Volume 28 (1874) (430 pages)

January 17, 1274.] MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 35 Mf ECHANIcAL Proaress Type-Setting Machines, The question is very often asked hy pnblishers, with a strong cmphasis on the first word, ‘Is there a type-setting machine which will ceonomise the luhor of tho printing office, or save us front some of the inconveniences attendant upon tho illness, incompetenoy, or, as sometimes happens, tho natural perversity of type-sctters?'’ We must say that, for our part, we would rather deal with the ereokedness of the compositor. No type-setter has yet been invented eqnalto Natare’s own compositor, and none will yet be invented eqaal to it nntil the prineiple npon which inventors proceed in working ont the problem is radically changed, Weareshown Kastenhein’s machine, in tho office of tho Christian Union, and are told it “works adiwirably;’’ but we see one man with a pick and another witn pincers, helping aloug the man who plays the machine, while another corrects and takes up the type, and yet another opens the apparates and shakes up the “unpply tnbes”’ or forees open n gate. We find thatihe distrihutor does not work with half the rapidity, and is still more coinplieated. Yet we are told that “the London Times uses sixof them,’’ That should settle the matter, only it does not; snd we feel that even if the London Times used fifty of the maehines it would make thein no better than they are. Tho truth is that no maehino within the means of the printer has yet been invented which will do the necessary work. No such maehine can or will he iuvented, as wo have said, until the principle adopted is radically chauged. . Delcambre’s Type-setting Machines differ Int alightly from those above referred to. These are the only machines wo know of in regular ase in New York newspaper offices, yet we think that no one conld ohserve the trouble they give, and their rather meager results, and believe that machine type-setting had become a fact. The capacity cluimed for the setting machine is but 3,000 or 3,500 an hour, Deduct from that tho fact that you must have a stilt more complicated distributor of half the capaeity; that these machines are delicnte, valuable, hard to sell, and reqniring special operators, and the fact that ‘the London Times uses six like them,” is hnt a meager recommendation. As in this brief notice, in reply to many qnestions, we are confining onrselves solely to those machines which are most in nse or svem likely to be, we will next consider the Westcott Ty peSetter. This is in many respects an important machine, In the first place it does awuy with a distribntor, at hest a rather absurd part of a type-setter, for it is hard to expect a machine built to sef type, to be able to nndo its work to advantage; it is a cheaper machine, less likely than some others to get oat of order, and contains more real power for nsefalness within itself than any other. Itis not likely that it is the last resnlt that inventors will yet arrive at, but it certainly has high claims. {t consists of a compact iron somi-cylinder, containing matrices moved with keys. Thege matrices travel toa reservoir of melted type composition; the type is made, passed through its gauges and entters and moved to its proper place finished and cold, more quickly than it could be taken from a box. We have seen this machine work, and find it to he one of the most ingenions, ns it is certainly one of the most interesting machines we have ever seen. Itis called, after its inventor, “The Westseott Ts pe-Setting Mschine,”’ hut it must occur to any thonghtfui printer that type making isa very nice operation; thst the inSpector in a fonndry mst be. constantly at work with his glass and his ganges to discover the smstlest changes and differeuces; that tyy-e msde as described must be snbject to flaws, as indeed are all type; that the cutters and gauges must eventaally wear ont, ete., ete, Yet practice will soon tell us about these things, and it is possible that experience will remedy them. If 80, the oceupation of the type-founder, oxcept for fancy type, is modified. Meanwhile we are told thatthe Harpors have ordcred so many, and others so many, etc., facts which say little in favor of the machines, but show thut they willbe so welltried that printers will know soon enough whether they can uso them to advantage or not. The machine is apparently not very fast, bnt it must be borue in mind tbat there is no distribution to be done, Lastly, we must say a word for Orrin Brown’s machine, which is, we learn, working to advantage at the present time in Boston, It is on book-work, however, and this is an important fact. It is probable indeed that the first available type-settersa will be used for this purpose. If any questions are answered in the above, the whole object of the article is gained, and we may say that few printers need trouble themselves for somo time to come ahout any ndvantage they hope to derive from type-setting muehines, especially if wanted for small offices,—Newspaper Reporter. New Car Sranter.