Volume 31 (1875) (428 pages)

August 14, 1875.] MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 99 §cientiFic Proaress. Prospects of Science on the Pacific Slope. The conditions for the advancement of science beyond the Rocky mountains are pecullsrly favorable. The country itself presents an exhaustless field of research in‘every department of tbe physical and vital history of the world. Its records of contiucntal upheaval ard suhsgidenee, of uacient rivers and vanished seas, of vast volcanio outponrings, and vasrer scenes of erosiou, are wonderfully full and legible. In the beds of ita tertinry lakes are the remnins of mnltitades of tbe progenitors of recent forms of animal and vegetable life—inexhaustihle mines of material for the solution of the great roblems of evolution. On the shores of those akes and rivers dwelt ths most ancient races of men that geology has fnrnished glimpses of. Already ahnnodunt traces of them have been discovered in and beueath the later tertiary strata, and it is not unressonable to hope that future observation may connect them with the post-glacial fuunders of the civilizations which grew up along the valley of the Colorado, hefore that strange river had sunk its chsneel a mile below the surface of the plain it once watered, prohably before the Nile spresd its first layer of fertile soil over tho fonndation sands of ancient Egypt. Chemical geology hss already been immeusely furthered hy the knowledge gsined through tbe mining operations of the interior and the investigations they hsve inspired; while the demsnds for men ot acientife training, incident to a country so largely givsn to mining, have secared to the Pacifie slope a proportion of scientific observera nneqnaled in any other conutry. In older commuuities, science aud scientific thinking have to contend with the conservatism of enstom and the traditione of scholsstiec culture; in the far West, where scicntifio training has been at a preminm from the first, where public prosperity rests so largely on scieutific operations, science is likely to get more then its fair shsre of enceuragement, rsther than less. In proof of this, it is necesssry only to contrast the financial condition of the Culiforuia Academy of Sciences with that of our Eastern societies of like ohsracter. Itis trne that something more than money ie needed for productive investigstion; the natursl and socisl conditions must be favorable, and there must he no Isck of man of proper zesl aud training to nndertake the work. In this reepect, a3 already noted, the Pacific slope is as greatly favored ss in its sbundsnoe of wealth; and only the grossest mismsnagement of thcir mesns and opportnnities can prevent the richest harvest of ecientific achievement by the Pacifie scientists, whether independent or connected with the Californis Academy, The magoificent scope and execution of Mr. Bsneroft’s research, in connection with the native rsces of the Pacific coaet, afford st once an illustration of the Western wsy of working, snd a model of thorough scientific investigation. Wo shall be greatly dieappointed if Mr. Ban croft’s work does not prove to be the first of s long series of correspondingly valusble resarches in other departmente of knowledge, undertsken by the scientific workers of the West. Hitherto their work has of neceseity been chiefly of practical, money-making sort. It hss given them the best poseible training for the conduct of investigstione of brosder scope and remoter profit. The work lies ready at hand; and it is ssfe to predict its prosecution with true Western vigor aud thoroughuess.— Scientific American, New APPLioaTions oF PARAFFINE.—The corks of jars holding corroeive acid may, it is said, be rendered proof agsinst the corrosive action both of liquids and gases, by dippiug them in psrsffine, and afterward drying at a temperature of 100° C. The eame method may be pursned with wooden vessels of sll kiuds used in manipulating powerful scids. Dr. Bohl observes that psraffine ie likely to sttsin a considerable importsnce in the manufacture of glazed papers of all kinds, For white snd delicate colored papers, 24 parts by weight of parsffine are mixed with 100 psrts of china-clay; the componnd is dried, snd ground with cold wster, snd mixed with the pulp in the proportion of 4to6 per cent. Paper thus prepared Oe 8 fine sstiny {gloes, and resists the damp well. Cuemnoa Finter.—Place inside of the glaes funnel a small filter of parchment paper, pierced at the bottom with a fine needle; afterwarda plsce the ordinary filter in the funnel, and filter as uenal. Snch cones of parchment paper can be nsed in any required s1z0, are essily obtained, and may be applied to almost all purposes where the more expeusiye platinum cones have hitherto been used. Cunororonm, added to crude petroleum when burning, will at once extinguish it. According to F. M. Ommegauck, of Autwerp, five per cent., or one-twentieth part, will most readily effect this result. Even one-sixtieth psrt msy be made to extinguish the oil when burning. Rate or Growre or Coraau.