Chapter 8

From the fire balloon invented by the Montgolfier Brothers, in 1782, to the superior hydrogen balloon of M.M. Charles and Robert, no material advancement has been made, except the employment of coal gas, first suggested by Mr. Green. The vast surface presented to the wind makes the balloon unmanageable in every breeze, and the aeronaut can do nothing but allow it to float along with the current. This is a difficulty which has been partly overcome, as was seen at the recent Paris Electrical Exhibition; but no one will ever be able to guide it in a direction opposite to a current of air. The aeronaut must ever content himself in being able to float in the direction of the current or at certain angles to its course; but to do this even is a matter which has not been successfully accomplished. An inflated balloon would ascend too high unless several hundred pounds of ballast were used to weight it down. This ballast serves another purpose, it is desirable to maintain the balloon at a uniform distance above the earth's surface, and as the two per cent. daily waste of gas diminishes the buoyancy of the balloon, it must be kept from descending by throwing off a certain amount of sand. Again, the heat of the sun and the action of warm air currents cause at times the volume of gas to undergo a sudden expansion, and then to prevent the balloon from running too high, the gas must be allowed to escape from the valve. The gas, under these circumstances, must also be allowed to escape in order to prevent the balloon from bursting. Presently the balloon will pass through a colder current of air and sudden condensation takes place, and the balloon would sink unless more ballast were thrown off. This process continues until the aeronaut has neither ballast nor gas left.

Now, I suggest that a large balloon be made with the mouth closed, so that no gas can escape; and that it carry enough ballast to keep it, under an ordinary temperature, at a certain distance from the ground. A pipe must enter the mouth of the balloon, one end of which opens in its interior and the other end in a gas reservoir which lies in the "basket" or "car." As soon as the gas undergoes an expansion, and a certain amount of pressure is made in this reservoir, a valve opens and a whistle signals the moment when the force pumps must be set to work to pump the air out of the balloon into the large _number two_ reservoir, the frame work of which forms the body of the car. Taking a certain amount of gas out of the balloon is equivalent to taking on more ballast, while by condensing this gas into a large reservoir, it is not allowed to escape, and when necessary can be sent back into the balloon and thus prevent the throwing off of ballast. Coal gas, under a certain pressure, becomes heavier than air (or at least equally heavy), and thus the gas pumped out of the balloon will of itself serve as ballast. This invention will enable the balloonist to keep himself at a uniform distance above the earth, will prevent the carrying of so much ballast and the expensive waste of gas, and will enable him to keep afloat at least ten times as long as by the old method. I have made a model and tested the above theory.

ELI C. OHMART. North Manchester, Ind.

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ARTISTS' HOMES. NO. 12--MR. WILLIAM EMERSON'S HOUSE AT LITTLE SUTTON, CHISWICK.

Little Sutton was an old house, parts of which were in existence before the time of Cromwell. It is situated in a picturesque old garden, surrounded by ivy-clad walls and fine trees, one of the cedars being extraordinarily large and perfect, its huge branches covering a space of over 90 ft. in diameter. The greater part of the old house, being uninhabitable through decay, was pulled down; the old parts are shown in black on the plan, and the new hatched. It is faced with red bricks, and red Corsehill stone dressings, and covered with tiles The plan was arranged so as to preserve the old kitchen, billiard-room, morning room, and conservatory. The hall, entered from a veranda in connection with the entrance-porch, is surrounded by a dado, the height of doors; the lower panels are filled with tiles made to design by the School of Art at Bombay. The woodwork is painted a mottled blue color, harmonizing with the general tone of the tiles, the whole being something the color of _lapis lazuli_. The staircase is divided from the hall by three arches, through which is seen the staircase-window, representing, in stained glass, the Earth, Air, and Water. Under the central arch is the fireplace, on the hood of which will eventually be a bronze figure of Orpheus, on a ground of mosaic. The floor is of marble mosaic, and round the border are the various beasts listening to the music, the trees and river, etc. Above the dado, and on the wooden panels of ceiling, will be the birds, etc. The woodwork of dining-room is plain American walnut, the panels of dado being filled with dark Japanese leather-paper. The panels and beams of ceiling are of stained and dull varnished fir. The drawing room woodwork, and furniture throughout, is painted a mottled greenish blue, after the same manner as the hall. The decorations of this room, when complete, are intended to illustrate Chaucer's "House of Fame." The chimney-piece, of alabaster, is surmounted by a Caen-stone design, on a rock of glass, showing the entrance to the castle, with the various figures mentioned in the poem, carved in half-round relief, and the gateway itself also richly and quaintly carved; the rock of glass representing the ice on which the castle was supposed to be built, and on it are cut the various famous names of the world's history. In the frieze all round the room will be the figure of Fame and the various groups of suppliants, and the pillars with the groups upholding the renown of ancient cities and nations, etc., executed in very low relief, and painted on a ground of blue and gold. The panels of ceilings will have conventional designs and the heavenly bodies on ground of gold and blue. The morning and other rooms have no particular scheme of decoration prepared, and are simply painted and papered in quiet tones.