—Amos Whittemore, of Cambridgeport, Mass., has obtained a patent for a device whereby the momentum of the car is msde to lift one end of the car in stopping, and the weight so raised is made so to act as to help the car forward in starting. Temperature Indicator for Petroleum Gils. Petroleum oils, as is well known, coutain various volatile oils, which, fn being disengaged in a state of vapor and mixed with atmosphiric air, form an explosive mixturo that haa heen the canse of numerons accidents. It is consequently important to asecrtain, by a simple method, as quick and as exact as possible, the temperature of ignition, M. Granicr has arranged au apparatus for the purpose, which he has exhibited hefore the Société d’Enconrage ment. A small receptacle of a cylindrical form and made wf metal, is closed by a movable cover, furnished, in the ecnter, with a circular opening. This vessel is ahont two-thirds filled with the oil that haa to be teste, so that there may be a chamber of air between the surface of the oil und the top of the cover, in which may he reevived the inflammable gases disengaged by the oil. A tubo, soldered to the hottom of the vessel, holds n wick, the extremity of which ends in the middle of the opening of the covcr. A thermometer is inserted in the oil to indicate successive nud minute changes of temperatare. For tho pnrpose of testing any oil, itis poured into the vessel to the hight already stated. The wick absorbing the oil is then lighted, and thus gradnally heats that in the vessel, This is hastoned hy the presence of some fine copper wire, which extends from tho burning wick iuto the oil, thia spreading tho heat through it. When the temperature is sufliciontly elevated, the vapors aro disengaged, and an explosive mixture is produced, which, on catebing fire, causes a slight explosion. ‘The temperatnre is noted at this moment, and the point of ignition thus ascertained. “Wet the Ropes.” That some things shrink after they havo been washed, and that others expand is well known, hut the eause of this requires explanation. If wetake a new rope, ten feet or more long, and fix one end of it across a beam, and to the other end attach a heavy weight, and so streteh the rope till the weight just rests npon the gronnd, the weight, if the rope he well saturated with water, will be raised from the ground simply by tho shrinking of the rope. The followieg statement is an illustration of the fact: The Chevalier Fontana undertook to raise an obelisk at Rome. While the stone was suspended in the air, just over the pedestal, the ropes stretched so mueh by its weight thst the hase of the obelisk could not reaeh the pedestal, and the work was abont to be given over, when a man among the crowd called ont ‘‘ Wet the ropes!’ This advice was followed, and the eolnmn was seen gradually to rise to the required hight, and was then placed upon the pedestal, where it now stands in front of St. Peter’s, The obelisk is now known as erected by Pope Sextus. Iu the shrinking of various cloths it should he remembered that they are made np of small cords which contract hy moisture, more particularly when wetted for the first time, both in warp and weft, that is, in length and breadth. Paper, with filainents in all direetions 1s forced asunder by the introduction of water among its pores. On this account the wet side will always bo the ontside of its curl, Wedges of dry wood, driven into clefts of stone, and then well wetted, will rend rocks asunder.—Zx. Watcr Spriso .—Hair-spriugs, says a writer in the Victoria Magazine, are made in the factory, of finest English steel, which comes upon spools like thread. To the naked cyo it is ag rouud asa hair, but under the microscope it hecomes 8 flat, steel ribbon. This ribbon is inserted botween the jaws of a line gaugo, and the dial-hand shows its diameter to be two twenty-five hundredths of an ineh. A hair plucked frem a man’s bead measnres three twenty-five hnndredths—one from the head of a little girl at s neighboring beneh — two twenty-five hundredths. Actually, however, the finest hair is twice ss thick as the steel ribbon, for the hair compresses one-half between the metallic jaws of the gauge. A hairspring weighs one-fifteonth-thousandth of a poand troy. In straight line it is a foot long, Impvisk on THE SteAM Gauce.—If a stenm gaugo runs Up or down momentarily for a few seeonds, it is no proof that the steam pressure has incrensed or diminished a corresponding amount. Tho material of which n pressure gange is made has inertia, and a sndden impulse may drive it beyond the figure indicating the true pressnre, It acts liko a water eolumn inatubein which the water by sudden admission from below imay be thrown up beyond the true level, but in a few seconds it willcome back to the right place. Turning on yonr steam suddeoly may give an impulse to your gouge which drives its indicator beyond the true figure, but it soon settles where it onght to be.—Lnmberman’s Gazette, Tue Sprorrocrarn.