Volume 35 (1877) (426 pages)

July 28, 1877.] MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS 51 MecHanicat Progress. Returning to Wood for Safety. {t is not a little iutcresting to note that inventors of impenetrable war vessels are turning their attention from iron back ayaiu to the material of the raft, the eanoe and the merchautman. Wo read inan English exchange of the unsinkable vessel of war proposed by Mr. W. M. Pollexfen, The priuciple of the inveution ean be very briefly explained; it consists in making the ship as near as praeticable a solid mase of timber, the ouly deviation from solidity heing the oonstruction of an impregnable compartinent in the center for carrying the armainent and machinery. The rectangular bold or epace is, of course, arrauged to be of suitable size, and Mr. Pollexfen even proposes to provide that tho ship shall continue to float although the pacrral compartment shall be complotoly filled with water, and still have buoyancy to spare. He points out that sucha ship would be invincible, for though eompletely swaiupod aud the engine or other rooms tlooded for a time, ehe could be inauaged with her sails aud remain as formidahle as any sailing war vessel until her damage was repaired. But this is not all; the whole of the exposed portion of the hull being constructed of solid timbers, Mr. Pollexfen suggests, with much show of plausibility, that uot even a torpedo would disable his ship, siueo the most if would in all probability do is to rend away, without detachiug, oue or two of the outside timbers, so that no Icgs than a whole succession of torpedo attacks would reuder the vessel unseaworthy. He remarks that timber can be prepared eo as to resist fire to a great extent, aud if this preparation were found to interfere with the required woight of the timber in any particular instance, another method can be rosorted to—that of rendering the exposed timbers tireproof, Progress in Pacific Coast Lumbering. Year by year, saye a writer in the Post, the lumber iudustry of the Pacitic coast is growing in larger and larger proportions, and until recently the demand has increased in like proportion. The lumber which is shipped to San Francisco from Puget sound consists in the main of Oregon pine, although there is a good deal of, spruce, rough and dressed, some rough cedar and some maple. The redwood comes from California ports. Just at present lumber enters our port from the sound, Cresceut City, Coos bay, the Columbia river aud all along the eoast to Victoria, The rapid increase in tbe lumber trade within the past few years will be seen by the following figures, kindly furnished to the writer by Mr. Earle, of the Lumber Exchange: In 1874 there was received in San Fraucisco 139,856,486 feet of Oregon pine, 11,866,163 feet of rough spruce, 765,690 feet of dressed spruce, 3,444,343 feet of rongh cedar, 188,856 feet of maple and 1,019,646 feet of redwood, In addition there was received some 10,000,000 feet in all of rough sugar pine pickets, railroad ties and telegraph poles, making in all a grand total of 253,250,564 feet. In 1875 we received 163, 695,426 feet of Oregon pine, an increase of 23,836,940 feet over the previous year. The increased production in the other kinds of lumber was in nearly the same ratio, and the total increase was equal to 53,073,634 feet. In the year 1876 the total number of feet received reached 309,159,972, equal to 2,835,774 feet over the amouut received in 1875. As sbowing how rapidly lumber is eoming into the market, it may be mentioned that last month no less than 31,073,203 feet was received, against 28,610,423 feet in June of last year. ‘The average for the month of June for the past five years has heen 22,000,000 to 25,000,000 feet. The July of 1876 was a remarkable month, about 33,000,000 feet having been discharged. The estimate for the present July is about 25,000,000 feet. Welding Wire. In manufacturing guides for coal and other pits, colliery ropes, telegraph wire, telegraph cables and fencing, and in other manufactures, it is often necessary in order to obtain wires of tbe required length to join two or more lengths of wire together, end to end, and this is ordinarily done by the process of welding. But in welding together wire of iron or steel the metal is frequently so injured during the welding process that the junction formed is very weak, and the wire is liable to break at tho welded part. The object of the invention of Mr. W, Hibell, of Birmingham, as described in the London Mining Journal, is to produce wires of iron and steel ofany reqired length, having at the joined part a strength equalto any other part. He cuts away a portion of the end of each wire, so as to give ita semi-cylindrical figure, the said cutaway portion extending about one inch from the end of the wire. The extreme ends of the wires may terminate in planes at right angles to the axis of the wire, hut he prefers to incline each end so as to give it a wedge ehape, the thin end of the wedge terminating in the axis of the wire. When he thus inclines the ends of the wire, he makes the shonlders terminating the cut-away parts of an under-cut figure, so that the wedge-shaped end of one wire when the ends of the two wires are fitted fogether shall engage with the under-cut shoulder of the other wire, The ends of the wires thus shaped he connects