Volume 24 (1872) (424 pages)

February 24, 1872.] SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 115 ~~ a I ECHANICAL Procress Mechanical and Engineering Progress. Tho past year has heen especially distinguished for advances in mechanical and civil engineering. Among the inventions which degervo special mention, none perhaps rank higher in importance, simplicity, and novelty than the nse of tho ‘‘sand hlast” for cutting hard snhstances. New applications of electricity to regulating large, and actuating small maehines have heen made. Tho invontive genius of the conntry has also been largely exercised in tho problem of canal-hoat propulsion, stimnlated by the offer of a large reward hy the New York Legislature. The increased nse of artificial stone for varions purposes of huilding and ornament, is also a notahle event of the yesr. In civil ongineoring many important works already commenced havo heen making improved progress, and new projects have been seriously proposed, the accomplishment of which would scarcely havo heen entertaincd a fow years ago. The mode of attack npon the ohstructions to navigation at Hell Gate, near New York, has been entirely changed since the sneeessful operation of Von Schmidt in this harhor, and the most confident anticipatione are entertained of eemplete success in the tnnnel operations now in progress there. The inanguration of the Mt. Cenis Tnnnel, which took place in September last, forms an important era in engineering progress, and has brought ahont a more favorahle consideration of the similar work now in progress in the Heosse Monntains in Western Massachusetts. Tho hridges over East river at New York, and the Miesissippi, at St. Lonis, are jnstly regarded as among the most important engineering projects, now in process of completion. Both are making most satisfactory progress, and each preeents novel and intereeting features in civil engineering. Our own State has already hecome widely and most favorahly known for the novelty and holdness of its engineering projects, hoth completed and in contemplation; and the genius and success of California inventore is no less noted and marked, than are the efforts of her engineers in their peculiar and more conspicnous field. Notwithstanding the wonderful progress of the few years last passed, the field of mechanical progress seems even more inviting than ever in wante and peasibilitiee, while the activity of the year just closed gives good ground for the confident anticipation that the one upon which we have just entered will not fall hehind any of its predeoessors in important results. A Knot Tyra Macutne—Mr A. Perry, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, has patented a deviee, which ties a equare knot precisely like that made by hand. Those who have had any experience with self-binding mowing machinee will at once understand the value of this invention, which, go far as we know, is the only one which accomplshes the feat. It will tie the stringe around the shéaves ae they aro made by the resping machine, and thue enahle the farmer to dispense with the expense of one man and relieve the team of hie weight. The nearest spproach previously made to gecomplishing tying by machinery consisted, we helieve, in twisting the ends of the string or wire together or tucking them nnder the hand. A reaping machine may now be made to deliver eheaves tied np, which will require as little attention ae the mowing-machine—all the work heing performed by the machine itself.— Manufacturer and Builder. PuospHorve BronzeE—A New Mrrau For Driuume Toous.—A lengthened and exhaustive series of experiments with a new alloy calied phosphorus hronze, which is formed by a comhination of phosphorns with different proportions of tin and copper, have proved that it is admirably adapted to resisting the concussion and strain incident to heavy ordnance, and also to the manufacture of machinory suhjected to oxcessive etrain or violent ehocke. Among the numerous purposes to which it may he applied is that of drilling tools. The alloy may alsohe tempered so as to resist the action of the file. It is claimed to possess elasticity, hardness, tenacity, and durahility, far superior to that of the hest steel. Bridge Building. In no branch of engineering has more progress been made, within the last fifty years, than iu bridge huilding. Bridges aro one of tho necessities of civilization, and so important were they considered in the ‘middle ages” that a religous society was fonnded in the the south of Europe, called ‘‘The Brethren of the Bridgo,” the ohject of which was to promote intercommunication hy constrneting hridges over largo streams, and establishing forries where hridgos were impracticable. The famous hridge at Avegnon, in Franco, which was 12 years in huilding, was constrncted under the direction of this iustitution, ahout