—The name is given toa simple little device for copying drawings, exhibited in the Freneh department of the Vienna Exposition. It consists of a board, near the middle of which is a piece of window-glass fastened at right angles to it by means of two grooved wooden uprights. When placed near a window, with a drawing or copy on the end of the board nearer the window, its reflection in the glass causes it to appear upon a sheet of white on the opposide side of the glass. In this way quite an acenrate tracing can be made by one who is no draftsman. §oientiFic Procress. Recent Experiments With Diamonds. Diamondaere rather costly objects to snbject to destructive experiments on an extended seale, and not many investigators have becn favored with the privilege of doingit. Thanks, however, to the lihorality of the proprietor of a large diamond-entting estahlishment in Aeisterdam, a ccrtain M. von Baumhaner has heen permitted to make numerous studies of the hehavior of these interesting gems when sabjeeted to high ten perature nnder varions conditions, thus addiug largely to our knowledge of the dinwond's nature and properties. The combustibility of the diamond in oxygen was demonstrated long ago; what thepure heat npon it has remained a matter of doubt. Soine experimenta seemed to show tbat at extremely high temperutares the diamond is slowly converted into coke or graphite, nu effect observed especially when the gem is subjected to the energetis action of a powerful galvanic battery. In certain experiments, in which Moren snd Schrétter raised diamonds to the highest heat of a poreelnin furnaee, earo being taken to pre. vent contact with air, a slight discoloration of the surface waa observed, whether dne to heat or imperfeet protection against oxygen conld not ho decided positively. Inclosed is a bit of hard coke, and placed in a plnmbago erucible packed with charcoal powder, diamonds operuted on by Siemens and Rose withstood, withont the least ehange, the temperatnro at which cast iron melts. A cut diamond, under similar conditions, subjected to tho heat of molton wrought iron for a considerable period of time, waa snperficially hlackened, hut otherwise unaifected. By some this experimeut has been interpreted as implying the slow conversion of the diamond to graphite at the temperatnre at which wrought iron melts. It is possible, on the other hand, that the change was due to air in the cruoible; iodeed prohable, in view of the experiments more recently made hy M. yon Banmhaner. By an ingenious device, the last named experimonter was able to snbject diamonds, surrounded hy an atmosphere of dry hydrogen, to a temperature at which both diamond and platinnm holder become invisible; but with nncolored diamonds, their transparency and brilliancy were not in tho least affected, Heated in contact with air, diamonds were not only blackencd, but reduced in weight, showing positive combustion, In oxygen they barned with a vivid incandescence at a temperature below white heat. In a crucible which allowed the combustion to be observed through a sheet of mica, the hurniug diamond was seen to he surrounded by a white flame, less bright without and tinged with violet on the outer edge, Pure diamonds burned traoquilly, retaining their sharp edges even when so reduced as to be visible with diffienity. Impure specimens snapped and flew. Burned in an oxhydrogen flame, capable of melting platinum, diamouds emitted a brilIiant light aud wasted rapidly, but did not blacken, Heated to a high temperature in an atmosphere of carbonic acid, they were slowly consumed, decomposing the carbonic acid, and combining with its oxygen with loss of weight. Similarly trested in superheated steam, no effeet was produced, showing that at white heat the diamond docs not decompose water, as might he expected from its affinity for oxygen. In regard to the supposed transformation of the diamond into coke or graphite by mesus of pure heat, especially by that of a battery of 100 Bunsen elements, M. you Baumhauer is very doubtful. It should not be admitted, he holds, nntil the effects obsorved are proved to be not the result of chemical action, produced by foreign matter, or hy the transformation of particles of earbon from the chareonl poles to the surface of the diamond. The effect of heat on colorod diamonds is more proooueced, with the exception, perhaps, of gray and yellow gems, which appear to resist such action, the same as the colorless ones. Green diamonds sre variously affected. One of a dirty green tint was changed to pale yellow, with a slight increase of its transparency; hut its brightness remained the same, Another, so green as to be almost black, likewise retained its brillianey, but gaincd in clearness, while its color was ehanged to violot. A light ercen gem lost its eoloreutirely, but was otherwise uuaffected. Brown diamonds lost most of their color, showing nnder the microscope a Hmpid fiel:t seattered with black spots. A diamond almost eolorless assumed, unde: the influence of heat (out of contact with air), a deep rose color, which it retained some time when kept in the dark. Inthe light its color faded, but always returned again with heating. A naturally rose colored diamond reversed the phenomena, losiog its hue with heating, and afterwards gradually regaining it.—Scientific American, Scrence an Known To Taz Ancrents.—In Eygpt mummies have heen found with teeth filled with gold, and in Quito a skeleton has been discovered with false teeth secured to the cheek bone by geld wire. In the museum at Naples, among some of the snrgieal instruments discovered at Pompeii, thereis a faesimile of Sims’ speculum. In the ruins of Ninevah, Layard found several magnifying glasses.— Medical Record. The Quadrature of the Circle Again, 5. 