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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION, ART, SCIENCE, MECHANICS, CHEMISTRY, AND MANUFACTURES.

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 14, 1878.

Vol. XXXIX.--No. 24. [NEW SERIES.]

[$3.20 per Annum [POSTAGE PREPAID.]]

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CONTENTS.

(Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk.)

Alum in baking powders Alum in bread 376 Argonaut, or Paper Nautilus* 375 Astronomical notes 377 Babbitt metal, to make [5] 378 Belts, rubber, slipping [6] 378 Bench, saw, Casson's* 374 Boot polish liquid [8] 378 Butter, to color [16] 378 Canal, ship, Belgian* 367 Economy, machine shop 371 Eggs, preservation of 375 Electric light, Werdermann* 373 Engineers, warning to 367 Engine, steam, valve yoke [48] 379 Exterminator, roach [57] 379 Filter for rain water [19] 378 Foot power, new* 370 Glass, iridescent 368 Glass, to make a hole in 375 Hair, to prevent falling out [42]379 Inks, sympathetic 377 Invention, reward of 371 Inventions, new, 370 Inventions, new agricultural 377 Inventions, new mechanical 374 Inventors, bait for 374 Iron and steel, preservation of 367 Iron, malleable, to make [43] 379 Leaves, culinary uses for 370 Line, straight, to draw* [36] 379 Mechanics, amateur* 371 Mexico, progress of science in 376 Microphone as a thief catcher 375 Naphtha and benzine 377 Nitrate of silver, reduction of 377 Notes and queries 378 Oil notes 372 Petroleum and gold 377 Petroleum, progress of 368 Poultices 374 Quinine, effects of on hearing 374 Railroad, first in U. S. [2] 378 Rails and railway accidents 368 Railway notes 373 Sanitary Science in the U. S. 369 Screw heads, blue color for [4] 378 Sheep husbandry, American 375 Shutter fastener, new* 370 Silver mill in the clouds 374 Spider, trap-door* 375 Sprinkler, garden, improved* 370 Telescope, sunshade for [3] 378 Tools, steel, to temper [55] 379 Tree, tallest in the world 375 Tree trunks elongation of 376 Trees, felling by electricity 370 Tubing, to satin finish [51] 379 Vise, an improved* 370 White lead, to test [14] 378 Wire clothing for cylinders* 377 Work, the limit of 368

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THE BELGIAN SHIP CANAL.

The ship canal from Ghent to Terneuzen was originally laid out with many bends, rendering navigation difficult; it had a depth of 14 feet 4 inches and a width of 98 feet 6 inches at the water level. The works which are at present in course of execution have especially for their object the deepening of the canal to 21 feet 3 inches, with a width of 55 feet 9 inches at the bottom and 103 feet 9 inches on the water line. The slopes have a uniform inclination of 1 to 3, and the towing paths on each side are placed 6 feet 6 inches above the water level, and are 32 feet 8 inches wide. In many instances also the course of the canal has been altered and straightened for the improvement of navigation; several important diversions have been made for this purpose. The excavation has been effected by hand, by dredging, and by the Couvreux excavator, figured as below in _Engineering_.

The earth excavated was carried to spoil, and in many cases was employed to form dikes inclosing large areas, which served as receptacles for the semi-liquid material excavated by the dredging machines with the long conductors; the Couvreux excavator used will be readily understood from the engraving. It had already done service on the Danube regulation works. The material with which it had to deal, however, was of a more difficult nature, being a fine sand charged with water and very adherent. The length of track laid for the excavator was about 3 miles along the side of the old canal, which had been previously lowered to the level of the water.

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PRESERVATION OF IRON AND STEEL FROM OXIDATION.