the yoar 1180. Tho hridge of Lyous which rested on 20 archos, was also huilt by them, and in fact nearly all the principal hridges of Europe for several hundred years. Ths earliest hridge of noto, mentioned in history, was that built hy Queen Nitocris over tho Euphrates at Babylon. Its Iength was ahout 3,500 feet. It was built upon piers—the areh being thon nnknown. From that time to the present, hridge huilding has heen oonsidered ono of tho most important arts, and successfnl constrnetors have ever heon especially honored. The most wonderful among modern hridges, alrsady completed or now in progress, may he alluded to as follows: ‘The bridge now in process of erection across the Mississippi at St. Louis, which ie one of the wondors of the age, is to he a tnhular, cast steel, arch hridge, supported by the ahutment and two piers, the latter 515 feot apart, and 499 ft. each from its nearest ahutment, making three epans of ahont 500 feet each. Its greatest span is the same as thst of the Knllenherg hridge over the Leck, an arm of tho Rhino, in Holland. Telford’s suspension hridge acrose the Mensi Straits has a span of 570 feet. Tho Victoria tuhular iron hridge of Montreal exceeds this greatly in length, being 5,600 feet (134 miles), hut it rests npon twenty-four piers, and its spans are mainly only 275 feet. The euspension hridge at Niagara spans 821 feet, and ie 245 feet ahove the ,water. The East River hridge will span 1,600 feet, at a hight midway of 130 feet. The pecniliarly isolated position of San Francisco, mnst aft no very remote period, call imperatively for the eonstrnction of a bridge, which will rank among the most wonderfnl strnetures of the kind in the world. Ahridgeacross the flats to Alameda, presents no engineering difficulties; hnt although such a structure will hecome a matter of necessity, at no very distant day it will come far ehort of meeting the wants of the future metropolis of the Pacific. The individual is or eoon will he horn who will he cslled upon to constrnet a track for the locomotive acrose the Golden Gate, and high shove the maets of the tallestehip, to form a pathway for the immense commerce which will ere long be eceking thie city from the immense region of country hetween here and Alaska. Nove, Mernop or Warmine Ratwar Cars.—The introduction of a new method for warming railway cars on eomo of the French and German lines, has heen at tended with gratifying success. A preparation of wood charcoal, nitrate of potash and starch is employed. At first the charcoal was burnt in perforated boxes two feet long, four and one-half inehes wide, and two and three-fourths inchee deep. It was soon fonnd, however, that thie combustion caused violent headaches, and the charcoal was, therefore, pnt into close iron hoxes placed under the eeate, a double top being employed to prevent the seats of the cars from becoming too warm. The prepared charcoal ie placed in the boxes in piecos fonr inches long, three inchee wide, and two inches thiok. On the line between Aix-la-Chapelle and Berlin, eight pieces of charcoal were used for heating a compartment. This quantity eufficiently warmed the car during sixteen hours, and at the end of the jonrney the fuel was etill red hot. This prepared charcoal costs thirtytwo shillings per hundred, and the expenee of heating one compartment is eaid to be much less than that required by auy of the ordinary methods employed, heing less than a penny an hour. Heavy Hypraviio Macuinery.—At the Empire Foundry, in Marysville, they are manufacturing some hydraulic machinery that will stand a pressure of 504 feet fall. The Appeal remarks that this is the heaviest preseure for which machinery was ever made, iy HCIENTIFIC Progress. Facts with Regard to Storms. A vast amonnt of information is constantly being gathered and collated hy the U.S. Signal Service, ont of whieh is hoing gradually huilt np tho trne science of that class of meteorological phenomena. Among the general ohservations thns far noted, may he mentionsd the following:— Storms are accompanied with a depressiou of tho barometer near the ecntral line of the storm, and ao rise of tho baromster in tho front and rear. This eentral line of minimum pressure is gencrally of a great length from north to south, and moves side foremost toward the east. This line is sometimes nearly straight, bnt gensrally cnrved, snd most frsquently with its convex side toward the east. Tho velecity of this line is such that it travels from the Mississippi to the Connecticut river in shout twenty-four hours, and from the Connecticut to St. John, Newfonndland, in nearly the same time, or about thirty-six miles an hour. Whon the barometsr falls suddenly in the western part of New Iingland, it rises at the same time in tho vsHey of the Mississippi, and also at St. John, New Fonndland. In great storms the wind for several