0. C., of Utah, sends as a lengthy comniunication, mentioning that he has invented a eontrivanes hy which he can practically mensnre the circnmference of a circle to within the thonsandth part of an inch, and asks, ist. If he has not now either solved the grand old problem of the qnadrature, or st least made an importaut step toward its solution ? 2d. If it would be advisable to patont his eontrivance ? To the first question, we answer that if ho understands hy the solution of the problem in gnestion the finding of the cirenmference of a given circle, or of the ratio between the diameter and cirennference, tho problem hag heen solved more than two thonsand years ago by Archimedes to within a thousandth of an inch for sinall circles; while Melius, a mathematician of Holland, three hundred years ago, solved itto the samo degree of accuracy for cireles of a radins equal to the distance of the earth to the ann. Our correspondent mnst take into cersideration that practical measurements can never eompare in accuracy with calculation. In the latter we may go aa far down as we chose into a millionth and a hillionth part of aninch; while Lundolf van Ceulen, also a Hollander, found that in practical measnrements hundredths of an inch are the utmost limits, and thut peculiar contrivanees or miCroscopes are reqnired tomoasnre a thousandth of aninch. To meution an ordinary case ng an example, take 25 inches and try practically how long its seventh part will he, expressed in decimals. You will lind that it is a little over 3%, or 35 inch; and with a great deal of acenracy you may even goso fnr aato find 3.57 inch. Bunt hy calculation alonc, dividing 7 into 25, you find easily that it is 3.57142857, which {s correct to withiu one thonsand millionth part of aninch, So it is with tho cirole; ealculations have been mado giving numbers so correct that if we snppose a cirele of which the radius is eqnal to the distance of the most remote star visible with the best teleseope, we may calculate the length of its circumference correetly to within the thickness of tho film of a soap-bubble, and even more than that; in fact the necuracy obtained in that respect snrpssses all ordinary imagiuation. If our correspondeut understands hy the solution of the problem the findiug of a correet ratio hetween the diameter and the circumference in whole numbers, the problem is insolvable, as no snch ratio ean exist. That of Archimedes, 7:22 gives the cirenmference too large, 100 : 314 gives it too small, 113 : 355 too large agaiu, 33,102 : 103,993 too small, ete. The notion of somo people that ratios in whole unmbers must always cxist is very erroneous. Elemcutary geometry gives as many lines which have no commou measnre. Such, for instanco, is the case with the ratio hetween the side and diagonal of 2 square, whieh can never be correctly expressed in whole numhers, nor fractions, nor in any finite decimal fraction, (this fraction being 1.414213, ete.) and looking at the subject in this light, it is surprising that the problem of erossing the square has not become as colebrated as that of squaring tho circle. The causo of this, however, is that the nature of this relatiou (1:,/2) was knowd long »go, being a so-calledirratious] quantity, while the nature of the quantity expressing the cireuniference of the eirele for the diameter =1 has only in later times been discovered to he an irrational quantity of a higher order heyond the ordinary irrational quantities, and unfit to he expressed by the sume, much less by ordiusry numbers or fractions. In regard to the pateut on the contrivance of our correspondent, we fear thst there will be as little novelty in it agiu his solution. It hag prohably long ago been surpassed by other contrivances made for the purpose of taking correct measurements. But eveu if new, the great question in taking patents is: Wilk it psy? And surely this wonld not pay.—JdfanuFfacturer and Builder. Ow tun Preparation or CutoraL Hyprate, —This attiele is made by pressing chlorine gas into alcohol of about 96 degrees, for abont 12 to 14 days, until it attains a gravity of 41° B, The product is then pnrified by mixture with an equal volume of sulphuric acid and distilling, a large amonnt of hydrochloric acid heing thns driven off. The chloral is then itself distilled off, the prodnet is again rectified by distillation, water is added to the distillate and it is set aside to crystallize. As byproduct, ethylene and ethylidiue chloride are produced, whieh are purifiod by fractional distillation, and also used as anzestheties.— Druggists’ Circular. Porasstust.—Professor Dalbean obtains metallic potassium bya new process which is likely to prove of some commercial value. He first forms snlphide of potassinm by treating dissolved sticks of caustie potassa with sulohurcted hydrogen, and subsequently evaporating until the mass is solid iu cooling. This mass isthen mixed with somewhat more than its bulk of irou filings, and subjected to distillation, the product being run off into petroleum. Cement vor Pires, Eto,—J. Spillar recommendsa mixture of pulverized iron borings, kaolin, and sirupy silicate of soda as a Inte for fixing on the heads of stills which are required to stand a high temperature. We should judge the same might be found useful in other situatious, such as the joints of east iron furnaces, for instance.