together by the process of brazing or hard soldoring, and the junction formed has a strength equal to that of any other portion of the wire. In wires of small diameter he prefers to give to the ends to be joined an inclined figure simply—that is, he cuts or otherwise forme on each of the euds to be joined a plane, making but a small auglo with the plane in which the axis of the wire is situated. The two plane inclined ends are joined hy hard soldering or brazieg. Measuring Cylinders. Experts in the machine shop, says the JManufacturer and Builder, commeuco to see that the cemmon way of measuriug circular cylinders, such as shafts, by meaus of callipers, is very inaccurato, Ditlerent iudividuals will always find difforent dimeusions, because they judge by the foeling of resistance whou the points of tho eallipers pass over the diamoter; and this ie the niost Uueertain of all impressions, The touch inay be more accurate thau the eye when passing the hand over a lovel surface to find inequalities escaping the eye, but in case of tlie use of callipers this seuse is uot so reliable. The eye is much more so, and therefore it is hetter to measure cylinders by passing a flattened wire around them (copper is best, as it adapts itself to the curvature better than steel.) Make marks where the two ends overlap, aud tben ineasure the distanco of the marks to find the circumforenee, which being more than three times the diameter, will for this reason alone have a chance to bo more than three times as correct, even if the more accurate eyesight did not supersede the touch with the callipers. This of course applies only to large eylinders; for small ones the measuring of the cirenmference would be very inconvenient and impractical for those of the diameter of an inch or less; then of course a good gauge plate is the thing needed, and universally used, being much more reliable than mere measuring of the diameter, THE WoRLD's MacnHinery.—The effect of machinery upon the industrial interests of the world generally, is a subject tbat frequently eugages the attention of the economist. In this connection the following estimates of the laborsaving cffects of steam motive-power, made by Dr. Eugel, the head of the statistical bureau at Berlin, Germany, will be interesting. According to Dr. Eugel, as noted by the Polytechnic Review, the aggregate steam motive-power at present in use in the world is 3,500,000 horsepower, employed in stationary engines, and 10,00,000 horse-power in locomotive engines, making a total of 13,500,000 horse-power. This force is maintained without the use of animal food, except hy the miners who dig the eoal and provide the fuel, and the force maintained in the tmuacles is to tho force generated by the product lahor as ahont one to 1,000. This steam-power is equal to the working force of 25,000,000 horses, and one horse consumes three times as much food as one man. The steam-power, therefore, is eqnivalent to the saving of food for 75,000,000 human beings. Again, three powerlooms, attended by one man, produce daily 78 pieces of cotton fabric against four pieces produced by one band-loom worked by one man in the year 1800. Again, a carpenter’s planing machine does the work of 20 men. This, of course, is but the merest ontline of what is accomplished by the use of steam-power and labor-saving machinery. New Lock ror Freigut Cars.—Railways have been not a little troubled by tramps and thieves entering freight cars while attached to trains or while standing on sidings. We read in the Utica, New York, Observer that Mr, E. F. Hotchkiss, acting upon a hint of Superintendent Priest, has got up a lock for the freight car which promises to prove very effectual. The lock does not show on the car, because it is under. It cannot be reached when the car is in motion, aud when the car is at a standstill in the yard it would be dangerous to go under to unlock it unless with a certainty that the car would not be moved. The lock is operated by a wreuch and left-hand screw, which acts as a key and starts an inch bolt of iron which fastens both doors securely. The lock can he easily applied to railroad trains. This lock seems to bea settler on the thieves, inasmuch as it has been their practice to break off the commou locks and then enter the car—all this while the car was in motion. This lock they cannot get at. The lock is now on trial on a car running between Utica and Albany. When it first arrived in Alhany no directions as to opening it had been received, having miscarried. The freight-honse men went to work with a har and sledge to open it, They succeeded in forcing the door back but five inches, and gave up the task as a bad job. Locomotive Frre-Boxes.