hundred miles on both sides of the line of minimum preesure blows toward that line directly or obliquely. Tho force of the wind is in proportion to the suddennees and greatness of the depression of the harometer. In all great and eudden depressions of the harometer there is much rain or snow; and in all sudden great rains or snows there is a great depression of the barometer near the center of the storm, and rise beyond its horders. Many storms are of great and unknown length from north to eonth, reaching heyond our ohseryers on the Gulf of Mexico and on the northern lakes, while their east and west diameter ie comparstively emall. The storms therefore move side Foremost. Moet storms commence in the ‘‘far west,” heyond our most western ohseryere, hut some commence in the United States. Whon a storm commences in the United Statee the line of minimum preseure doee not come from the ‘ far weet,” hut commencce with the storm, and travels with it toward the eastward. There is generslly a lull of wind at the a calm. passes an observer toward the east, the wind generally soon changes to the west, and the barometer hegins to rise.There is generally bnt little wind near the line of maximum pressure, and on each eide of that line the winds are irregular, hut tend outward from that line. The fluctuations of the barometer are generally greater in the northern thsn in the southern parts of the United States. The fluctuatione of the barometer are generally greater in the eastern than in the western part of the United States. In the northern parts of the United Statee the wind generally in great storms sete in from the north of east and terminates from the north of west. In the eouthern parts of the United States the wind generally sets in from the south of east and terminates from the sonth of west. During the passage of stermsthe wind generally changos from the eastward to the westward by the south, eepecielly in the southern parts of the United States. The northern part of the storm generally travels more rapidly toward the east than the eouthern part. During the high harometer of the day preceding the storm it is generally clear and mild in temperature, especially if very cold. The temperature generally falls suddenly on tho passage of the center of great etorms, so that eometimes, when a etorm is in the middle of the United States, the lowest temperature of the month will hein the west on the same day that the highest temperatnre is in the east. The first of the principles upon which the Signal Corps proceeds ie that the invariable course of air currents is such as will equalize the atmospheric pressnre upon the earth’e eurface, and that wherever inequalities exist, the winds are set in motion, the air thus finding its level, just as water or any other visihle fluid does, line of minimum pressure, aud sometimes, When this line (of minimum pressnre’ A Volcano in Miniature, Dr. F. V. Hochstetter furnishes an interesting account of a phenomenon ocourring during one of the phasss of a manufacturing operation, which is, he says, a complete duplicate, upon a miniature scale, of a volcanic ernption, and which serves at the same time to confirm the modern views concerning the procsss of an eruption; according to whieh the lava is not simply in a molten condition, hnt is reduced to the state of liquidity by the action of the snperheated water-vapor nnder great pressure. The phsnomenon rsforred to occurs in the operation of separating the sulphur from the residual products ohtained in the manufactnre of soda by Leblane’s process. The sulphur ohtained from these residues, in ordsr to free it from the gypsnm, or sulphate of lime mixed with it, is melted in a suitable apparatus, with stsam under a pressure of from 2 to 3 atmospheres. The gypsum remaius suspsnded in the water, and the fussd sulphur is from time to time run off into wooden troughs, the temperature of the fluid mass heing about 251-6°F'. Almost iustantly after the pouring a crust of solid sulphur is formed on the surface of the mass. Dotted over this surfaco, howover, orificss are left, from which the liquid heneathis forced up. At invervals a jet of sulphur buhbles out, and ecoling, forms around the orifice a slight prominence; the repeated eruptions accumulate msterial shout it, until a Miniature volcanic cone ie formed, with its crater well defined. The cause of this eurious phenemenon is found in the fact that the sulphur, in ite fused condition in the steam-ehamher, takes up snd retains a certain quantity of water, which, as the sulphur solidifiee, is given out gradually in the form of steam, aecumulating pressure heneath the crust, and forcee, at regular intervals, an outlet at the vents, carrying with it in its passage the molten eulphur to form theeolid cone, —Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie. Hight and Velocity