January 17, 1274.] MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 35 Mf ECHANIcAL Proaress Type-Setting Machines, The question is very often asked hy pnblishers, with a strong cmphasis on the first word, ‘Is there a type-setting machine which will ceonomise the luhor of tho printing office, or save us front some of the inconveniences attendant upon tho illness, incompetenoy, or, as sometimes happens, tho natural perversity of type-sctters?'’ We must say that, for our part, we would rather deal with the ereokedness of the compositor. No type-setter has yet been invented eqnalto Natare’s own compositor, and none will yet be invented eqaal to it nntil the prineiple npon which inventors proceed in working ont the problem is radically changed, Weareshown Kastenhein’s machine, in tho office of tho Christian Union, and are told it “works adiwirably;’’ but we see one man with a pick and another witn pincers, helping aloug the man who plays the machine, while another corrects and takes up the type, and yet another opens the apparates and shakes up the “unpply tnbes”’ or forees open n gate. We find thatihe distrihutor does not work with half the rapidity, and is still more coinplieated. Yet we are told that “the London Times uses sixof them,’’ That should settle the matter, only it does not; snd we feel that even if the London Times used fifty of the maehines it would make thein no better than they are. Tho truth is that no maehino within the means of the printer has yet been invented which will do the necessary work. No such maehine can or will he iuvented, as wo have said, until the principle adopted is radically chauged. . Delcambre’s Type-setting Machines differ Int alightly from those above referred to. These are the only machines wo know of in regular ase in New York newspaper offices, yet we think that no one conld ohserve the trouble they give, and their rather meager results, and believe that machine type-setting had become a fact. The capacity cluimed for the setting machine is but 3,000 or 3,500 an hour, Deduct from that tho fact that you must have a stilt more complicated distributor of half the capaeity; that these machines are delicnte, valuable, hard to sell, and reqniring special operators, and the fact that ‘the London Times uses six like them,” is hnt a meager recommendation. As in this brief notice, in reply to many qnestions, we are confining onrselves solely to those machines which are most in nse or svem likely to be, we will next consider the Westcott Ty peSetter. This is in many respects an important machine, In the first place it does awuy with a distribntor, at hest a rather absurd part of a type-setter, for it is hard to expect a machine built to sef type, to be able to nndo its work to advantage; it is a cheaper machine, less likely than some others to get oat of order, and contains more real power for nsefalness within itself than any other. Itis not likely that it is the last resnlt that inventors will yet arrive at, but it certainly has high claims. {t consists of a compact iron somi-cylinder, containing matrices moved with keys. Thege matrices travel toa reservoir of melted type composition; the type is made, passed through its gauges and entters and moved to its proper place finished and cold, more quickly than it could be taken from a box. We have seen this machine work, and find it to he one of the most ingenions, ns it is certainly one of the most interesting machines we have ever seen. Itis called, after its inventor, “The Westseott Ts pe-Setting Mschine,”’ hut it must occur to any thonghtfui printer that type making isa very nice operation; thst the inSpector in a fonndry mst be. constantly at work with his glass and his ganges to discover the smstlest changes and differeuces; that tyy-e msde as described must be snbject to flaws, as indeed are all type; that the cutters and gauges must eventaally wear ont, ete., ete, Yet practice will soon tell us about these things, and it is possible that experience will remedy them. If 80, the oceupation of the type-founder, oxcept for fancy type, is modified. Meanwhile we are told thatthe Harpors have ordcred so many, and others so many, etc., facts which say little in favor of the machines, but show thut they willbe so welltried that printers will know soon enough whether they can uso them to advantage or not. The machine is apparently not very fast, bnt it must be borue in mind tbat there is no distribution to be done, Lastly, we must say a word for Orrin Brown’s machine, which is, we learn, working to advantage at the present time in Boston, It is on book-work, however, and this is an important fact. It is probable indeed that the first available type-settersa will be used for this purpose. If any questions are answered in the above, the whole object of the article is gained, and we may say that few printers need trouble themselves for somo time to come ahout any ndvantage they hope to derive from type-setting muehines, especially if wanted for small offices,—Newspaper Reporter. New Car Sranter.