We are indebted to J. Pechar, Railway Director in Teplitz, Bohemia, for the first official report in English from the Paris International Exhibition which has come to hand. This volume contains the report on the coal and iron products in all countries of the world, and is valuable for its statistical and other information, giving, as it does, the places where the coal and minerals are found, and the quantities of each kind produced, for what it is used, and to what other countries it is exported. The able compiler of these statistics in the introduction of his report gives the following account of the means recommended by Professor Barff, of London, for preventing oxidation, which is being considerably used abroad. The writer says:

It is well known that the efficient preservation of iron against rusting is at present only provided for in cases where human life would be endangered by failure, as in the case of railway bridges and steamers. Thus, for example, at Mr. Cramer-Klett's ironworks at Nuremberg every piece of iron used for his bowstring bridges is dipped in oil heated to eight hundred degrees. The very great care which is at present taken in this matter may be judged from the current practice of most bridge and roofing manufacturers. Every piece of iron before being riveted in its place is cleaned from rust by being immersed in a solution of hydrochloric acid. The last traces of free acid having been cleared away, at first by quicklime and afterward by a copious ablution with hot water, the piece is immediately immersed in hot linseed oil, which protects every part of the surface from the action of the atmosphere. Afterward it is riveted and painted.

Notwithstanding all this, the painting requires continual and careful renewal. On the Britannia Bridge, near Bangor, the painter is permanently at work; yet, in spite of all this care and expense, rust cannot be entirely avoided. The age of iron railway bridges is still too short to enable us to draw conclusions as to the probabilities of accidents. Now, Professor Barff has discovered a process by which iron may be kept from rusting by being entirely coated with its own sesquioxide. A piece of iron exposed to the action of superheated steam, in a close chamber and under a certain pressure, becomes gradually covered by a skin of this black oxide, of a thickness depending upon the temperature of the steam and the duration of the experiment. For instance, exposure during five hours to steam superheated to five hundred degrees will produce a hermetical coating capable of resisting for a considerable time the application of emery paper and of preserving the iron from rust even in a humid atmosphere, if under shelter from the weather. If the temperature is raised to 1,200 degrees, and the time of exposure to six or seven hours, the skin of sesquioxide will resist every mechanical action, and the influence of any kind of weather. The sesquioxide being harder than the iron itself, and adhering to its surface even more firmly than the atoms of iron do to each other, there is an increased resistance not only to chemical but also to mechanical action. The surface is not altered by the process in any other respect, a plain forging retaining its roughness, a polished piece its smooth surface. If the skin is broken away oxidation takes place, but only just on the spot from which the oxide has been removed. If Professor Barff's experiments are borne out by practice, this invention may become of very great importance. It is within the bounds of probability that it may enable iron, by increasing its facility in competing with wood, to recover, at least for a considerable time, even more than the ground it has lost by the extraordinary extension of the use of steel. Iron is already being used for building purposes to a large extent; but oxidation once thoroughly prevented it will be able to take the place of wood and stone to a still greater degree. Iron roofing may be made quite as light as that of wood, and of greater strength, by a judicious arrangement and use of T iron.

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WARNING TO LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS.

Drs. Charles M. Cresson and Robert E. Rogers, of this city, says the Philadelphia _Ledger_, well known as experts in chemistry and dynamics, were appointed by the Reading Railroad Company to inquire into and report upon the causes of the recent explosion of the boiler of the express locomotive "Gem," at Mahanoy City, by which five lives were lost. Their report, which is designed to cover the whole scope of a most careful investigation, is not yet made public, but they have arrived at the following specific conclusion, which we give in their own language: "We are, therefore, of the opinion that the explosion of the boiler of the locomotive 'Gem,' was produced by the projection of foam upon the heated crown bars of the furnace, caused by suddenly and widely opening the safety valve, at a time when the water had been permitted to get so low as to overheat the crown of the furnace." This is an important matter that should be carefully noted by locomotive and other engineers.

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VOL. XXXIX., No. 24. [NEW SERIES.] Thirty-third Year. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1878.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS OF

THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT

No. 154,

For the Week ending December 14, 1878.

Price 10 cents. For sale by all newsdealers.

I. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.--Portable Steam Pumping Engine, 1 engraving.--New Bone Crushing Mill, 2 engravings.--Picard's Boiler. Extraction of Salt from Salt Water.--Compressed Air Machines. Hydraulic vs. air pressure. Causes of the losses of power. Estimates of useful effects obtainable.--The St. Gothard Tunnel. By GEO. J. SPECHT, C.E.--Apparatus for Lifting Sunken Vessels, with 8 figures.--Russia Sheet Iron.--Manufacture of Artificial Stone.--Compressed Fuel.--The New Magnesi Process for Boiler Feed Water.