of Moteors. A tshle showing the hight of sixteen shooting stars douhly ohserved in England, duriug the meteoric shower of August, 1870, independently of the careful ohservatione recorded at the Greenwich Ohservatory, appears in the last report of the British Association of Science. A comparison of the ohservations madeat Greenwich on that occasion with those recorded in other statione enahles the paths of thirteen meteors, ten of which are new to the former list, to be determined; the highte and velocities of the meteore thus identified are presented in this report. The result ehowe that the average hight of sixteen meteore, referred to in the last report, was seventy-two miles at first appearance, and forty-eight milee at disappearance ; of thirteen meteors given in the present list, seventy-two miles at first appearanee, and fifty-four at disappearance; of twenty meteors ohserved in Auguet, 1863, eighty-two miles at first appearance, and fifty-eight at disappearance. Thue it appears that the present average hights are eomewhat less than those oheerved in 1863; hut they agree more closely with the general average hight at first appearance, viz.: seventy miles, and that at disappearance, viz.:; fifty-four miles. The average velocity of the Perseids relative to the earth, ohserved in 1863, was thirty-four milee per seeond, and that of the three Perseids to the present list was thirty-seven miles per second; while the velocity obtained from the cosmicsl theory was thirty-eight milee per eecond. A New Expermment in Gas.—A patent gas company has just been formed in England, with a cipatal of $250,000 in $5 ehares, which proposes to distil gas ata low temperature instoad of a high one, as onthe preeent system. By this meaus it is possihle to use iron retorts instead of retorts of clay, at a great saving of expense, while the gss produced from the same coal is 30 per eent. more in quantity than the gas produced hy previons methods, and the remaining prodncts are also more valuahle. There is said to he little or no sulphur in this new and chesper as. v Such is the account of this invention which has heen privately making way, the latest facts coming out regarding it being that a French company has bought the privilege of using the patent in France for $500,000, and that works are being erected for lighting the town of Barnet, England, with gas at an earlier date, which will supply an experiment on the largest seale,

February 24, 1872.] SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 115 ~~ a I ECHANICAL Procress Mechanical and Engineering Progress. Tho past year has heen especially distinguished for advances in mechanical and civil engineering. Among the inventions which degervo special mention, none perhaps rank higher in importance, simplicity, and novelty than the nse of tho ‘‘sand hlast” for cutting hard snhstances. New applications of electricity to regulating large, and actuating small maehines have heen made. Tho invontive genius of the conntry has also been largely exercised in tho problem of canal-hoat propulsion, stimnlated by the offer of a large reward hy the New York Legislature. The increased nse of artificial stone for varions purposes of huilding and ornament, is also a notahle event of the yesr. In civil ongineoring many important works already commenced havo heen making improved progress, and new projects have been seriously proposed, the accomplishment of which would scarcely havo heen entertaincd a fow years ago. The mode of attack npon the ohstructions to navigation at Hell Gate, near New York, has been entirely changed since the sneeessful operation of Von Schmidt in this harhor, and the most confident anticipatione are entertained of eemplete success in the tnnnel operations now in progress there. The inanguration of the Mt. Cenis Tnnnel, which took place in September last, forms an important era in engineering progress, and has brought ahont a more favorahle consideration of the similar work now in progress in the Heosse Monntains in Western Massachusetts. Tho hridges over East river at New York, and the Miesissippi, at St. Lonis, are jnstly regarded as among the most important engineering projects, now in process of completion. Both are making most satisfactory progress, and each preeents novel and intereeting features in civil engineering. Our own State has already hecome widely and most favorahly known for the novelty and holdness of its engineering projects, hoth completed and in contemplation; and the genius and success of California inventore is no less noted and marked, than are the efforts of her engineers in their peculiar and more conspicnous field. Notwithstanding the wonderful progress of the few years last passed, the field of mechanical progress seems even more inviting than ever in wante and peasibilitiee, while the activity of the year just closed