We publish a longitudinal section, taken through the hall and drawing-room, with part of the dining-room on the left and part of the library on the right-hand side. The beautifully-modeled plaster frieze, with the central figure of Fame, is shown in the drawing-room, and illustrates Chaucer's "House of Fame," the whole being elaborately colored in harmony with the purposes and general tone of the room, which is in blue and gold. The hooded mantelpiece in the library is entirely in concrete, to be richly painted and gilded. The drawing, with the assistance of the description, will explain itself.--_Building News._

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MEMORABLE ENGLISH HOUSES.

In the year 1864, a letter appeared in the _Journal of the Society of Arts_ from a correspondent, who suggested that the Society of Arts should offer a prize or prizes for designs of memorial tablets to be affixed to houses associated with distinguished persons, and in the same year a series of suggested inscriptions was reprinted from the _Builder_. The subject having been brought under the notice of the council, a committee was appointed in 1866 to consider and report how the society might promote the erection of statues or other memorials of persons eminent in arts, manufactures, and commerce, and, at the first meeting of the committee, on May 7, Mr. George C.T. Bartley submitted some memoranda on the proposal to place labels on houses in the metropolis known to have been inhabited by celebrated persons In 1837, the first tablet was erected by the society in Holles Street, Cavendish Square, on the house where Byron was born. Other tablets were soon afterward put up, and the erection of these memorials has been continued to the present time.

The house in Leicester Square, upon which a tablet in memory of Hogarth has been erected, is occupied by Archbishop Tenison's school, for which the house was rebuilt. The original building, in which Hogarth lived for several years, was long known as the "Sablonière Hotel." John Hunter lived next door after Hogarth's death. Of the four worthies who were intimately connected with Leicester Square, viz, Hunter, Hogarth, Newton and Reynolds, and whose busts are now set up at the four corners of the inclosure, the last three have tablets erected.

The house in St. Martin's Street, which is now occupied by the schools attached to the Orange Street Chapel, is in much the same condition as when Sir Isaac Newton lived in it, from 1710 to 1727, except that the old red bricks have been covered with stucco, and an observatory on the roof has been taken away within the last few years.

Flaxman had several London residences, but the house in Buckingham Street, Fitzroy Square, is the one with which he is most intimately associated, as he lived in it during the prime of his artistic career. He went there in 1796, when he returned from Rome, and there he died in 1826, being buried in the ground adjoining old St. Pancras Church and belonging to the parish of St. Giles-in-the fields. The house is on the south side of the street, close by Great Titchfield Street.

Canning's house, on the south side of Conduit Street is greatly changed since the great statesman lived in it. It originally formed a wing of Trinity Chapel, which has been swept away within the last few years. This chapel was the successor of the chapel-on-wheels which was used at the Hounslow camp in the reign of James II., and was subsequently brought up to London. It is shown in Kip's view of old Burlington House as standing in the fields at the back of that house. When Conduit Street was built, a chapel was erected on the south side to supersede the chapel-on-wheels. The house on the west side of the chapel, where Canning lived for a time, was subsequently inhabited for many years by the famous physician, Dr. Elliotson, F.R.S. After his death, the front was altered, and a large shop window made, as seen in the accompanying figure. It is now in the possession of Mr. Streeter, the jeweler.

Dr. Johnson had so many residences in London that there is some difficulty in choosing the one that is most interesting to us. The house in Gough Square has special claims to attention, as it was there that the great lexicographer chiefly compiled his dictionary. The garret, with its slanting roof, in which his amanuenses worked, and his own study are still to be been. Johnson himself, in his "Life of Milton," observes, "I cannot but remark a kind of respect, perhaps unconsciously, paid to this great man by his biographers; every house in which he resided is historically mentioned, as if it were an injury to neglect naming any place that he honored by his presence." Emboldened by this expression of opinion, Boswell one evening, in the year 1779, ventured to ask Johnson the names of some of his residences, and he obtained the following list, which he printed in his "Life of Johnson:" (1) Exeter Street, off Catherine Street, Strand, (2) Greenwich; (3) Woodstock Street, near Hanover Square; (4) Castle Street, Cavendish Square, No. 6, (5) Strand; (6) Boswell Court; (7) Strand again; (8) Bow Street; (9) Holborn; (10) Fetter Lane; (11) Holborn again, (12) Gough Square; (18) Staple's Inn; (14) Gray's Inn; (15) Inner Temple Lane, No. 1; (16) Johnson's Court, No. 7; (17) Bolt Court, No. 8. In this last place he died in 1784.

