mr. Horner, once said that iron was the mnehinery of civilized society, and Locke declared that if the use of iron were lost amoug mankind, they wonld unavoidably return to the savage state. At the eame time he styled the person who first made use of iron, “‘father of arts and author of plenty ;” for of iron all tools are made, and with the tools thus made man tills the earth, builds honses, makes clothes, constrnets steam engines, builde railroads, constructs steamboats—in fine, does all the business of civilized life, How to Lay Sawed Shingles. Much more depends on the manner in which sawed shingles are laid, than on the laying of shaved shingles. <A sawed shingle will last twice as long when properly laid than when improperly placed upon the roof. Quite too little attention is paid to this matter. Many poople—many, even, who call themselves carpenters—are not awaro of the importance of this matter, To lay any description of shingles well and rapidly requires considerable practico. To lay sawed shingles and make the best work that can he made with them, requires still more expericuce, or at least a more careful oye. Nearly all sawed shingles have a rough side, aud a smooth ono, z. ¢., they are sawn from the holt somewhat across the grain of the wood ; the grains lapping ono over the other on tho sides of the ehingles should be laid so that the water will run over and not into thom as it flows from the roof; in other words lay them ‘“‘right sido up with care.” If perfectly dry, they should be laid about one-eighth of an inch apart, to give them room to swell in wet weather; they shonld have but one nail in each shiugle, Hero is where most persons fail. In nailing, it is often said that we cannot nail shingles foo well. That’s so, but there is danger of nailing sawed shingles foo much, Where they aro nailed down too close they retain moisture, and consequently rot sooner than they would if one nail only were used in each shinglo, which gives them a chance to curl up a little, and admit the air to circulate on the under side. The most practical and experienced builders prefer the ahove method of laying loosely, all kinds of sawed shingles. To make the most durable roof with such materials, it should first he covered with narrow hoards, put ahout three inches apart, across the rafters, and then lay the shingles on them as deserihed. It will also be found of great advantage to immerse them, previous to heing laid, iu lime water; or tl e7 ehould bo covered with some other antiseptic wash or paint. Seyrrues.—A complaint is often made by workmen of their scythes not acting well, or of the edge not cutting uniformly, aud the form being wrong, etc.; now the form best euited to each mower, says one who has tried it, may be tested hy a very eimple experiment. Let a man with a piece of chalk in his hand, walk up to a high wall, or barn door, and raising it as high as he can, strike a curve from right to left; the line so traced is the exact form that his scythe should be; and if he applies the edge of it, and find it to correspond, it will cut uniformly from point to heel, aud save himself much trouble and labor. Doraniniry oF Burtep Iron Prrrs.—A cast iron water pipe laid by the Old Manhattan Water Company, at the corner of John and William streets, New York, supposed to be more than forty years ago, was recently taken up and showed uo corrosion whatever. It was gray iron, which confirms Mr. MeAlpine’s opinion as to the valne of this variety for pipes. Mr, James B. Francis lately took up some cast iron water-pipes at Lowell, Mass., which were laid in 1828, With regard to the condition of the metal, he says: ‘‘39 years’ use appears to have made but little impressiou upon it.” Anzirielsat Marnir.— Machinery has been pnt iu operation in St. Louis, by which white artificial marble isbeing mantfactured, which is said to be equal in dnrability and texture to what would be called an excellent article of qugrricd marble. The process requires only a few hours to complete it, and the material cau be furnished, molded in a desirable form, and muclt cheaper than it can be cut from the quarry, even in the plainest finished style. In railway carriages, drawn by any power external to the carriage and acting upon its body above the ceuters of the axles, the weight upon the forward wheels of the carriage must be greater when it is in motion thau when itis at rest. The forward axle becomes a fulerum upon which the action of the drawing power tends to lift a part of the weight otherwise enpported by the hind wheels, Trent were 30,000 stoves made at Cleveland last year, valned at $800,000, for which 8,000 tons of pig metal were used and 38,700 tons of coal and coke. One shop turned out 10,262 lineal feet of iron bridges, valued at $250,000. Serentific Miscellany. Carnon 1N Ironx.—It is well known that thero are two states in which earbon exists iu solid iron: a stato of chemical combina. tion with tho iron, and astate of merely

mechanical diffusion through its mass, It is also known that tho carbon existing in iron in the last-mentionced state is always in tho form of graphite. Dr. Phipsou has receutly announced to tho Academy of Sciencesthat he has discovered that silicinm also may exist iu cast iron either in a state of comhiuation, or ina state of diffusion merely, nnd that, like carbon, when merely difinsed through the iron, and not in combination therowith, it is always in tho graphite form. He adds, what, if true, is of great practical iwportance, that upon the condition of the silicinim in auy given sample of cast iron depends, in a very great degree, the practicahility of converting that iron into steel by the Bessemer process, He regards diffused or uncombined siliciuiu as tho least injurious, stating that while iron containing as much as three or four per cont. of /rée eilicium can be converted into excollent stecl hy the Bessemer method, the preseuce of avery much smaller quantity of combined silicium will eithor render the iron containing it incapable of being convorted into steel by that method at all, or will cause the eteel produced from such iron to be so hard and had as to be quite incapable of being worked. He,jpromises to puhlish shortly a fnll account of his method of dotermining the condition in which silicium exists in iron, with details of his experiments upou the influence of that condition upon the results of the irou hy the process referred to. Rerraction.