gives good ground for the confident anticipation that the one upon which we have just entered will not fall hehind any of its predeoessors in important results. A Knot Tyra Macutne—Mr A. Perry, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, has patented a deviee, which ties a equare knot precisely like that made by hand. Those who have had any experience with self-binding mowing machinee will at once understand the value of this invention, which, go far as we know, is the only one which accomplshes the feat. It will tie the stringe around the shéaves ae they aro made by the resping machine, and thue enahle the farmer to dispense with the expense of one man and relieve the team of hie weight. The nearest spproach previously made to gecomplishing tying by machinery consisted, we helieve, in twisting the ends of the string or wire together or tucking them nnder the hand. A reaping machine may now be made to deliver eheaves tied np, which will require as little attention ae the mowing-machine—all the work heing performed by the machine itself.— Manufacturer and Builder. PuospHorve BronzeE—A New Mrrau For Driuume Toous.—A lengthened and exhaustive series of experiments with a new alloy calied phosphorus hronze, which is formed by a comhination of phosphorns with different proportions of tin and copper, have proved that it is admirably adapted to resisting the concussion and strain incident to heavy ordnance, and also to the manufacture of machinory suhjected to oxcessive etrain or violent ehocke. Among the numerous purposes to which it may he applied is that of drilling tools. The alloy may alsohe tempered so as to resist the action of the file. It is claimed to possess elasticity, hardness, tenacity, and durahility, far superior to that of the hest steel. Bridge Building. In no branch of engineering has more progress been made, within the last fifty years, than iu bridge huilding. Bridges aro one of tho necessities of civilization, and so important were they considered in the ‘middle ages” that a religous society was fonnded in the the south of Europe, called ‘‘The Brethren of the Bridgo,” the ohject of which was to promote intercommunication hy constrneting hridges over largo streams, and establishing forries where hridgos were impracticable. The famous hridge at Avegnon, in Franco, which was 12 years in huilding, was constrncted under the direction of this iustitution, ahout the yoar 1180. Tho hridge of Lyous which rested on 20 archos, was also huilt by them, and in fact nearly all the principal hridges of Europe for several hundred years. Ths earliest hridge of noto, mentioned in history, was that built hy Queen Nitocris over tho Euphrates at Babylon. Its Iength was ahout 3,500 feet. It was built upon piers—the areh being thon nnknown. From that time to the present, hridge huilding has heen oonsidered ono of tho most important arts, and successfnl constrnetors have ever heon especially honored. The most wonderful among modern hridges, alrsady completed or now in progress, may he alluded to as follows: ‘The bridge now in process of erection across the Mississippi at St. Louis, which ie one of the wondors of the age, is to he a tnhular, cast steel, arch hridge, supported by the ahutment and two piers, the latter 515 feot apart, and 499 ft. each from its nearest ahutment, making three epans of ahont 500 feet each. Its greatest span is the same as thst of the Knllenherg hridge over the Leck, an arm of tho Rhino, in Holland. Telford’s suspension hridge acrose the Mensi Straits has a span of 570 feet. Tho Victoria tuhular iron hridge of Montreal exceeds this greatly in length, being 5,600 feet (134 miles), hut it rests npon twenty-four piers, and its spans are mainly only 275 feet. The euspension hridge at Niagara spans 821 feet, and ie 245 feet ahove the ,water. The East River hridge will span 1,600 feet, at a hight midway of 130 feet. The pecniliarly isolated position of San Francisco, mnst aft no very remote period, call imperatively for the eonstrnction of a bridge, which will rank among the most wonderfnl strnetures of the kind in the world. Ahridgeacross the flats to Alameda, presents no engineering difficulties; hnt although such a structure will hecome a matter of necessity, at no very distant day it will come far ehort of meeting the wants of the future metropolis of the Pacific. The individual is or eoon will he horn who will he cslled upon to constrnet a track for the locomotive acrose the Golden Gate, and high shove the maets of the tallestehip, to form a pathway for the immense commerce which will ere long be eceking thie city from the immense region of country hetween here and Alaska. Nove, Mernop or Warmine Ratwar Cars.