—On the form and proportion of the fire-boxes, the committee of the Master Mechanics’ Association recommend no changes excepting to suggest an increase in the numher or length of tubes. With the present form of constrnection of locomotives, any material change in the boiler is impossible, but the question is now being considered by many persons whether some very material changes in the plan of constructing engines are not desirable, in order to get a larger boiler and especially a larger fire-box. When locomomotives did not exceed from 20 to 28 tons in weight, the available width between the frames was quite sufficient for the fire-box, but with the rapid increase in size of engines from 30 up to : 36 and 38 tons weight, the case is quite different, ® S SCIENTIFIC ‘PRocness. Catastrophism. Mr. Clarence King is the author of the scientifie sensation of the year. For the subject of his address before the alumni of the Sheffield scientific school at New Haven, Conn., he chose ‘‘Catastrophism, or the Evolution of Environment.” In his geological researches Mr. King has found disturbances which can apparently be accounted for only upon the ground of eatastrophe or cempleto overturning of existing couditions. Thus he brings himself at direct issue with the evolutionists, who put contiuued, gradual and uniform growth and change at the basis of their theories of development. Mr. King’s address was very long. Wecan but note a few of the points made. He first established the reality of physical disturbances at several epochs iu the history of the Cordilleras region, which has been his field of labor. Between the catastrophes intervened the long periods of quiet action, such as is claimed for universal timo by the nuiformitariaus. The same amouut of energy would be required to elevate inountainous districts upon either view. The effects of the cataclysms upon life are claimed to be partly extermination; partly destruction of ological equilibrium, thue violating natural selection; aud partly the production of morphological changes in plastic species. Marked changes of species are noted in connectiou with these catastrophes. An illustration is afforded by the supposed genealogy of the American horse, ae set forth by Huxley and Marsh, and regarded as demonstration of evolution, or the descent of the scveral genera from each other. King asserts that in the Cordilleras country, where these relics occur, there has been a catastrophe intervening between each two successive forms of the horse. After criticiz ng the opinions of Huxley, Lyell, Hutton, Darwin, and others, he recurred to the effects of sudden terrestrial or cosmical changes, and conceived that the effects of these changes would be, first, extermination; secondly, destruction of the biological equilibrium; and thirdly, rapid morphological change on the part of plastic species. When catastrophic change burst in upon the ages of uniformity, and sounded in the ears of every living thing the words ‘‘change or die!” plasticity became the sole principle of salvation. And plasticity is the key to survival and prosperity. Mr. King remarked in conclusion of his address: ‘“He who brought to bear that mysterious energy we call life upon primeval matter bestowed at the same time a power of development by change, arranging that the interaction of energy and matter, which make up environment should, from time to time, burst in upon the current of life and sweep it onward and 1pward to ever higher and better manifestations, Moments of great eatastrophe, thus translated into the language of life, become moments of creation, when out of plastic organisms something newer and nobler is called into being.” A Truty ArtiFictaL Eye.—Dr. Wiliam Siemens has constructed, by an ingenious adaptation of selenium to the purpose, an artificial eye that is sensitive to light and to difference in color, which gives signs of fatigue when it is submitted to the prolonged action of light, and regains its strength after resting with closed lids, and which hy an electro-magnet attachment may be made to close itself involuntarily, as does the human eye, on the occurrence of a vivid flash. In its construction a hollow sphere, suitably supported, is provided with two openinge, in one of which is placed a converging Jens and iu the other a selenium plate, the latter in communication with an electric current and galvanometer. The lens heing covered witb two movable screens, the whole is comparable to an eye, in which the screens represent the lids and the selenium plate the retina. Whenever the screens are removed the galvanometer is seen to deviate and the degree of deviation depends on the color of the light which converges upon the selenium; it is very slight if the light is blue, more if the light is red and still more if white light is transmitted. Tynpaui’s Swiss Cotracge.—The London World says: ‘‘By next season Professor Tyndall will have built himself a mountain home among his heloved peaks and glaciers. The spot he has selected is in the center of a region of unrivaled heauty and interest. From the Bel Alp, hard by the upper valley of the Rhone, and not far from the spot where the Simplon road bends southwards, he will enjoy on the one side a magnificent view of the Matterhorn, the Weisshorn, and Dom, rearing their proud crests above an army of ice peake; on the other side is the great Aletsch glacier, bounded and fed by the giants of the Bernese Oberland, the snowy axe-edge of the Jungfrau, the savage pinnacle of the Finsteraarhorn, and the great central dome of the Aletschhorn. It was to the summit of the latter magnificent peaks, epringing from enormous glaciers, that Professor Tyndall last summer conducted his bride, to the great delight of that lady, whose skill as a cragswoman is a source of infinite pride to her hushand.” Sim Witt1am Txonson.