—Amos Whittemore, of Cambridgeport, Mass., has obtained a patent for a device whereby the momentum of the car is msde to lift one end of the car in stopping, and the weight so raised is made so to act as to help the car forward in starting. Temperature Indicator for Petroleum Gils. Petroleum oils, as is well known, coutain various volatile oils, which, fn being disengaged in a state of vapor and mixed with atmosphiric air, form an explosive mixturo that haa heen the canse of numerons accidents. It is consequently important to asecrtain, by a simple method, as quick and as exact as possible, the temperature of ignition, M. Granicr has arranged au apparatus for the purpose, which he has exhibited hefore the Société d’Enconrage ment. A small receptacle of a cylindrical form and made wf metal, is closed by a movable cover, furnished, in the ecnter, with a circular opening. This vessel is ahont two-thirds filled with the oil that haa to be teste, so that there may be a chamber of air between the surface of the oil und the top of the cover, in which may he reevived the inflammable gases disengaged by the oil. A tubo, soldered to the hottom of the vessel, holds n wick, the extremity of which ends in the middle of the opening of the covcr. A thermometer is inserted in the oil to indicate successive nud minute changes of temperatare. For tho pnrpose of testing any oil, itis poured into the vessel to the hight already stated. The wick absorbing the oil is then lighted, and thus gradnally heats that in the vessel, This is hastoned hy the presence of some fine copper wire, which extends from tho burning wick iuto the oil, thia spreading tho heat through it. When the temperature is sufliciontly elevated, the vapors aro disengaged, and an explosive mixture is produced, which, on catebing fire, causes a slight explosion. ‘The temperatnre is noted at this moment, and the point of ignition thus ascertained. “Wet the Ropes.” That some things shrink after they havo been washed, and that others expand is well known, hut the eause of this requires explanation. If wetake a new rope, ten feet or more long, and fix one end of it across a beam, and to the other end attach a heavy weight, and so streteh the rope till the weight just rests npon the gronnd, the weight, if the rope he well saturated with water, will be raised from the ground simply by tho shrinking of the rope. The followieg statement is an illustration of the fact: The Chevalier Fontana undertook to raise an obelisk at Rome. While the stone was suspended in the air, just over the pedestal, the ropes stretched so mueh by its weight thst the hase of the obelisk could not reaeh the pedestal, and the work was abont to be given over, when a man among the crowd called ont ‘‘ Wet the ropes!’ This advice was followed, and the eolnmn was seen gradually to rise to the required hight, and was then placed upon the pedestal, where it now stands in front of St. Peter’s, The obelisk is now known as erected by Pope Sextus. Iu the shrinking of various cloths it should he remembered that they are made np of small cords which contract hy moisture, more particularly when wetted for the first time, both in warp and weft, that is, in length and breadth. Paper, with filainents in all direetions 1s forced asunder by the introduction of water among its pores. On this account the wet side will always bo the ontside of its curl, Wedges of dry wood, driven into clefts of stone, and then well wetted, will rend rocks asunder.—Zx. Watcr Spriso .—Hair-spriugs, says a writer in the Victoria Magazine, are made in the factory, of finest English steel, which comes upon spools like thread. To the naked cyo it is ag rouud asa hair, but under the microscope it hecomes 8 flat, steel ribbon. This ribbon is inserted botween the jaws of a line gaugo, and the dial-hand shows its diameter to be two twenty-five hundredths of an ineh. A hair plucked frem a man’s bead measnres three twenty-five hnndredths—one from the head of a little girl at s neighboring beneh — two twenty-five hundredths. Actually, however, the finest hair is twice ss thick as the steel ribbon, for the hair compresses one-half between the metallic jaws of the gauge. A hairspring weighs one-fifteonth-thousandth of a poand troy. In straight line it is a foot long, Impvisk on THE SteAM Gauce.—If a stenm gaugo runs Up or down momentarily for a few seeonds, it is no proof that the steam pressure has incrensed or diminished a corresponding amount. Tho material of which n pressure gange is made has inertia, and a sndden impulse may drive it beyond the figure indicating the true pressnre, It acts liko a water eolumn inatubein which the water by sudden admission from below imay be thrown up beyond the true level, but in a few seconds it willcome back to the right place. Turning on yonr steam suddeoly may give an impulse to your gouge which drives its indicator beyond the true figure, but it soon settles where it onght to be.—Lnmberman’s Gazette, Tue Sprorrocrarn.—The name is given toa simple little device for copying drawings, exhibited in the Freneh department of the Vienna Exposition. It consists of a board, near the middle of which is a piece of window-glass fastened at right angles to it by means of two grooved wooden uprights. When placed near a window, with a drawing or copy on the end