—The introduction of a new method for warming railway cars on eomo of the French and German lines, has heen at tended with gratifying success. A preparation of wood charcoal, nitrate of potash and starch is employed. At first the charcoal was burnt in perforated boxes two feet long, four and one-half inehes wide, and two and three-fourths inchee deep. It was soon fonnd, however, that thie combustion caused violent headaches, and the charcoal was, therefore, pnt into close iron hoxes placed under the eeate, a double top being employed to prevent the seats of the cars from becoming too warm. The prepared charcoal ie placed in the boxes in piecos fonr inches long, three inchee wide, and two inches thiok. On the line between Aix-la-Chapelle and Berlin, eight pieces of charcoal were used for heating a compartment. This quantity eufficiently warmed the car during sixteen hours, and at the end of the jonrney the fuel was etill red hot. This prepared charcoal costs thirtytwo shillings per hundred, and the expenee of heating one compartment is eaid to be much less than that required by auy of the ordinary methods employed, heing less than a penny an hour. Heavy Hypraviio Macuinery.—At the Empire Foundry, in Marysville, they are manufacturing some hydraulic machinery that will stand a pressure of 504 feet fall. The Appeal remarks that this is the heaviest preseure for which machinery was ever made, iy HCIENTIFIC Progress. Facts with Regard to Storms. A vast amonnt of information is constantly being gathered and collated hy the U.S. Signal Service, ont of whieh is hoing gradually huilt np tho trne science of that class of meteorological phenomena. Among the general ohservations thns far

noted, may he mentionsd the following:— Storms are accompanied with a depressiou of tho barometer near the ecntral line of the storm, and ao rise of tho baromster in tho front and rear. This eentral line of minimum pressure is gencrally of a great length from north to south, and moves side foremost toward the east. This line is sometimes nearly straight, bnt gensrally cnrved, snd most frsquently with its convex side toward the east. Tho velecity of this line is such that it travels from the Mississippi to the Connecticut river in shout twenty-four hours, and from the Connecticut to St. John, Newfonndland, in nearly the same time, or about thirty-six miles an hour. Whon the barometsr falls suddenly in the western part of New Iingland, it rises at the same time in tho vsHey of the Mississippi, and also at St. John, New Fonndland. In great storms the wind for several hundred miles on both sides of the line of minimum preesure blows toward that line directly or obliquely. Tho force of the wind is in proportion to the suddennees and greatness of the depression of the harometer. In all great and eudden depressions of the harometer there is much rain or snow; and in all sudden great rains or snows there is a great depression of the barometer near the center of the storm, and rise beyond its horders. Many storms are of great and unknown length from north to eonth, reaching heyond our ohseryers on the Gulf of Mexico and on the northern lakes, while their east and west diameter ie comparstively emall. The storms therefore move side Foremost. Moet storms commence in the ‘‘far west,” heyond our most western ohseryere, hut some commence in the United States. Whon a storm commences in the United Statee the line of minimum preseure doee not come from the ‘ far weet,” hut commencce with the storm, and travels with it toward the eastward. There is generslly a lull of wind at the a calm. passes an observer toward the east, the wind generally soon changes to the west, and the barometer hegins to rise.There is generally bnt little wind near the line of maximum pressure, and on each eide of that line the winds are irregular, hut tend outward from that line. The fluctuations of the barometer are generally greater in the northern thsn in the southern parts of the United States. The fluctuatione of the barometer are generally greater in the eastern than in the western part of the United States. In the northern parts of the United Statee the wind generally in great storms sete in from the north of east and terminates from the north of west. In the eouthern parts of the United States the wind generally sets in from the south of east and terminates from the sonth of west. During the passage of stermsthe wind generally changos from the eastward to the westward by the south, eepecielly in the southern parts of the United States. The northern part of the storm generally travels more rapidly toward the east than the eouthern part. During the high harometer of the day preceding the storm it is generally clear and mild in temperature, especially if very cold. The temperature generally falls suddenly on tho passage of the center of great etorms, so that eometimes, when a etorm is in the middle of the United States, the lowest temperature of the month will hein the west on the same day that the highest