—According to Prof. Le Conte, the rate of the growth of corals in the Gulf of Mexico, is from three and onefourth to fnnr inches per annum. industrial and Medical Application of Salicylic Acid. This new product continues to be the subject of experiment, and numerous applications of its wonderlul preserving power has already been made. It ig excellently adapted for preserving eggs, fresh meat, jams, hevserages, drugs, dye extracts, eto, Professor Neugebsuer recommends its use in wiue-making, snd in the trestment of ths various affeetions of fermeutative nrigin to which wines are subject. Professor Kolho recommends it in the uannfacture of effervesoing wines, export heers, ete, Fresh water on shiphoard may be kent sweet hy a mixture of the scid in a proportiou not oxceediug one part of acid to 20,000 of water. Or the water may bo filtered, as required for uso, through cotton wool dipped in a solution of the acid. Meat inay he kopt fresh for wscks by rubbing it over with the acid, the lstter being washed off when the moat is required for nse. Now milk containing .04 per cent. of the acid, when left uncovered for thirty-six hours, was funnd in better condition than an eqnal quantity of thesame milk without any admixture, which stood heside it, S.licyho acid may be nsed as tooth-powder, or, mixed with warm water, aaa ee wash, Sprinkled over the feet, it ie an effeetaal remedy for offensive odors arising from the perspiration. -Applicd ass powder with tale, sosp, and starch, it rendere the feet white and frm, and is 8 good sutidote to sore feet, well adapted for the use of travelers snd soldiers on the march. Mixed with powdered starch, it may be advantsgeously spplied to sores and outsneous oruptions, A mixtnre of one part of sslioylic acid, three psrts phosphate of sods, und fifty of water, forms a good wssh for promotiug the granulntion of wounds. In operatious iuvolvjug mach loss of blood, Professor Thierseh employs s solution of one part of the scid in 300 of water, to spriukle the injured surfsces sud to steep the bandages. Dr, Febling states thst, at Leipsio, salicylic scid is now univorsslly employed as a substitute for cirbolic noid in msternity prsctice, In disinfecting the hands, clothes, etc., in cases of puerperal disordere, itis used either mixed with wster in the proportious 1 to 300 or 1 to 900, or 88 a powder mixed with smy! in the pro. portion 1 to 5, Sslycilic acid is soluble also in fatty oils, ond may, therefore, replace carholic acid iu the preparation of Lister’s bandages. Its internal nse in cases of diphtheria, scarlatens, measles, smsll-pox, syphilis, cholera, etc, has yet to form the subject of experiment. Professor Koloe finde that daily dosee of 1.0 to 1.25 grammes of salicylic acid in a crude stste is not to be recommended, on account of its irritating effect on the month snd throst. It msy, however, be given 88 a syrnp. The Spider's Web. In onr issue of July 17th, we gave a little query from Science Gossip, under the head _of “How Does the Spider Make His Web?” A correspondent of the Scientific American, which also gave the same item, snswers se follows: “How does a spider mske its weh, the linee— some of them—crossing at the center, are csrried to the eurrounding objects, while others sre tsstened to an outer cironlar line, made evidently before the onter circular linee of the woof are formed ?” ®Aleo: ‘‘Where does the spider plsce itself when it ejects the lines which form the spokee of the wheel ?”’ The extreme outer line surrounding the weh, to which the spokee are fsetened, is hy no mesns alwsys circular; this depends upou the position of the surrounding objects to which the web is faetened. The epider first extends lines trom one point to another by the shortest route possible, inclosing a enfficient spice to build its web; then he extende a line acrose where he intends to hsve the center of his weh, He nexf fixes the center by fsetening a line thereto on the centrsl line, and, csrrying the line at right angles or nesrly so to the first line, hitchee it to the nearest object, whether that be the outer line of the web, or snything to which the web is fastened. It will be observed here thst the spider ejects all the epokes of the wheel (except the first line across the center of the web) from the intended center, placing the first lines at right anglee or nearly so, and dividing the dietsnce each time a line ie extended from the center until a sufficient number are put up, always stretcbing the lines alternately in opposite directions until the spokes of the wheel arecomplete, He then places his left forefoot on the center of the wheel, and hitches the first end of the circular line of tho woof to one of the epokes of the wheel, and moves ronnd the center, fastening his thread to every spoke as he go-s along, measuring the distance from one line to the otber by stretching his righthind oot to srenre the weh to the spoke, with Lie le.t fore tout ong line towa:d the center and moving spirally aloug from one spoke to the other, until he gets his web sufticiently lsrge for nis purpose, Potson iy THE Sorm.