of the board nearer the window, its reflection in the glass causes it to appear upon a sheet of white on the opposide side of the glass. In this way quite an acenrate tracing can be made by one who is no draftsman. §oientiFic Procress. Recent Experiments With Diamonds. Diamondaere rather costly objects to snbject to destructive experiments on an extended seale, and not many investigators have becn favored with the privilege of doingit. Thanks, however, to the lihorality of the proprietor of a large diamond-entting estahlishment in Aeisterdam, a ccrtain M. von Baumhaner has heen permitted to make numerous studies of the hehavior of these interesting gems when sabjeeted to high ten perature nnder varions conditions, thus addiug largely to our knowledge of the dinwond's nature and properties. The combustibility of the diamond in oxygen was demonstrated long ago; what thepure heat npon it has remained a matter of doubt. Soine experimenta seemed to show tbat at extremely high temperutares the diamond is slowly converted into coke or graphite, nu effect observed especially when the gem is subjected to the energetis action of a powerful galvanic battery. In certain experiments, in which Moren snd Schrétter raised diamonds to the highest heat of a poreelnin furnaee, earo being taken to pre. vent contact with air, a slight discoloration of the surface waa observed, whether dne to heat or imperfeet protection against oxygen conld not ho decided positively. Inclosed is a bit of hard coke, and placed in a plnmbago erucible packed with charcoal powder, diamonds operuted on by Siemens and Rose withstood, withont the least ehange, the temperatnro at which cast iron melts. A cut diamond, under similar conditions, subjected to tho heat of molton wrought iron for a considerable period of time, waa snperficially hlackened, hut otherwise unaifected. By some this experimeut has been interpreted as implying the slow conversion of the diamond to graphite at the temperatnre at which wrought iron melts. It is possible, on the other hand, that the change was due to air in the cruoible; iodeed prohable, in view of the experiments more recently made hy M. yon Banmhaner. By an ingenious device, the last named experimonter was able to snbject diamonds, surrounded hy an atmosphere of dry hydrogen, to a temperature at which both diamond and platinnm holder become invisible; but with nncolored diamonds, their transparency and brilliancy were not in tho least affected, Heated in contact with air, diamonds were not only blackencd, but reduced in weight, showing positive combustion, In oxygen they barned with a vivid incandescence at a temperature below white heat. In a crucible which allowed the combustion to be observed through a sheet of mica, the hurniug diamond was seen to he surrounded by a white flame, less bright without and tinged with violet on the outer edge, Pure diamonds burned traoquilly, retaining their sharp edges even when so reduced as to be visible with diffienity. Impure specimens snapped and flew. Burned in an oxhydrogen flame, capable of melting platinum, diamouds emitted a brilIiant light aud wasted rapidly, but did not blacken, Heated to a high temperature in an atmosphere of carbonic acid, they were slowly consumed, decomposing the carbonic acid, and combining with its oxygen with loss of weight. Similarly trested in superheated steam, no effeet was produced, showing that at white heat the diamond docs not decompose water, as might he expected from its affinity for oxygen. In regard to the supposed transformation of the diamond into coke or graphite by mesus of pure heat, especially by that of a battery of 100 Bunsen elements, M. you Baumhauer is very doubtful. It should not be admitted, he holds, nntil the effects obsorved are proved to be not the result of chemical action, produced by foreign matter, or hy the transformation of particles of earbon from the chareonl poles to the surface of the diamond. The effect of heat on colorod diamonds is more proooueced, with the exception, perhaps, of gray and yellow gems, which appear to resist such action, the same as the colorless ones. Green diamonds sre variously affected. One of a dirty green tint was changed to pale yellow, with a slight increase of its transparency; hut its brightness remained the same, Another, so green as to be almost black, likewise retained its brillianey, but gaincd in clearness, while its color was ehanged to violot. A light ercen gem lost its eoloreutirely, but was otherwise uuaffected. Brown diamonds lost most of their color, showing nnder the microscope a Hmpid fiel:t seattered with black spots. A diamond almost eolorless assumed, unde: the influence of heat (out of contact with air), a deep rose color, which it retained some time when kept in the dark. Inthe light its color faded, but always returned again with heating. A naturally rose colored diamond reversed the phenomena, losiog its hue with heating, and afterwards gradually regaining it.—Scientific American, Scrence an Known To Taz Ancrents.—In Eygpt mummies have heen found with teeth filled with gold, and in Quito a skeleton has been discovered with false teeth secured to the cheek bone by geld wire. In the museum at Naples, among some of the snrgieal instruments discovered at Pompeii, thereis a faesimile of Sims’ speculum. In the ruins of Ninevah, Layard found several magnifying glasses.— Medical Record. The Quadrature of the Circle Again, 5. 