—The Haliau Society of Sciences has awarded Sir William Thomson, of Glasgow, the Matteucci prize for the investigator who has contributed most to the advancement of science during the past year, What Underlies Sacramento, The boring of an artesian well at Sacramento shows the character of the underlying strata. The Record-Union says: After passing through strata of loose sand, gravel, clay, boulders, etc., the tools at a depth of 886 feet etruck soapstone, then passed inte cemented sand, and at 1,090 feet struck wood, which was met with at intervals until a depth of 1,10S feet was reached, This wood is black, but in a good state of preservation, looke like pine or redwood, and remains solid after exposure to the air. Soapstone followed the cemented eand, and was in turn followed by cemented saud at a depth of 1,160 feet, and the boring tools have heen in tliat substance ever since. The tubing is full of water to within about 50 fect of the surface of the ground. About the time a depth of 1,075 feet was attained gas commenced bubbling up through the water, and one night when a candle was lowered down to look at the water there was quite a little explosion. Last Sunday the hole in the tubing was covered over at the top, leaving an opening in the ceuter through which a piece of half-inch gas pipe was passed. The gas escaping through this pipe was ignited and blazed u to a hight of two feet and a half, burning wit a bluish flame, but neither when burning nor otherwise did it emit any odor. Monday fore. noon the gas would not ignite, but that afternoon it burned freely again. Wood has been found at several depths besides that mentioned above, the lowest Baca 1,320 feet, when some of the pieces taken ont had a coating of cemented sand, showing that the stick of timber from which it was taken was lying in that epecies of deposit, A Wonperrut Museum.—A great advance, as far as effect is coucerned, on existing methods of exhibitiug the remains of extinet animals haa reeently been made in Germany. M. Martin, a distinguished naturalist and taxidermist, has organized, near Stuttgart, a most remarkable museum, in which the various species long since extinct are attempted to he reproduced as they appeared during life. The pieces are models conetituted according to fossil ekeletons in the most celebrated museums of the civilized world. The collection already contains the gigantic saurians of the trias, the ichthyosaurus, the plesiosaurus, the pterodactyl, the cave bear, the dinornis and many others, all reproduced witb great skill. M. Martin has, however, lately completed a work which eclipses his previous efforts, and may be regarded as his chef d'wuvre. It represents a mammoth of the quaternary epoch, and is formed according to documents furnished by Pallas, and numerous remains of this fossil elephant are to be found in the rich cabinet of natural history in Stuttgart and other collections. The hair is copied from that of the celebrated mammoth found in Siberia. The hight of the object is five meters, its length eight meters. It is hollow inside; four posts pass through its legs, The contour of the hody is made with bent laths connected by metallic sheeting, The whole is covered with thick papier mache, on which the hair (made with the fibers of a species of Indian pelm) is gummed. This fine object has been bought by Prof. Ward for his museum of comparative anatomy in Rochester, N. Y. THE PaNTHER AS A SEED-DIsTRIBUTOR.—An English journal says: The many unlikely methods by which the seeds of plants are diffused over land and sea till they at length find a congenial spot for development, form an interesting and curious study. It is well known that bees carry pollen from flower to flower, and thus act not only as sowers of seed, but also as fertilizers fo the female plants. A curious instance of this kind has recently been cominunicated by a wellknown scientific mau, who states that attached to the skin of a panther recently shot in India were found numerous seeds, each of which had two hooks, manifestly designated to attach themselves to foreign bodies, As the panther moved ahont it collected the seeds on the skin and carried them about wherever it went; but when it rubbed against the shrubs, it of necessity brushed some off, and thus distrihuted them. One of the seeds produced a handsome plant, and beautiful clusters of tubular flowers. It was immediately recognized to be the Martynia diandra, a plant which, although introduced into England as far hack as 1731, has scarcely ever heen cultivated, although it has been commented on by botanists, Nort AmerIcay ALG#.—We find in the American Journal of Science the announcement of the appearance of ‘‘ Algae Exsiccatz Americe Borealis; Curantibus W. G. Farlow, C. L. Anderson, D. C. Eaton, Edite. Fasciculus I. Boston, 1877.” Two editore of the volume are of Harvard and Yale and Dr. Anderson will be rocognized asa resident of Sauta Cruz and a contrihutor to the Press. The specimens of Algw which are thus presented to the public are fifty in number and Dr. Gray pronounces them ‘‘all of real interest and many of them new or next tonew, at least in collections.” Alge» from California have beeen unattainable until the present effort, made them available. Tur History or THE Frac. — The July number of the Magazine of American History (A. 8. Barnes & Co.), has for a leading article a careful and exhaustive sketch of ‘‘ Our National Flag—its History in a Century,” hy MajorGeneral Schuyler Hamilton, the first historian of the American flag.