II. FRENCH INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1878.--Wine Presses. Description of sixteen new and peculiar wine presses at the Exhibition, with 31 figures and 9 engravings. The Press Primat; Press Mabille; Press David; Samain Press; Marchand, Maupre, Boyries, Chapellier, Marmonier, Nogues, Mailhe, Moreau, Piquet, Delperoux, Terrel des Chenes, and Cassan fils Presses.

The Algerian Exhibit. The street of Algiers, with 1 illustration.--Woolen Fabrics.

III. ELECTRICITY, LIGHT, HEAT, ETC.--Electric Lighting. Estimate of the comparative heating effect in gas and electric lighting, and the consequent loss of power.--The Electric Light. Remarks on its economy.--The Present Bugbear of French Savants.

New Planets.

The Dutch Arctic Expedition. The Peak of Beerenburg, Spitzbergen, with 1 illustration.

IV. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY.--New Process for Separating Iodine and Bromine from Kelp.--Inoffensive Colors for Toys.--New Coloring Matters.--Tungsten.

Ozone and the Atmosphere. By ALBERT R. LEEDS, Ph.D. Table of percentage of ozone contained in the atmosphere at various localities in the United States. Register of ozone observations for one month at Upper Saranac Lake, N. Y., giving thermometric and barometric observations, and full record of weather. Examination of methods in ozonometry. Preparation of ozone by electrolysis of water containing sulphuric acid, with 1 engraving. Preparation by electricity, with 1 engraving. Does the electric spark decompose potassium iodide? Collection and preservation of ozone. Preparation by chemical methods. Critical examination of ozonoscopes. Potassium iodide; starch; paper classification of ozonoscopes. Examination of ozonoscopes under certain conditions.

Limits of the Combustibility of Gases.--The Diffusion of Salicylate of Soda.--Singular use of Fluorescein.--New Metal. Philippium By M. MARC DELAFONTAINE.--Better Pharmaceutical Education. By RICHARD V. MATTISON, Ph. G.--An El Dorado for Apothecaries.

V. MEDICINE AND HYGIENE.--The Science of Easy Chairs. The muscular conditions of fatigue, and how to obtain the greatest rest. How easy chairs should be made.

Prof. Huxley on the Hand. Abstract of his inaugural lecture before the South London Workingmen's College.

Paint from a Sanitary Point of View. The required abolition of absorbent surfaces in dwellings. Lead poisoning from paint not thoroughly dry. Cases described in which white lead paint in dwellings never dries, but gives off poisonous particles, which are inhaled by the inmates, causing depression, weakness headache, and loss of appetite. Zinc recommended in paint to avoid lead poisoning, and the new oxy-sulphide of Zinc described, with covering qualities equal to white lead.

The Purification of Sewage. By HENRY ROBINSON, F.R.S. Paper read before the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain. Progress in purifying sewage by precipitation. The use of chemicals for precipitating, deodorizing, and disinfecting. Practical data on a large scale, with cost. Average number of gallons per head of population, etc., of the successful system now in operation at Coventry and Hertford. How the water is removed from the sludge by filter presses. Drying and removal of the sludge. Theoretical and actual values of the sludge for fertilizing.

VI. AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, ETC.--The Broadside Steam Digger, with 1 engraving.--Shall I Plow the Lawn?--Bee Culture.

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PROGRESS OF PETROLEUM.

The efforts of the great majority of the Western Pennsylvania petroleum producers to obtain relief from what they deem the oppressive acts of the Standard Oil Company and the unjust discriminations of the United Pipe Lines, and the various railroads traversing the oil regions, have attracted more than usual attention to the present condition of this industry and its possible future.

We would here explain that the Standard Oil Company originated in Cleveland, Ohio, about twelve years ago, and was incorporated under the laws of Ohio, with a nominal capital now, we are informed, of $3,000,000, which, however, very inadequately represents the financial strength of its members. It is now a combination of the most prominent refiners in the country, and has before been credited with manipulating the transportation lines to its own special advantage.

We can recall no instance of such serious hostility between parties whose interests are at the same time of such magnitude and so nearly identical; nor can we see what substantial, enduring benefit would accrue to the producers in the event of their victory in the struggle.

They charge that the Standard Oil Company has become the controlling power to fix prices and to determine the avenues by which the oil shall be transported eastward for home consumption and for foreign exportation; that the railway companies have given this company lower rates than other parties for transporting the oil; and that through the rates given to it by the railways the value of their property is destroyed.