—Cut from the earth a eubie foot of gravely soil and you will find you can pour into it one-third of its bulk of water. This really shows thst the water occupies onothird of the hulk, and when the water draine off an equal smount of air takes its place. Now the air of the soilis filed with various gases, such ss sre generated from animal maf er. The amount of carhonic acid in ground soil lately manured, is many times what it is in the air, The soil, however, can hold these gases for plants, so that they rarely injure as. ae e us On ‘Proaress Peter Cooper's First American Locomotive “On a recent trip down the bay of New York,"’ says the editor of tho Brooklyn Union, ‘*we turned with the veneralle Peter Cooper a page of the opening railway era of America.” Mr. Cooper, he claims, deserves the honor, Aniong the other honors of his usetul life, of being tho firat to introduce into actnal service the ruilway enginoin Ameriea. We condense from the very animsted aud interestiuy sketch of Mr. Cooper’s reminisconces: “Think of the excitement that pervaded the civilized world wheu it was sottled thst the Darliugtou rsilway, which was opened to supply London with coal, hsd actnally hegun to carry Fer by steam at seven miles per hour. Sut we are able to correot the reminiscences of thst occasion which shared the oommon mistake that the snocess of the Liverpool & Manchester railway stimulated the introduotiou of railroads into this country; for some of the now most importsnt roads in this country were projected and commenced before the Liverpool & Msnchester was hnilt. It received with them the stimulus of the first rosd ahove nsmed. In 1828, Mr. Cooper was in business in New York, his nstive place. His mother and grsudmother were both born on the present site of St. Paul’s charch, Vesey street aud Breadway, aud his mother remembered secing the stockade still standing which hsd heen erected to keep the Indians out of infant Now Amsterdam, Mr. Cooper had bought as a speculation tho entire maguificeut tract in Baltimorenow owned hy the Cauton company. Baltimore was.then a city of 75,000 people, rich and prosperous, and hsd eutered upon therailroad era. On July 4th, 1828, the corner-stono of the Baltimore & Ohio road wse laid with imposing ceremonies by Charles Carroll, of Carrolton. It was pushed euergetioslly, a little too mnch so, for when thirteen miles hsd been finished it wes found that in tnrning the rocks to ssve cutting, such short cnrves had been introduced that the then experts declared the liue utterly useless. It could not be nsed by stesm, Five per cent. hsd been psidin, and shares hsd been sold at 17, such wss the zesl and cenfidence of the people. But the ohill was immense, and everything stopped. Mr. Cooper, then thirtyeight years of age, saw new disaster to himself in the depreciation of his trsct shonld the road fail. He proposed to the Directors to constrnct an engine that should be ayaileble to their line. They were willing, bnt incrednlous. He brought down from his glue factory in New York sn engine with three snd a hslf inches cylinder and fourteen inches stroke, procured wheele and other spplisnces from the railway comoany, and presently rolled ont upon the track the first American rsilway engine. The trial trip was to take place the nextday. Thst night a thief stole all the copper snd brass from tbe infant machine snd caused some further delay. The tris] trip wse run, Mr. Cooper himself nctiug as engineer; and when his wheezing little bahy locomotive threatened to lose too much steam he held down the safety vslve with his own hsnds. The run was made with thirty passengere, thirteen miles in one hour, and Baltimore wss happy. Compare the little eugine of forty-seven yesrs sgo with the ponderous machines of to-day, and yet they follow on the pathwuy the little engine opened.” EvrorEan DemanDs rom AmeEntcan EnGtNEERINO INSTRUMENTS. — Meesre. Hiller & Brightly, the mathemstical instrument makers of Philadelphia, hsve recently received, and are now filting, heavy ordere for engineering instruments (traneitsjand levele) from Vienns, Austria, and from Bristol, England, When it is reesiled to mind thst up to within s comparatively recent date all the most accurste instraments of this class have heen imported from Europe, and thst this is the first instance known where instrumeuts of this olsss hnve been imported into Austriafrom thie conntry, the fact ig deemed worthy of notice. This firm is also filling ordere for engineers’ transits and levele, ete., for the Imperial College (Ksga Yashiki), Tokio, Jspan, from Yokohama and Kokaido, Japan, and from Hong Koog, China. They have aleo recently shipped a number of their instrumeuts to South Ameries. : Tur Monster Gun at Woonwion,—The 81ton gun in course of manufscture at the Royal gun factories in the Roysl Arsens!, Woolwich, is rapidly spproaching completion. The bore is being rifled at the boring mills in the department, and the only other process required to finish the gun iu the rough is the shrinking on of the trnnnion ring. Considering that the 8l1-ton gun is more tban twice the size of any other gun yet made at Woolwich, aud that most of the machinery by which it hss been produced wae never intended for such gigantic operations, it is worthy of remark that the work hss been performed withont the slightest hitch or accideut tothe gnu. The face of the new 40-ton hammer wae frsctured in welding together the hreech coile, but thiewae soon remedied by subatituting another face piece msde iu the department. Tur Lancest RirLep Cannon.