In April, 1879, the corporation of the city of London were asked to co-operate in this work, and to undertake the erection of suitable memorial tablets within the city boundaries. The matter was referred to the city lands committee, with which body the secretary has had several communications with respect to the localities suggested for memorials, the result being that the committee agreed to erect such tablets within the city boundaries.--_Journal of the Society of Arts._

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DOMESTIC SUGAR PRODUCTION.

The value of sugar imported into the United States, is greater than that of any other single article of commerce. In the year 1880 it appears that over one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine million pounds of sugar were brought here from other countries, at a cost of nearly one hundred and twenty million dollars, including customs duty. Moreover, the consumption of sugar, _per capita_, in this country is rapidly increasing. It was, during the ten years next preceding 1870, only 28 pounds on the average per annum, but, in the ten years next following, an average of 38 pounds per annum were consumed for each person of the population of this country. This appears to be an increase of 35 per centum in ten years.

The subject of domestic cultivation of sugar bearing plants is, therefore, one of great importance to this nation, and it has accordingly engaged the attention of the U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture, and many experiments have been made in different parts of the country in the propagation of the various canes, roots, etc., from which sugar can be made. Among sugar-bearing plants, beside the regular sugar cane, are, sorghum, sugar beet, maple, watermelon, sweet and white potato, and corn stalk.

Statistics show that of the 12,000,000,000 pounds of sugar produced in the world, about three-fourths comes from the sugar cane, and the other fourth comes mainly from the sugar beet. Of the total quantity, only about one seventieth is produced in the United States, and that is mainly cane sugar from Louisiana. The beet sugar has formerly been mainly produced in Europe. First France, second Germany, third Russia, then Belgium, Austria, Holland, Sweden, and Italy.

The consumption of sugar in Great Britain is much greater _per capita_ than in the United States, about 65 pounds, or nearly double; while in Germany 19 pounds per annum are used on an average by each person, and in Russia the consumption is much less.

The importance of this subject to the United States, where the consumption of sugar is increasing out of ratio to the production of sugar-bearing plants, and where agricultural independence should be realized, as we have already attained and maintained political independence, and almost independence in manufacturing industries, has called out Mr. Lewis S. Ware, a member of the American Chemical Society, etc., in a pamphlet of over 60 pages, entitled a "_Study of the Various Sources of Sugar_."

From this publication it appears that the main source of sugar supply must still be _sucrose_, cane sugar, even in spite of the best efforts of the general government and of the State agricultural organizations to introduce sugar-bearing plants that will thrive in the temperate and colder latitudes of this country. With the single exception of the sugar beet, he seems to disparage all attempts to produce practical sugar from hardy plants, or those that will mature in the region of frosts in winter. Even sorghum, that has for twenty years held a place in the hopes of the northern farmer, has declined so that the alleged production of half a million pounds in 1866 had became barely a twelfth of a million pounds in 1877.

In his remarks on the synopsis of one hundred and eleven experiments, made at Washington, he says: "As may be noticed, thirty-five of them (111) would yield zero. If we take the average of the hundred and eleven experiments, we find as a yield 4.5 per cent., which result cannot possibly be practically accepted. In other words, our government, notwithstanding the favorable conditions under which they were made, prove that the sorghum utilization is fallacy in every sense of the word." ... "If sorghum is to be grown for its sirup, or for fodder, it will evidently render excellent service." It seems that less than four per cent. of crystallizable sugar in the sorghum juice will not pay the cost of making sugar from it, as it will not crystallize in a reasonable time, on account of the glucose in the juice, which, with the other impurities, will prevent the ready crystallization of four or five times their own weight of sucrose.

From the early history of sorghum, it appears that it was known as _sorgo_ in the sixteenth century, while twenty or thirty varieties were known under different names in Egypt, Arabia, and Africa. Some of the names are, Chinese sugar cane, (sorgo), India cane, emphee or Coffers' bread, paindes anges, etc.

The later history of it shows that in 1850, Count Montigny sent the first samples from China to Europe. It had been used in the former country for thousands of years for the manufacture of red dye. The seeds were afterward sold in France for a _franc_ each.

A variety came later to this country from Africa, through the agency of an Englishman named Wray, to whom is charged the effects of the delusive experiments of trying to make crystallized sugar from its juice, which have been going on in this country for twenty years. But two varieties of sorghum now remain, known as the Chinese and African types. Of all the other sugar plants, none except the maple tree (besides the sugar cane and the beet) seem to have yielded sugar to pay the cost of manufacture. The maple tree has yielded a total of 41,000,000 pounds in 1877. But as an industry by itself, it appears to be unprofitable, and maple sugar must be, and generally is, sold at a higher price per pound than cane sugar; moreover, it has not the qualities that are required in a general sweetner for culinary purposes.