0. C., of Utah, sends as a lengthy comniunication, mentioning that he has invented a eontrivanes hy which he can practically mensnre the circnmference of a circle to within the thonsandth part of an inch, and asks, ist. If he has not now either solved the grand old problem of the qnadrature, or st least made an importaut step toward its solution ? 2d. If it would be advisable to patont his eontrivance ? To the first question, we answer that if ho understands hy the solution of the problem in gnestion the finding of the cirenmference of a given circle, or of the ratio between the diameter and cirennference, tho problem hag heen solved more than two thonsand years ago by Archimedes to within a thousandth of an inch for sinall circles; while Melius, a mathematician of Holland, three hundred years ago, solved itto the samo degree of accuracy for cireles of a radins equal to the distance of the earth to the ann. Our correspondent mnst take into cersideration that practical measurements can never eompare in accuracy with calculation. In the latter we may go aa far down as we chose into a millionth and a hillionth part of aninch; while Lundolf van Ceulen, also a Hollander, found that in practical measnrements hundredths of an inch are the utmost limits, and thut peculiar contrivanees or miCroscopes are reqnired tomoasnre a thousandth of aninch. To meution an ordinary case ng an example, take 25 inches and try practically how long its seventh part will he, expressed in decimals. You will lind that it is a little over 3%, or 35 inch; and with a great deal of acenracy you may even goso fnr aato find 3.57 inch. Bunt hy calculation alonc, dividing 7 into 25, you find easily that it is 3.57142857, which {s correct to withiu one thonsand millionth part of aninch, So it is with tho cirole; ealculations have been mado giving numbers so correct that if we snppose a cirele of which the radius is eqnal to the distance of the most remote star visible with the best teleseope, we may calculate the length of its circumference correetly to within the thickness of tho film of a soap-bubble, and even more than that; in fact the necuracy obtained in that respect snrpssses all ordinary imagiuation. If our correspondeut understands hy the solution of the problem the findiug of a correet ratio hetween the diameter and the circumference in whole numbers, the problem is insolvable, as no snch ratio ean exist. That of Archimedes, 7:22 gives the cirenmference too large, 100 : 314 gives it too small, 113 : 355 too large agaiu, 33,102 : 103,993 too small, ete. The notion of somo people that ratios in whole unmbers must always cxist is very erroneous. Elemcutary geometry gives as many lines which have no commou measnre. Such, for instanco, is the case with the ratio hetween the side and diagonal of 2 square, whieh can never be correctly expressed in whole numhers, nor fractions, nor in any finite decimal fraction, (this fraction being 1.414213, ete.) and looking at the subject in this light, it is surprising that the problem of erossing the square has not become as colebrated as that of squaring tho circle. The causo of this, however, is that the nature of this relatiou (1:,/2) was knowd long »go, being a so-calledirratious] quantity, while the nature of the quantity expressing the cireuniference of the eirele for the diameter =1 has only in later times been discovered to he an irrational quantity of a higher order heyond the ordinary irrational quantities, and unfit to he expressed by the sume, much less by ordiusry numbers or fractions. In regard to the pateut on the contrivance of our correspondent, we fear thst there will be as little novelty in it agiu his solution. It hag prohably long ago been surpassed by other contrivances made for the purpose of taking correct measurements. But eveu if new, the great question in taking patents is: Wilk it psy? And surely this wonld not pay.—JdfanuFfacturer and Builder. Ow tun Preparation or CutoraL Hyprate, —This attiele is made by pressing chlorine gas into alcohol of about 96 degrees, for abont 12 to 14 days, until it attains a gravity of 41° B, The product is then pnrified by mixture with an equal volume of sulphuric acid and distilling, a large amonnt of hydrochloric acid heing thns driven off. The chloral is then itself distilled off, the prodnet is again rectified by distillation, water is added to the distillate and it is set aside to crystallize. As byproduct, ethylene and ethylidiue chloride are produced, whieh are purifiod by fractional distillation, and also used as anzestheties.— Druggists’ Circular. Porasstust.—Professor Dalbean obtains metallic potassium bya new process which is likely to prove of some commercial value. He first forms snlphide of potassinm by treating dissolved sticks of caustie potassa with sulohurcted hydrogen, and subsequently evaporating until the mass is solid iu cooling. This mass isthen mixed with somewhat more than its bulk of irou filings, and subjected to distillation, the product being run off into petroleum. Cement vor Pires, Eto,—J. Spillar recommendsa mixture of pulverized iron borings, kaolin, and sirupy silicate of soda as a Inte for fixing on the heads of stills which are required to stand a high temperature. We should judge the same might be found useful in other situatious, such as the joints of east iron furnaces, for instance.