—They have just finiehed, at South Boston, the largest breecb-loading rifled cannon in the world, It is eteel lined, weighs 82,280 pounds, is 12 inches calibre, esrries a 600-pound shot, snd reqnires a charge of 70 pounds of powder. It ie destined for Ssndy Hook, Headwork an Aid to Handiwork. The pursnit of mechanice involves acenracy of eye, knowlodge of form and of proportion, Strict measurements, and a dne preservatiou of the relatiou of parts to each other, ond of the whole to the several parts. It teaches also tconomy of material and of space. Strength and ntility msy, indeed, he acquired without observation of all these details, Tho old fashioned iron and other metal work of houses, csrriages, and ngricultural sud other implemeuts, and the waste of wood, stone, hrick and other inaterials, show that the workers for our grandpareuts consulted safety and durability without mnch regard totaste or elegance, The work in an old-tashioned chsir would almost maken full set of mederu ones. A Lancaster jock-handle was long cnongh to sct as a lever to lift a hundred weight. Competition making economy necessary and reqniriag elegance and fitnees in ordor to seenre purebasers, has changed the style both of honses sud furnitare. And a better comprehension of the strength of materiuls has csused modern machinery to attain what oncieut machinery lacked, thst is symmetry sud even elegance ss well as strength. If an iron worker of the last century had undertuken to construct a locoulotive, for Instance, it would have been a clumsy aud ugly affair. Now the parts are proportioned exsetly to the power required, snd the details are worked up with an eye of heauty. A trsin of highly finished ears, drawn hy a first-class locomotite, is a triumph of strength, beauty and mechsnical ingouuity. A Mechanical Car Starter. George Hunter, of Payson, Il., has invented a device for the above named purpose, which is described ae follows: To the inner side of one of the wheels is rigidly attached a small gesr wheel, and to the inner side of the other wheel is attachod a large, internslly toethed gear wheel. A shsft placed parallel with the axle ia msde in three parts, connected with each other hy universsl joints. To the middle part of the shaft is attsched one end of the spring, which is coiled around said shsft. The end parts of the jointed shaft engage by gesrs with the gear wheels above mentioned. Devices are provided which lock the levers, which hold the gear wheels in gear snd ontof gear. When the caris to be stopped, the apparatus is so regnlated thst the torward movement or momentum of the car may wind nop a spring. When the car is to be started, the power of the spring may be spplied to the wheel near its rim, and thns, with a grent advantage of leverage, assist in stsrting the csr. In the eame way the spring msy be -coiled by the advance of the car when upon a level or down grade, and held, to be applied to the car when npon a short upward grade, to assist inits propnision New Mons or Linino Mretauiic Tupre wirrh Ayotuer Mrtat.—A yslusble method of lining a tube of one kind ot metal with another of a more fusiblenature is noticed in the London pepers. It coneists in first thoroughly cleanIng the interior of the tube and plugging it up st both ende, and then fitting itiutoe Isthe or other apparatus, by mesns of which s very rapid rotary motion in a horizontal position msy begiven toit. Through one of the pluge a sufficient quantity of the second or softer metsl, which ieto form the desired lining, is introduced ina melted state; a psn of ignited cosls or a gss-burning sppsratus being plsced nnder the tuhe, extending slong ite whole length and st a suitabie distance, so ss to keep the metslin that cendition while a rotsry motion of the tube is estsblished. The melted metal is thus diffused uniformly around the interior of the tuhe, and, by removing the coale while the rotation is etill continued, the tempersture is gradually reduced, and the interior mets! hardens, forming s permanent liniug. A Micuron Dortar Hasmer,—A German psper informs us that the fsmous eteel works of Frederick Krupp, of Eesen, are abeut to receive a very important addition to their mschinery. The largest steam hsmmer in use at these works, at the present time, is one capsble of workiug a msgs of steel fifty tone in weight, snd erected st the cost of $560,000. It is now in coutemplation to huild a new stesm hammer capable of beating np a mass of steel of double the weight, namely, 100 tons. The new machine, it is estimated, will cost $1,000,000 and will be the most powerful in the world; and it may be expected that the sizo and weight of the German artillery will be cnormously increased, ae the new stesm hammer will permit the working-np of Jarger msseee of metal than, up to tbe present time, has been thonght to he possible by scientific engineers, Exormovus Locomotrvs Excines.—A locomotive has recently been plsced on the Pennsylvania railrosd which weighs seven tons heavier than the ponderoue ‘‘Modoc,’’ whose drawing capacity is almost. twice that of an ordinary locomotive. Tho ‘‘Modéc’’is capable of taking eighty loaded cars from Harrisburg to Columbia, while other engines are pnt to severe test when they pull fifty esrs on that portion of the road. The new locomotive, when full intiated, ie expected to get away with a hundred cars, The only argument that can be ueed sgainet large engines is that they are hard on the tracke, hut as the Penneylvania railrosd oompany hss adopted eteel rails—able to withstsnd a fsr greater preesure than iron rsils—the wear will not be meterial. The introduction of these mammoth engines ig considered a very econ« omical measure by the railrosd company,