—The determination of the refractive power of a body is often a valuahle guide in estimating its chemical purity. The adulteration of essential oils may thus often be detected with ease, where it would otherwise be difficult to ascertain it, The results ohtained hy Dr. Wollastou, with an instrument invented by him for exhibiting this quality, gave the following: Oil of Sassafras. . 1.536011 of Turpentine.. Oil of Cloves.. Cannda Balsa Copaiba Balsam Gilof Amber 1.55)/0i1 of Pepperm Oil ot Nutm L£97/Oi of Lavender, Oui of Linseed. 1.485) Melted Sperma Oil of Lemons. 1.470/Sulphurie Acid.. = Dr. Wollastou states that genuine oil of cloves possesses a refractive power of 1.535, but that some of inferior quality, which had prohably been adulterated, had a refractive power of only 1.498. ANTIQUITY OF THER Vixe.—Recent discoveries of fossil vines and grapes, along the hanks of the Rhine, completely contradict the almost universal belief, which has heretofore attained, that the vine was introdnced into Enrope from Asia; and also carry the existence of the same far back into the early periods of geological history. Vine leaves, impressed upon coal and shales, have been found in theminee of Hesse-Darmstadt. Tossil grapes, have also been fouud there, nearly or quite identical with the wild varieties which are uow growing upon the banks of that stream. Extinct ANIMALS OF THis ConTINENT.— Prof. Leidz, of Philadelphia, has in course of publication a work of great interest, on the extinct animals of thie coutiuent, Among these are reckoned soveral which are uow confined to Asia aud Africa, such as the camel, the rhinoceros, the elephant and mastodon, The existence of these animals on the Western Coutinent is inferred from the fossil boues, particularly the teeth, of these animals, which are fonnd in considerable quantities at the West. And the conclusion to which these fossils bring tho savans, is, that this is really the o/d world, and the Eastern Continent is in fact the new world. Trurus or Scrzencr.—Nothing astonishes the earnest worker in science so mnch as to find the truth of nature was, in reality, like . what in his ignorauce he fancied it, or was} anything less than wonderful. A FraGrant Sunstancr rrom Resrx.—Mr. W. Skey has puhlished tho following : Common resin, lace or Kanuri gum, ina stato of powder, is gently heated with dilnto nitric acid for a few hours ; the mixtnre, or solution, as tho case may he, is then evaporated to dryness, or nearly so, and treated with an excess of a strong solution of common soda, canstic potash, and lime in water ; the resulting liquid is thon transferred to a retort and distilled, At first the distillate has an odor of garlic, but this gradually gives way to an odor decidedly fragrant. On redistilling the portion last drawn over from concentrated sulphuric acid, a strong aqneous solution of this odorons suhstauco is obtained; the solution itself has a warm aromatie flavor, and the odor nssimilates to that of peppermint mixed with lavender, Bichromato of potash with sulplmiric acid, also, may he used for the oxidation resin employed. There is a specios of fir tree in the Sierra Nevada, tho gum from which, when distilled for turpentine, yieldsn highly fragrant suhstanco, having a balsamie odor something like lemon peel. It possesses all the usnal properties of turpentine except the odor. Considerable quautities wero sold in this city, somo three or four years ago, put up in small bottles, to he used for cleansing silks, woolens, ete, It was much preferred for that purpose to benzine or ordinary spirits of turpentine, ou account of its pleasant fragrance, In fact it had somecorsiderable merit for porfumery. Most likely the gnm or resin of this treo, if treated after the ahove formula, would yield a much more valuable product than the eimple distillate formerly prepared. We would commeud the above suggestion to Mr. Fairbanks, of the Butte Turpentine Mills, who first discovered the peculiar gum to which we have alluded. Orn Upon Water.—The following facts are important and interesting in connection with the article which we gave last week, in reference to pouring oil upon the water, at sea, to keep down the waves, and therehy remove the danger of shipwrecks : **Drop a small quantity of oil into water agitated by the wind; it will immediately spread itself with surprising swiftness upon the surface, and the oil, though scarcely more than a teaspoonful, will produce an instant ¢alm over a epace several yards square. Itshonld be done on the windward side of the pond or river, and you will ohserve it extend to the size of nearly half an acre, making it appear as smooth as a looking-glass. One remarkahle ecircumetance in this experiment is the sndden, wide, and forcihle spreading of a drop of oil on the surface of the water; for if a drop of oil he put upon a highly-polished marhle tahle, or a looking-glass, laid horizontally, the drop remains in its place, epreading but . very little; but when dropped on water, it . spreads instantly many feet round, hecoming eo thin asto produce the prismatic col. ors for a considerahle space, and beyond them, so much thiuner as to he invisible, except in its effects in smoothing the waves at a much greater distance. It ecems as if a repulsion of its particles took place as soon as it touched the water, and so strong as to act on other bodies swimming on the surface, as straw, leaves, chips, etc., foreing them to recede every way from the drop, aefrom a center, leaving a large, clear spaco.” OxipaTion or AmyuIo Anconon.—The following statemeut ig made by A. Clans: Amylic alcohol, nitric acid having a specific grnvity of 1.5, and water, were placed in a cylinder without being mixed. After the lapse of four months the smell of alcohol disappeared, -that of amylic valerianate being substituted. The fluid was then diluted with water, and one-half of it distilled ; the distilate was fonnd to consist ebiefly of ether. The residno, on fnrther concentration, gave off nitric acid vapor, aud, on cooling, crystals of oxalic acid were separated. M. Broxptot asserts that when phosphorus préduces ozone by its slow comhustion in presence of water, phosphorie acid is produced, which, in contact with excess of phosphorus, is partly transformed into phosphorus acid. A New Prosrent.—Prof, Church has extracted from tho brilliant red feathers of the bird kuown as the ‘ plantain-eater,” a new animal pigment, which he calls “* turactpe.”