The reply, in effect, is, Granting all this to be true, what does it amount to? Neither more nor less than that the managers of the Standard Oil Company, by combination of capital, by intelligence and shrewdness in the management of their operations, have built up a successful business, and that they have so extended it by the use of all practicable appliances, and by the purchase of the property of competitors, that they do practically control the prices of oil, both crude and refined, and that the uncombined capital of the other oil producers, lacking the power, the intelligence, and the business skill which combined capital can secure, cannot compete with the Standard Oil Company. Now, is there any great wrong or injustice in this?

When brains can command capital it is always more successful in business matters than any amount of brains without capital or capital without brains. This result is the natural working out of the same principle that is everywhere to be seen--some men are successful and others are not.

It is the essence of communism to drag down those who succeed to the level of the unsuccessful.

If men cannot compete with others in any business they must accept the fact, and try some other employment.

If, through superior intelligence and capital, the Standard Oil Company can control the oil business of Pennsylvania, then, according to the principles of common sense, it must be permitted to do so.

What right, then, has the oil producer to complain? Why, if all that is alleged is true, will they persist in sinking more wells, when, as they say, they are controlled by the Standard Oil Company? No one forces them to lose money by continuing in the business. Let them find other employment. They do not show that the Standard Oil Company does anything that combined capital on their part and equal business ability could not effect.

The cry of monopoly in this case is altogether unfounded, those opposed to the Standard Oil Company having just as much right to do all that that company does, and, therefore, there can be no monopoly, because they have no exclusive powers.

As to the railway companies, they can afford and have a right to transport the tonnage offered them by the Standard Oil Company at less cost, because it costs them less to do a regular and large business than an irregular and smaller one. They would simply be acting in accordance with business principles the world over.

These are the arguments, the statement of the position of a successful combination confident in its resources and of victory in the coming struggle. The justness, the correctness of the doctrines enunciated, and the wisdom of so doing at this crisis, we do not propose to criticise; but it is very safe to say that if the prosperity of the complainants depends upon relief in this direction they may as well cease producing.

There are too many of them for harmonious and concerted action against the powerful corporations they complain of; and if they should succeed in securing equal transportation facilities the prices would still be regulated by the monopolists, who carry more than four-fifths of the accumulated stock of the oil regions.

The proposed appeal to Congress to pass some law whereby each producer can compel railroad companies to carry his produce at regular rates, amounts to a confession of the desperate straits of the producers and of their weakness as well; and even if successful, which is most improbable, would not remedy the deplorable existing state of things.

Still lower rates would fail to give relief, with all the present avenues of trade filled to repletion and with an increasing output at the wells. Relief and permanent relief can be found only in the direction we have before indicated: in the general application of petroleum and its products to the manufacture of gas for illuminating and heating purposes, and its substitution for coal in the metallurgic and other prominent industries of the world.

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THE LIMIT OF WORK.

In distributing the prizes to workmen at the Paris Exhibition, Louis Blanc, the leader of the French Republican Socialist party, quoted approvingly these words of Simonde de Sismondi:

"If the workman were his own master, when he had done in two hours with the aid of machinery what would have taken him twelve hours to do without it, he would stop at the end of the two."

M. Blanc had been discussing very eloquently, but also very fallaciously, the relations of machinery to labor. If men were properly united in the bonds of association, he said, if the solidarity of interests were realized, "the happy result of the application of mechanical power to industry would be equal production, with less of effort, for all. The discovery of an economic method would never have the lamentable consequence of robbing men of the work by which they live. Unfortunately, we are far from this ideal. Under the empire of that universal antagonism which is the very essence of the economic constitution of modern societies, and which too often only profits one man by ruining another, machinery has been employed to make the rule of the strong weigh more heavily on the weak. There is not a single mechanical invention which has not been a subject of anguish and a cause of distress to thousands of fathers of families from the moment it began to work."

If all this, and much else that M. Blanc alleges, were true, then the condition of all workingmen to-day should be in every way worse than that of their fathers, in anti-machinery days. But such is not the case. There never was a time when the laborer toiled less or enjoyed more than in these days of machinery; and the laborer's condition is best where the machinery is best and most used.