July 28, 1877.] MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS 51 MecHanicat Progress. Returning to Wood for Safety. {t is not a little iutcresting to note that inventors of impenetrable war vessels are turning their attention from iron back ayaiu to the material of the raft, the eanoe and the merchautman. Wo read inan English exchange of the unsinkable vessel of war proposed by Mr. W. M. Pollexfen, The priuciple of the inveution ean be very briefly explained; it consists in making the ship as near as praeticable a solid mase of timber, the ouly deviation from solidity heing the oonstruction of an impregnable compartinent in the center for carrying the armainent and machinery. The rectangular bold or epace is, of course, arrauged to be of suitable size, and Mr. Pollexfen even proposes to provide that tho ship shall continue to float although the pacrral compartment shall be complotoly filled with water, and still have buoyancy to spare. He points out that sucha ship would be invincible, for though eompletely swaiupod aud the engine or other rooms tlooded for a time, ehe could be inauaged with her sails aud remain as formidahle as any sailing war vessel until her damage was repaired. But this is not all; the whole of the exposed portion of the hull being constructed of solid timbers, Mr. Pollexfen suggests, with much show of plausibility, that uot even a torpedo would disable his ship, siueo the most if would in all probability do is to rend away, without detachiug, oue or two of the outside timbers, so that no Icgs than a whole succession of torpedo attacks would reuder the vessel unseaworthy. He remarks that timber can be prepared eo as to resist fire to a great extent, aud if this preparation were found to interfere with the required woight of the timber in any particular instance, another method can be rosorted to—that of rendering the exposed timbers tireproof, Progress in Pacific Coast Lumbering. Year by year, saye a writer in the Post, the lumber iudustry of the Pacitic coast is growing in larger and larger proportions, and until recently the demand has increased in like proportion. The lumber which is shipped to San Francisco from Puget sound consists in the main of Oregon pine, although there is a good deal of, spruce, rough and dressed, some rough cedar and some maple. The redwood comes from California ports. Just at present lumber enters our port from the sound, Cresceut City, Coos bay, the Columbia river aud all along the eoast to Victoria, The rapid increase in tbe lumber trade within the past few years will be seen by the following figures, kindly furnished to the writer by Mr. Earle, of the Lumber Exchange: In 1874 there was received in San Fraucisco 139,856,486 feet of Oregon pine, 11,866,163 feet of rough spruce, 765,690 feet of dressed spruce, 3,444,343 feet of rongh cedar, 188,856 feet of maple and 1,019,646 feet of redwood, In addition there was received some 10,000,000 feet in all of rough sugar pine pickets, railroad ties and telegraph poles, making in all a grand total of 253,250,564 feet. In 1875 we received 163, 695,426 feet of Oregon pine, an increase of 23,836,940 feet over the previous year. The increased production in the other kinds of lumber was in nearly the same ratio, and the total increase was equal to 53,073,634 feet. In the year 1876 the total number of feet received reached 309,159,972, equal to 2,835,774 feet over the amouut received in 1875. As sbowing how rapidly lumber is eoming into the market, it may be mentioned that last month no less than 31,073,203 feet was received, against 28,610,423 feet in June of last year. ‘The average for the month of June for the past five years has heen 22,000,000 to 25,000,000 feet. The July of 1876 was a remarkable month, about 33,000,000 feet having been discharged. The estimate for the present July is about 25,000,000 feet. Welding Wire. In manufacturing guides for coal and other pits, colliery ropes, telegraph wire, telegraph cables and fencing, and in other manufactures, it is often necessary in order to obtain wires of tbe required length to join two or more lengths of wire together, end to end, and this is ordinarily done by the process of welding. But in welding together wire of iron or steel the metal is frequently so injured during the welding process that the junction formed is very weak, and the wire is liable to break at tho welded part. The object of the invention of Mr. W, Hibell, of Birmingham, as described in the London Mining Journal, is to produce wires of iron and steel ofany reqired length, having at the joined part a strength equalto any other part. He cuts away a portion of the end of each wire, so as to give ita semi-cylindrical figure, the said cutaway portion extending about one inch from the end of the wire. The extreme ends of the wires may terminate in planes at right angles to the axis of the wire, hut he prefers to incline each end so as to give it a wedge ehape, the thin end of the wedge terminating in the axis of the wire. When he thus inclines the ends of the wire, he makes the shonlders terminating the cut-away parts of an under-cut figure, so that the wedge-shaped end of one wire when the ends of the two wires are fitted fogether shall engage with the under-cut shoulder of the other wire, The ends of the wires thus shaped he connects together by the