August 14, 1875.] MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 99 §cientiFic Proaress. Prospects of Science on the Pacific Slope. The conditions for the advancement of science beyond the Rocky mountains are pecullsrly favorable. The country itself presents an exhaustless field of research in‘every department of tbe physical and vital history of the world. Its records of contiucntal upheaval ard suhsgidenee, of uacient rivers and vanished seas, of vast volcanio outponrings, and vasrer scenes of erosiou, are wonderfully full and legible. In the beds of ita tertinry lakes are the remnins of mnltitades of tbe progenitors of recent forms of animal and vegetable life—inexhaustihle mines of material for the solution of the great roblems of evolution. On the shores of those akes and rivers dwelt ths most ancient races of men that geology has fnrnished glimpses of. Already ahnnodunt traces of them have been discovered in and beueath the later tertiary strata, and it is not unressonable to hope that future observation may connect them with the post-glacial fuunders of the civilizations which grew up along the valley of the Colorado, hefore that strange river had sunk its chsneel a mile below the surface of the plain it once watered, prohably before the Nile spresd its first layer of fertile soil over tho fonndation sands of ancient Egypt. Chemical geology hss already been immeusely furthered hy the knowledge gsined through tbe mining operations of the interior and the investigations they hsve inspired; while the demsnds for men ot acientife training, incident to a country so largely givsn to mining, have secared to the Pacifie slope a proportion of scientific observera nneqnaled in any other conutry. In older commuuities, science aud scientific thinking have to contend with the conservatism of enstom and the traditione of scholsstiec culture; in the far West, where scicntifio training has been at a preminm from the first, where public prosperity rests so largely on scieutific operations, science is likely to get more then its fair shsre of enceuragement, rsther than less. In proof of this, it is necesssry only to contrast the financial condition of the Culiforuia Academy of Sciences with that of our Eastern societies of like ohsracter. Itis trne that something more than money ie needed for productive investigstion; the natursl and socisl conditions must be favorable, and there must he no Isck of man of proper zesl aud training to nndertake the work. In this reepect, a3 already noted, the Pacific slope is as greatly favored ss in its sbundsnoe of wealth; and only the grossest mismsnagement of thcir mesns and opportnnities can prevent the richest harvest of ecientific achievement by the Pacifie scientists, whether independent or connected with the Californis Academy, The magoificent scope and execution of Mr. Bsneroft’s research, in connection with the native rsces of the Pacific coaet, afford st once an illustration of the Western wsy of working, snd a model of thorough scientific investigation. Wo shall be greatly dieappointed if Mr. Ban croft’s work does not prove to be the first of s long series of correspondingly valusble resarches in other departmente of knowledge, undertsken by the scientific workers of the West. Hitherto their work has of neceseity been chiefly of practical, money-making sort. It hss given them the best poseible training for the conduct of investigstione of brosder scope and remoter profit. The work lies ready at hand; and it is ssfe to predict its prosecution with true Western vigor aud thoroughuess.— Scientific American, New APPLioaTions oF PARAFFINE.—The corks of jars holding corroeive acid may, it is said, be rendered proof agsinst the corrosive action both of liquids and gases, by dippiug them in psrsffine, and afterward drying at a temperature of 100° C. The eame method may be pursned with wooden vessels of sll kiuds used in manipulating powerful scids. Dr. Bohl observes that psraffine ie likely to sttsin a considerable importsnce in the manufacture of glazed papers of all kinds, For white snd delicate colored papers, 24 parts by weight of parsffine are mixed with 100 psrts of china-clay; the componnd is dried, snd ground with cold wster, snd mixed with the pulp in the proportion of 4to6 per cent. Paper thus prepared Oe 8 fine sstiny {gloes, and resists the damp well. Cuemnoa Finter.—Place inside of the glaes funnel a small filter of parchment paper, pierced at the bottom with a fine needle; afterwarda plsce the ordinary filter in the funnel, and filter as uenal. Snch cones of parchment paper can be nsed in any required s1z0, are essily obtained, and may be applied to almost all purposes where the more expeusiye platinum cones have hitherto been used. Cunororonm, added to crude petroleum when burning, will at once extinguish it. According to F. M. Ommegauck, of Autwerp, five per cent., or one-twentieth part, will most readily effect this result. Even one-sixtieth psrt msy be made to extinguish the oil when burning. Rate or Growre or Coraau.