The variety of sugar plant called amber cane is not very clearly defined, but it may be taken, from the description of the juice as to crystallizing qualities, as no better sugar producer than sorghum. It, with sorghum, is classed as a sub-variety of sugar cane, which will yield sirup and fodder, but will not crystallize under several months' time, and even then in but small percentage.

On the whole it appears, as before stated, that the sugar beet is the only practicable source of sugar for the Northern States, which, as experimentally shown, can be raised at a profit of forty six dollars per acre, against twenty dollars per acre, the profit of sugar making from cane in Louisiana. Upon this showing several beet sugar factories have been started in the United States and in Canada, and their products are said to be satisfactory, and have been sold at a profit in competition with imported beet sugar.

Mr. Ware recommends the establishment of beet sugar factories on a larger scale, to be managed by men who have had experience in this particular kind of sugar making, which seems to be a practical means of supplying ourselves with home-made sugar. It must be remembered, however, that the successful cultivation of an ample supply of beets to keep them at work is an essential prerequisite.

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HERALD ISLAND.

John Muir, the geologist with the Corwin Arctic Expedition, describes, as follows, the characteristics of Herald Island, hitherto known only as an inaccessible rock seen by a few venturesome whalers and explorers:

After so many futile efforts had been made to reach this little ice bound island, everybody seemed wildly eager to run ashore and climb to the summit of its sheer granite cliffs. At first a party of eight jumped from the bowsprit chains and ran across the narrow belt of margin ice and madly began to climb up an excessively steep gully, which came to an end in an inaccessible slope a few hundred feet above the water. Those ahead loosened and sent down a train of granite bowlders, which shot over the heads of those below in a far more dangerous manner than any of the party seemed to appreciate. Fortunately nobody was hurt, and all made out to get down in safety. While this remarkable piece of mountaineering and Arctic exploration was in progress, a light skin-covered boat was dragged over the ice and launched on a strip of water that stretched in front of an accessible ravine, the bed of an ancient glacier, which I felt assured would conduce by an easy grade to the summit of the island. The slope of this ravine for the first hundred feet or so was very steep, but inasmuch as it was full of firm, icy snow, it was easily ascended by cutting steps in the face of it with an ax that I had brought from the ship for the purpose. Beyond this there was not the slightest difficulty in our way, the glacier having graded a fine, broad road.

ON THE SUMMIT.

Kellet, who discovered this island in 1849, and landed on it under unfavorable circumstances, describes it as an inaccessible rock. The sides are, indeed, in general, extremely sheer and precipitous all around, though skilled mountaineers would find many gullies and slopes by which they might reach the summit. I first pushed on to the head of the glacier valley, and thence along the back bone of the island to the highest point, which I found to be about twelve hundred feet above the level of the sea. This point is about a mile and a half from the northwest end, and four and a half from the northeast end, thus making the island about six miles in length. It has been cut nearly in two by the glacial action it has undergone, the width at this lowest portion being about half a mile, and the average width about two miles. The entire island is a mass of granite with the exception of a patch of metamorphic slate near the center, and no doubt owes its existence with so considerable a height to the superior resistance this granite offered to the degrading action of the northern ice sheet, traces of which are here plainly shown, as well as on the shores of Siberia and Alaska, and down through Behring Strait, southward, beyond Vancouver Island. Traces of the subsequent partial glaciation it has been subjected to are also manifested in glacial valleys of considerable depth as compared with the size of the island. I noticed four of these, besides many marginal glacial grooves around the sides. One small remnant with feeble action still exists near the middle of the island. I also noted several scored and polished patches on the hardest and most enduring of the outswelling rock bosses. This little island, standing as it does alone out in the Polar Sea, is a fine glacial monument.

A MIDNIGHT OBSERVATION.

The midnight hour I spent alone on the highest summit, one of the most impressive hours of my life. The deepest silence seemed to press down on all the vast, immeasurable, virgin landscape. The sun near the horizon reddened the edges of belted cloud bars near the base of the sky, and the jagged ice bowlders crowded together over the frozen ocean stretching indefinitely northward, while more than a hundred miles of that mysterious Wrangell Land was seen blue in the northwest--a wavering line of hill and dale over the white and blue ice prairie and pale gray mountains beyond, well calculated to fix the eye of a mountaineer; but it was to the far north that I ever found myself turning, where the ice met the sky. I would fain have watched here all the strange night, but was compelled to remember the charge given me by the captain, to make haste and return to the ship as soon as I should find it possible, as there was ten miles of shifting, drifting ice between us and the open sea.

PLANT LIFE ON HERALD ISLAND.