process of brazing or hard soldoring, and the junction formed has a strength equal to that of any other portion of the wire. In wires of small diameter he prefers to give to the ends to be joined an inclined figure simply—that is, he cuts or otherwise forme on each of the euds to be joined a plane, making but a small auglo with the plane in which the axis of the wire is situated. The two plane inclined ends are joined hy hard soldering or brazieg. Measuring Cylinders. Experts in the machine shop, says the JManufacturer and Builder, commeuco to see that the cemmon way of measuriug circular cylinders, such as shafts, by meaus of callipers, is very inaccurato, Ditlerent iudividuals will always find difforent dimeusions, because they judge by the foeling of resistance whou the points of tho eallipers pass over the diamoter; and this ie the niost Uueertain of all impressions, The touch inay be more accurate thau the eye when passing the hand over a lovel surface to find inequalities escaping the eye, but in case of tlie use of callipers this seuse is uot so reliable. The eye is much more so, and therefore it is hetter to measure cylinders by passing a flattened wire around them (copper is best, as it adapts itself to the curvature better than steel.) Make marks where the two ends overlap, aud tben ineasure the distanco of the marks to find the circumforenee, which being more than three times the diameter, will for this reason alone have a chance to bo more than three times as correct, even if the more accurate eyesight did not supersede the touch with the callipers. This of course applies only to large eylinders; for small ones the measuring of the cirenmference would be very inconvenient and impractical for those of the diameter of an inch or less; then of course a good gauge plate is the thing needed, and universally used, being much more reliable than mere measuring of the diameter, THE WoRLD's MacnHinery.—The effect of machinery upon the industrial interests of the world generally, is a subject tbat frequently eugages the attention of the economist. In this connection the following estimates of the laborsaving cffects of steam motive-power, made by Dr. Eugel, the head of the statistical bureau at Berlin, Germany, will be interesting. According to Dr. Eugel, as noted by the Polytechnic Review, the aggregate steam motive-power at present in use in the world is 3,500,000 horsepower, employed in stationary engines, and 10,00,000 horse-power in locomotive engines, making a total of 13,500,000 horse-power. This force is maintained without the use of animal food, except hy the miners who dig the eoal and provide the fuel, and the force maintained in the tmuacles is to tho force generated by the product lahor as ahont one to 1,000. This steam-power is equal to the working force of 25,000,000 horses, and one horse consumes three times as much food as one man. The steam-power, therefore, is eqnivalent to the saving of food for 75,000,000 human beings. Again, three powerlooms, attended by one man, produce daily 78 pieces of cotton fabric against four pieces produced by one band-loom worked by one man in the year 1800. Again, a carpenter’s planing machine does the work of 20 men. This, of course, is but the merest ontline of what is accomplished by the use of steam-power and labor-saving machinery. New Lock ror Freigut Cars.—Railways have been not a little troubled by tramps and thieves entering freight cars while attached to trains or while standing on sidings. We read in the Utica, New York, Observer that Mr, E. F. Hotchkiss, acting upon a hint of Superintendent Priest, has got up a lock for the freight car which promises to prove very effectual. The lock does not show on the car, because it is under. It cannot be reached when the car is in motion, aud when the car is at a standstill in the yard it would be dangerous to go under to unlock it unless with a certainty that the car would not be moved. The lock is operated by a wreuch and left-hand screw, which acts as a key and starts an inch bolt of iron which fastens both doors securely. The lock can he easily applied to railroad trains. This lock seems to bea settler on the thieves, inasmuch as it has been their practice to break off the commou locks and then enter the car—all this while the car was in motion. This lock they cannot get at. The lock is now on trial on a car running between Utica and Albany. When it first arrived in Alhany no directions as to opening it had been received, having miscarried. The freight-honse men went to work with a har and sledge to open it, They succeeded in forcing the door back but five inches, and gave up the task as a bad job. Locomotive Frre-Boxes.—On the form and proportion of the fire-boxes, the committee of the Master Mechanics’ Association recommend no changes excepting to suggest an increase in the numher or length of tubes. With the present form of constrnection of locomotives, any material change in the boiler is impossible, but the question is now being considered by many persons whether some very material changes in the plan of constructing engines are not desirable, in order to get a larger boiler and especially a larger fire-box. When locomomotives did not exceed from 20 to 28 tons in weight, the available width between the frames