temperatnre is in the east. The first of the principles upon which the Signal Corps proceeds ie that the invariable course of air currents is such as will equalize the atmospheric pressnre upon the earth’e eurface, and that wherever inequalities exist, the winds are set in motion, the air thus finding its level, just as water or any other visihle fluid does, line of minimum pressure, aud sometimes, When this line (of minimum pressnre’ A Volcano in Miniature, Dr. F. V. Hochstetter furnishes an interesting account of a phenomenon ocourring during one of the phasss of a manufacturing operation, which is, he says, a complete duplicate, upon a miniature scale, of a volcanic ernption, and which serves at the same time to confirm the modern views concerning the procsss of an eruption; according to whieh the lava is not simply in a molten condition, hnt is reduced to the state of liquidity by the action of the snperheated water-vapor nnder great pressure. The phsnomenon rsforred to occurs in the operation of separating the sulphur from the residual products ohtained in the manufactnre of soda by Leblane’s process. The sulphur ohtained from these residues, in ordsr to free it from the gypsnm, or sulphate of lime mixed with it, is melted in a suitable apparatus, with stsam under a pressure of from 2 to 3 atmospheres. The gypsum remaius suspsnded in the water, and the fussd sulphur is from time to time run off into wooden troughs, the temperature of the fluid mass heing about 251-6°F'. Almost iustantly after the pouring a crust of solid sulphur is formed on the surface of the mass. Dotted over this surfaco, howover, orificss are left, from which the liquid heneathis forced up. At invervals a jet of sulphur buhbles out, and ecoling, forms around the orifice a slight prominence; the repeated eruptions accumulate msterial shout it, until a Miniature volcanic cone ie formed, with its crater well defined. The cause of this eurious phenemenon is found in the fact that the sulphur, in ite fused condition in the steam-ehamher, takes up snd retains a certain quantity of water, which, as the sulphur solidifiee, is given out gradually in the form of steam, aecumulating pressure heneath the crust, and forcee, at regular intervals, an outlet at the vents, carrying with it in its passage the molten eulphur to form theeolid cone, —Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie. Hight and Velocity of Moteors. A tshle showing the hight of sixteen shooting stars douhly ohserved in England, duriug the meteoric shower of August, 1870, independently of the careful ohservatione recorded at the Greenwich Ohservatory, appears in the last report of the British Association of Science. A comparison of the ohservations madeat Greenwich on that occasion with those recorded in other statione enahles the paths of thirteen meteors, ten of which are new to the former list, to be determined; the highte and velocities of the meteore thus identified are presented in this report. The result ehowe that the average hight of sixteen meteore, referred to in the last report, was seventy-two miles at first appearance, and forty-eight milee at disappearance ; of thirteen meteors given in the present list, seventy-two miles at first appearanee, and fifty-four at disappearance; of twenty meteors ohserved in Auguet, 1863, eighty-two miles at first appearance, and fifty-eight at disappearance. Thue it appears that the present average hights are eomewhat less than those oheerved in 1863; hut they agree more closely with the general average hight at first appearance, viz.: seventy miles, and that at disappearance, viz.:; fifty-four miles. The average velocity of the Perseids relative to the earth, ohserved in 1863, was thirty-four milee per seeond, and that of the three Perseids to the present list was thirty-seven miles per second; while the velocity obtained from the cosmicsl theory was thirty-eight milee per eecond. A New Expermment in Gas.—A patent gas company has just been formed in England, with a cipatal of $250,000 in $5 ehares, which proposes to distil gas ata low temperature instoad of a high one, as onthe preeent system. By this meaus it is possihle to use iron retorts instead of retorts of clay, at a great saving of expense, while the gss produced from the same coal is 30 per eent. more in quantity than the gas produced hy previons methods, and the remaining prodncts are also more valuahle. There is said to he little or no sulphur in this new and chesper as. v Such is the account of this invention which has heen privately making way, the latest facts coming out regarding it being that a French company has bought the privilege of using the patent in France for $500,000, and that works are being erected for lighting the town of Barnet, England, with gas at an earlier date, which will supply an experiment on the largest seale,