—According to Prof. Le Conte, the rate of the growth of corals in the Gulf of Mexico, is from three and onefourth to fnnr inches per annum. industrial and Medical Application of Salicylic Acid. This new product continues to be the subject of experiment, and numerous applications of its wonderlul preserving power has already been made. It ig excellently adapted for preserving eggs, fresh meat, jams, hevserages, drugs, dye extracts, eto, Professor Neugebsuer recommends its use in wiue-making, snd in the trestment of ths various affeetions of fermeutative nrigin to which wines are subject. Professor Kolho recommends it in the uannfacture of effervesoing wines, export heers, ete, Fresh water on shiphoard may be kent sweet hy a mixture of the scid in a proportiou not oxceediug one part of acid to 20,000 of water. Or the water may bo filtered, as required for uso, through cotton wool dipped in a solution of the acid. Meat inay he kopt fresh for wscks by rubbing it over with the acid, the lstter being washed off when the moat is required for nse. Now milk containing .04 per cent. of the acid, when left uncovered for thirty-six hours, was funnd in better condition than an eqnal quantity of thesame milk without any admixture, which stood heside it, S.licyho acid may be nsed as tooth-powder, or, mixed with warm water, aaa ee wash, Sprinkled over the feet, it ie an effeetaal remedy for offensive odors arising from the perspiration. -Applicd ass powder with tale, sosp, and starch, it rendere the feet white and frm, and is 8 good sutidote to sore feet, well adapted for the use of travelers snd soldiers on the march. Mixed with powdered starch, it may be advantsgeously spplied to sores and outsneous oruptions, A mixtnre of one part of sslioylic acid, three psrts phosphate of sods, und fifty of water, forms a good wssh for promotiug the granulntion of wounds. In operatious iuvolvjug mach loss of blood, Professor Thierseh employs s solution of one part of the scid in 300 of water, to spriukle the injured surfsces sud to steep the bandages. Dr, Febling states thst, at Leipsio, salicylic scid is now univorsslly employed as a substitute for cirbolic noid in msternity prsctice, In disinfecting the hands, clothes, etc., in cases of puerperal disordere, itis used either mixed with wster in the proportious 1 to 300 or 1 to 900, or 88 a powder mixed with smy! in the pro. portion 1 to 5, Sslycilic acid is soluble also in fatty oils, ond may, therefore, replace carholic acid iu the preparation of Lister’s bandages. Its internal nse in cases of diphtheria, scarlatens, measles, smsll-pox, syphilis, cholera, etc, has yet to form the subject of experiment. Professor Koloe finde that daily dosee of 1.0 to 1.25 grammes of salicylic acid in a crude stste is not to be recommended, on account of its irritating effect on the month snd throst. It msy, however, be given 88 a syrnp. The Spider's Web. In onr issue of July 17th, we gave a little query from Science Gossip, under the head _of “How Does the Spider Make His Web?” A correspondent of the Scientific American, which also gave the same item, snswers se follows: “How does a spider mske its weh, the linee— some of them—crossing at the center, are csrried to the eurrounding objects, while others sre tsstened to an outer cironlar line, made evidently before the onter circular linee of the woof are formed ?” ®Aleo: ‘‘Where does the spider plsce itself when it ejects the lines which form the spokee of the wheel ?”’ The extreme outer line surrounding the weh, to which the spokee are fsetened, is hy no mesns alwsys circular; this depends upou the position of the surrounding objects to which the web is faetened. The epider first extends lines trom one point to another by the shortest route possible, inclosing a enfficient spice to build its web; then he extende a line acrose where he intends to hsve the center of his weh, He nexf fixes the center by fsetening a line thereto on the centrsl line, and, csrrying the line at right angles or nesrly so to the first line, hitchee it to the nearest object, whether that be the outer line of the web, or snything to which the web is fastened. It will be observed here thst the spider ejects all the epokes of the wheel (except the first line across the center of the web) from the intended center, placing the first lines at right anglee or nearly so, and dividing the dietsnce each time a line ie extended from the center until a sufficient number are put up, always stretcbing the lines alternately in opposite directions until the spokes of the wheel arecomplete, He then places his left forefoot on the center of the wheel, and hitches the first end of the circular line of tho woof to one of the epokes of the wheel, and moves ronnd the center, fastening his thread to every spoke as he go-s along, measuring the distance from one line to the otber by stretching his righthind oot to srenre the weh to the spoke, with Lie le.t fore tout ong line towa:d the center and moving spirally aloug from one spoke to the other, until he gets his web sufticiently lsrge for nis purpose, Potson iy THE Sorm.—Cut from the earth a eubie foot of gravely soil and you will find you can pour into it one-third of its bulk of water. This really shows thst the water occupies onothird of the hulk, and when the water draine off an equal smount of air takes its place. Now the air of the soilis filed with various gases, such ss sre generated from animal maf er. The amount of carhonic acid in ground soil lately manured, is many times what it is in the air, The soil, however, can hold these gases for plants, so that they rarely injure as. ae e us On ‘Proaress