was quite sufficient for the fire-box, but with the rapid increase in size of engines from 30 up to : 36 and 38 tons weight, the case is quite different, ® S SCIENTIFIC ‘PRocness. Catastrophism. Mr. Clarence King is the author of the scientifie sensation of the year. For the subject of his address before the alumni of the Sheffield scientific school at New Haven, Conn., he chose ‘‘Catastrophism, or the Evolution of Environment.” In his geological researches Mr. King has found disturbances which can apparently be accounted for only upon the ground of eatastrophe or cempleto overturning of existing couditions. Thus he brings himself at direct issue with the evolutionists, who put contiuued, gradual and uniform growth and change at the basis of their theories of development. Mr. King’s address was very long. Wecan but note a few of the points made. He first established the reality of physical disturbances at several epochs iu the history of the Cordilleras region, which has been his field of labor. Between the catastrophes intervened the long periods of quiet action, such as is claimed for universal timo by the nuiformitariaus. The same amouut of energy would be required to elevate inountainous districts upon either view. The effects of the cataclysms upon life are claimed to be partly extermination; partly destruction of ological equilibrium, thue violating natural selection; aud partly the production of morphological changes in plastic species. Marked changes of species are noted in connectiou with these catastrophes. An illustration is afforded by the supposed genealogy of the American horse, ae set forth by Huxley and Marsh, and regarded as demonstration of evolution, or the descent of the scveral genera from each other. King asserts that in the Cordilleras country, where these relics occur, there has been a catastrophe intervening between each two successive forms of the horse. After criticiz ng the opinions of Huxley, Lyell, Hutton, Darwin, and others, he recurred to the effects of sudden terrestrial or cosmical changes, and conceived that the effects of these changes would be, first, extermination; secondly, destruction of the biological equilibrium; and thirdly, rapid morphological change on the part of plastic species. When catastrophic change burst in upon the ages of uniformity, and sounded in the ears of every living thing the words ‘‘change or die!” plasticity became the sole principle of salvation. And plasticity is the key to survival and prosperity. Mr. King remarked in conclusion of his address: ‘“He who brought to bear that mysterious energy we call life upon primeval matter bestowed at the same time a power of development by change, arranging that the interaction of energy and matter, which make up environment should, from time to time, burst in upon the current of life and sweep it onward and 1pward to ever higher and better manifestations, Moments of great eatastrophe, thus translated into the language of life, become moments of creation, when out of plastic organisms something newer and nobler is called into being.” A Truty ArtiFictaL Eye.—Dr. Wiliam Siemens has constructed, by an ingenious adaptation of selenium to the purpose, an artificial eye that is sensitive to light and to difference in color, which gives signs of fatigue when it is submitted to the prolonged action of light, and regains its strength after resting with closed lids, and which hy an electro-magnet attachment may be made to close itself involuntarily, as does the human eye, on the occurrence of a vivid flash. In its construction a hollow sphere, suitably supported, is provided with two openinge, in one of which is placed a converging Jens and iu the other a selenium plate, the latter in communication with an electric current and galvanometer. The lens heing covered witb two movable screens, the whole is comparable to an eye, in which the screens represent the lids and the selenium plate the retina. Whenever the screens are removed the galvanometer is seen to deviate and the degree of deviation depends on the color of the light which converges upon the selenium; it is very slight if the light is blue, more if the light is red and still more if white light is transmitted. Tynpaui’s Swiss Cotracge.—The London World says: ‘‘By next season Professor Tyndall will have built himself a mountain home among his heloved peaks and glaciers. The spot he has selected is in the center of a region of unrivaled heauty and interest. From the Bel Alp, hard by the upper valley of the Rhone, and not far from the spot where the Simplon road bends southwards, he will enjoy on the one side a magnificent view of the Matterhorn, the Weisshorn, and Dom, rearing their proud crests above an army of ice peake; on the other side is the great Aletsch glacier, bounded and fed by the giants of the Bernese Oberland, the snowy axe-edge of the Jungfrau, the savage pinnacle of the Finsteraarhorn, and the great central dome of the Aletschhorn. It was to the summit of the latter magnificent peaks, epringing from enormous glaciers, that Professor Tyndall last summer conducted his bride, to the great delight of that lady, whose skill as a cragswoman is a source of infinite pride to her hushand.” Sim Witt1am Txonson.—The Haliau Society of Sciences has awarded Sir William Thomson, of Glasgow, the Matteucci prize for the investigator who has contributed most to the advancement of science during the past year, What Underlies Sacramento, The boring of an artesian well at Sacramento shows the character of the underlying strata. The Record-Union says: After passing through strata of loose sand, gravel, clay, boulders, etc., the tools at a depth of 886 feet etruck soapstone, then passed inte cemented sand, and at 1,090 feet struck wood, which was met with at intervals until a depth of 1,10S feet was reached, This wood is black, but in a good state of preservation, looke like pine or redwood, and remains solid after exposure to the air. Soapstone followed the cemented eand, and was in turn followed by cemented saud at a depth of 1,160 feet, and the boring tools have heen in tliat substance ever since. The tubing is full of water to within about 50 fect of the surface of the ground. About the time a depth of 1,075 feet was attained gas commenced bubbling up through the water, and one night when a candle was lowered down to look at the water there was quite a little explosion. Last Sunday the hole in the tubing was covered over at the top, leaving an opening in the ceuter through which a piece of half-inch gas pipe was passed. The gas escaping through this pipe was ignited and blazed u to a hight of two feet and a half, burning wit a bluish flame, but neither when burning nor otherwise did it emit any odor. Monday fore. noon the gas would not ignite, but that afternoon it burned freely again. Wood has been found at several depths besides that mentioned above, the lowest Baca 1,320 feet, when some of the pieces taken ont had a coating of cemented sand, showing that the stick of timber from which it was taken was lying in that epecies of deposit, A Wonperrut Museum.—A great advance, as far as effect is coucerned, on existing methods of exhibitiug the remains of extinet animals haa reeently been made in Germany. M. Martin, a distinguished naturalist and taxidermist, has organized, near Stuttgart, a most remarkable museum, in which the various species long since extinct are attempted to he reproduced as they appeared during life. The pieces are models conetituted according to fossil ekeletons in the most celebrated museums of the civilized world. The collection already contains the gigantic saurians of the trias, the ichthyosaurus, the plesiosaurus, the pterodactyl, the cave bear, the dinornis and many others, all reproduced witb great skill. M. Martin has, however, lately completed a work which eclipses his previous efforts, and may be regarded as his chef d'wuvre. It represents a mammoth of the quaternary epoch, and is formed according to documents furnished by Pallas, and numerous remains of this fossil elephant are to be found in the rich cabinet of natural history in Stuttgart and other collections. The hair is copied from that of the celebrated mammoth found in Siberia. The hight of the object is five meters, its length eight meters. It is hollow inside; four posts pass through its legs, The contour of the hody is made with bent laths connected by metallic sheeting, The whole is covered with thick papier mache, on which the hair (made with the fibers of a species of Indian pelm) is gummed. This fine object has been bought by Prof. Ward for his museum of comparative anatomy in Rochester, N. Y. THE PaNTHER AS A SEED-DIsTRIBUTOR.—An English journal says: The many unlikely methods by which the seeds of plants are diffused over land and sea till they at length find a congenial spot for development, form an interesting and curious study. It is well known that bees carry pollen from flower to flower, and thus act not only as sowers of seed, but also as fertilizers fo the female plants. A curious instance of this kind has recently been cominunicated by a wellknown scientific mau, who states that attached to the skin of a panther recently shot in India were found numerous seeds, each of which had two hooks, manifestly designated to attach themselves to foreign bodies, As the panther moved ahont it collected the seeds on the skin and carried them about wherever it went; but when it rubbed against the shrubs, it of necessity brushed some off, and thus distrihuted them. One of the seeds produced a handsome plant, and beautiful clusters of tubular flowers. It was immediately recognized to be the Martynia diandra, a plant which, although introduced into England as far hack as 1731, has scarcely ever heen cultivated, although it has been commented on by botanists, Nort AmerIcay ALG#.—We find in the American Journal of Science the announcement of the appearance of ‘‘ Algae Exsiccatz Americe Borealis; Curantibus W. G. Farlow, C. L. Anderson, D. C. Eaton, Edite. Fasciculus I. Boston, 1877.” Two editore of the volume are of Harvard and Yale and Dr. Anderson will be rocognized asa resident of Sauta Cruz and a contrihutor to the Press. The specimens of Algw which are thus presented to the public are fifty in number and Dr. Gray pronounces them ‘‘all of real interest and many of them new or next tonew, at least in collections.” Alge» from California have beeen unattainable until the present effort, made them available. Tur History or THE Frac. — The July number of the Magazine of American History (A. 8. Barnes & Co.), has for a leading article a careful and exhaustive sketch of ‘‘ Our National Flag—its History in a Century,” hy MajorGeneral Schuyler Hamilton, the first historian of the American flag.