Peter Cooper's First American Locomotive “On a recent trip down the bay of New York,"’ says the editor of tho Brooklyn Union, ‘*we turned with the veneralle Peter Cooper a page of the opening railway era of America.” Mr. Cooper, he claims, deserves the honor, Aniong the other honors of his usetul life, of being tho firat to introduce into actnal service the ruilway enginoin Ameriea. We condense from the very animsted aud interestiuy sketch of Mr. Cooper’s reminisconces: “Think of the excitement that pervaded the civilized world wheu it was sottled thst the Darliugtou rsilway, which was opened to supply London with coal, hsd actnally hegun to carry Fer by steam at seven miles per hour. Sut we are able to correot the reminiscences of thst occasion which shared the oommon mistake that the snocess of the Liverpool & Manchester railway stimulated the introduotiou of railroads into this country; for some of the now most importsnt roads in this country were projected and commenced before the Liverpool & Msnchester was hnilt. It received with them the stimulus of the first rosd ahove nsmed. In 1828, Mr. Cooper was in business in New York, his nstive place. His mother and grsudmother were both born on the present site of St. Paul’s charch, Vesey street aud Breadway, aud his mother remembered secing the stockade still standing which hsd heen erected to keep the Indians out of infant Now Amsterdam, Mr. Cooper had bought as a speculation tho entire maguificeut tract in Baltimorenow owned hy the Cauton company. Baltimore was.then a city of 75,000 people, rich and prosperous, and hsd eutered upon therailroad era. On July 4th, 1828, the corner-stono of the Baltimore & Ohio road wse laid with imposing ceremonies by Charles Carroll, of Carrolton. It was pushed euergetioslly, a little too mnch so, for when thirteen miles hsd been finished it wes found that in tnrning the rocks to ssve cutting, such short cnrves had been introduced that the then experts declared the liue utterly useless. It could not be nsed by stesm, Five per cent. hsd been psidin, and shares hsd been sold at 17, such wss the zesl and cenfidence of the people. But the ohill was immense, and everything stopped. Mr. Cooper, then thirtyeight years of age, saw new disaster to himself in the depreciation of his trsct shonld the road fail. He proposed to the Directors to constrnct an engine that should be ayaileble to their line. They were willing, bnt incrednlous. He brought down from his glue factory in New York sn engine with three snd a hslf inches cylinder and fourteen inches stroke, procured wheele and other spplisnces from the railway comoany, and presently rolled ont upon the track the first American rsilway engine. The trial trip was to take place the nextday. Thst night a thief stole all the copper snd brass from tbe infant machine snd caused some further delay. The tris] trip wse run, Mr. Cooper himself nctiug as engineer; and when his wheezing little bahy locomotive threatened to lose too much steam he held down the safety vslve with his own hsnds. The run was made with thirty passengere, thirteen miles in one hour, and Baltimore wss happy. Compare the little eugine of forty-seven yesrs sgo with the ponderous machines of to-day, and yet they follow on the pathwuy the little engine opened.” EvrorEan DemanDs rom AmeEntcan EnGtNEERINO INSTRUMENTS. — Meesre. Hiller & Brightly, the mathemstical instrument makers of Philadelphia, hsve recently received, and are now filting, heavy ordere for engineering instruments (traneitsjand levele) from Vienns, Austria, and from Bristol, England, When it is reesiled to mind thst up to within s comparatively recent date all the most accurste instraments of this class have heen imported from Europe, and thst this is the first instance known where instrumeuts of this olsss hnve been imported into Austriafrom thie conntry, the fact ig deemed worthy of notice. This firm is also filling ordere for engineers’ transits and levele, ete., for the Imperial College (Ksga Yashiki), Tokio, Jspan, from Yokohama and Kokaido, Japan, and from Hong Koog, China. They have aleo recently shipped a number of their instrumeuts to South Ameries. : Tur Monster Gun at Woonwion,—The 81ton gun in course of manufscture at the Royal gun factories in the Roysl Arsens!, Woolwich, is rapidly spproaching completion. The bore is being rifled at the boring mills in the department, and the only other process required to finish the gun iu the rough is the shrinking on of the trnnnion ring. Considering that the 8l1-ton gun is more tban twice the size of any other gun yet made at Woolwich, aud that most of the machinery by which it hss been produced wae never intended for such gigantic operations, it is worthy of remark that the work hss been performed withont the slightest hitch or accideut tothe gnu. The face of the new 40-ton hammer wae frsctured in welding together the hreech coile, but thiewae soon remedied by subatituting another face piece msde iu the department. Tur Lancest RirLep Cannon.—They have just finiehed, at South Boston, the largest breecb-loading rifled cannon in the world, It is eteel lined, weighs 82,280 pounds, is 12 inches calibre, esrries a 600-pound shot, snd reqnires a charge of 70 pounds of powder. It ie destined for Ssndy Hook, Headwork an Aid to Handiwork. The pursnit of mechanice involves acenracy of eye, knowlodge of form and of proportion, Strict measurements, and a dne preservatiou of the relatiou of parts to each other, ond of the whole to the several parts. It teaches also tconomy of material and of space. Strength and ntility msy, indeed, he acquired without observation of all these details, Tho old fashioned iron and other metal work of houses, csrriages, and ngricultural sud other implemeuts, and the waste of wood, stone, hrick and other inaterials, show that the workers for our grandpareuts consulted safety and durability without mnch regard totaste or elegance, The work in an old-tashioned chsir would almost maken full set of mederu ones. A Lancaster jock-handle was long cnongh to sct as a lever to lift a hundred weight. Competition making economy necessary and reqniriag elegance and fitnees in ordor to seenre purebasers, has changed the style both of honses sud furnitare. And a better comprehension of the strength of materiuls has csused modern machinery to attain what oncieut machinery lacked, thst is symmetry sud even elegance ss well as strength. If an iron worker of the last century had undertuken to construct a locoulotive, for Instance, it would have been a clumsy aud ugly affair. Now the parts are proportioned exsetly to the power required, snd the details are worked up with an eye of heauty. A trsin of highly finished ears, drawn hy a first-class locomotite, is a triumph of strength, beauty and mechsnical ingouuity. A Mechanical Car Starter. George Hunter, of Payson, Il., has invented a device for the above named purpose, which is described ae follows: To the inner side of one of the wheels is rigidly attached a small gesr wheel, and to the inner side of the other wheel is attachod a large, internslly toethed gear wheel. A shsft placed parallel with the axle ia msde in three parts, connected with each other hy universsl joints. To the middle part of the shaft is attsched one end of the spring, which is coiled around said shsft. The end parts of the jointed shaft engage by gesrs with the gear wheels above mentioned. Devices are provided which lock the levers, which hold the gear wheels in gear snd ontof gear. When the caris to be stopped, the apparatus is so regnlated thst the torward movement or momentum of the car may wind nop a spring. When the car is to be started, the power of the spring may be spplied to the wheel near its rim, and thns, with a grent advantage of leverage, assist in stsrting the csr. In the eame way the spring msy be -coiled by the advance of the car when upon a level or down grade, and held, to be applied to the car when npon a short upward grade, to assist inits propnision New Mons or Linino Mretauiic Tupre wirrh Ayotuer Mrtat.—A yslusble method of lining a tube of one kind ot metal with another of a more fusiblenature is noticed in the London pepers. It coneists in first thoroughly cleanIng the interior of the tube and plugging it up st both ende, and then fitting itiutoe Isthe or other apparatus, by mesns of which s very rapid rotary motion in a horizontal position msy begiven toit. Through one of the pluge a sufficient quantity of the second or softer metsl, which ieto form the desired lining, is introduced ina melted state; a psn of ignited cosls or a gss-burning sppsratus being plsced nnder the tuhe, extending slong ite whole length and st a suitabie distance, so ss to keep the metslin that cendition while a rotsry motion of the tube is estsblished. The melted metal is thus diffused uniformly around the interior of the tuhe, and, by removing the coale while the rotation is etill continued, the tempersture is gradually reduced, and the interior mets! hardens, forming s permanent liniug. A Micuron Dortar Hasmer,—A German psper informs us that the fsmous eteel works of Frederick Krupp, of Eesen, are abeut to receive a very important addition to their mschinery. The largest steam hsmmer in use at these works, at the present time, is one capsble of workiug a msgs of steel fifty tone in weight, snd erected st the cost of $560,000. It is now in coutemplation to huild a new stesm hammer capable of beating np a mass of steel of double the weight, namely, 100 tons. The new machine, it is estimated, will cost $1,000,000 and will be the most powerful in the world; and it may be expected that the sizo and weight of the German artillery will be cnormously increased, ae the new stesm hammer will permit the working-np of Jarger msseee of metal than, up to tbe present time, has been thonght to he possible by scientific engineers, Exormovus Locomotrvs Excines.—A locomotive has recently been plsced on the Pennsylvania railrosd which weighs seven tons heavier than the ponderoue ‘‘Modoc,’’ whose drawing capacity is almost. twice that of an ordinary locomotive. Tho ‘‘Modéc’’is capable of taking eighty loaded cars from Harrisburg to Columbia, while other engines are pnt to severe test when they pull fifty esrs on that portion of the road. The new locomotive, when full intiated, ie expected to get away with a hundred cars, The only argument that can be ueed sgainet large engines is that they are hard on the tracke, hut as the Penneylvania railrosd oompany hss adopted eteel rails—able to withstsnd a fsr greater preesure than iron rsils—the wear will not be meterial. The introduction of these mammoth engines ig considered a very econ« omical measure by the railrosd company,