Scientific Notes [pp. 830-831]

SCIF,.TIFIC NVOTES.
[DECEMBER 27,
among the most interesting of recent contributions to this kind of literature, not only because
of its well-chosen passages of personal history,
but especially because of its many useful additions to our knowledge of people of whom we
can never know too much. Mr. Owen's memory reachestack into times that seem to the
present or at least the younger generation almost legendary-into the days when there
lived and worked many men and women whose
names are constantly before us still, but whose
personality is dim and indistinct to us. These
Mr. Owen's recollections call up again for our
acquaintance; many of them he knew, and of
many he heard fromn those about him. He has
decidedly that art, or rather that natural power,
of narration which is so necessary to the writer
of an autobiography. With pleasant chattiness, but without garrulity, he tells us what
he has to tell. In all respects, his book is
valuable and interesting. (Carleton, publisher.)
Jules Verne's story, " From the Earth to
the Moon," which is the last that translation
has placed within the reach of American readers, is very much better than " The Fur Country," which we recently noticed as a decided
falling off from his other works; and it almost
attains to the entertaining audacity of his best
books-" Twenty Thousand Leages under the
Sea," and " The Tour of the World in Eighty
Days." Unfortunately, as it seems to us, there
is very much more of it than of these; and the
secret of all this class of writing is, not to overdo it. Nevertheless, the book will, and should,
meet with an enthusiastic reception from boys
of all ages; and, before Christmas has passed,
the energetic Barbicane, and the other audacious members of the gun-club, will have
hosts of admirers; and not a few scientific facts will have been unconsciouslylearned
by young readers.
"The Rose of Disentis," a novel, translated from the German of Heinrich Zschokke,
has its scene laid in a country the past of
which is too little known-the old Graubiinden
district of Switzerland, and in a time which
we have often wondered not to see used by
writers of romance-the period of the establishment of the Helvetian and those other outlying republics, which were the results, through
a kind of military propaganda, of the French
Revolution of 1789.-That Zschokke has used
his abundant materials in such a way as to produce a really remarkable novel, we cannot admit; but some praise is certainly due to him
for opening to novel-readers the almost entirely neglected history of one of the most interesting of all historic places and periods.
Messrs. Osgood & Co. have published a
new edition of " Longfellow's Poems," including, in one volume, all his works, excepting
the ": Golden Legend," the "New- England
Tragedies," and the " Christus." The volume
is neatly bound, and printed as clearly and
well as is possible, considering the amount of
matter it puts into so small a space.
OT the least among the important duties
imposed upon the International Metric
Commission, which met in Paris, October,
1873, was the securing of some suitable metal
or alloy, from which the new standard metre
should be made; not only should this substance be one not rehdily oxidized. but it must
not be too sensitive to changes of temperature.
In a word, it should be a hard andpassive compound, one that when marked will ]retain the
indentations made, and whichl neither moisture will affect nor temperature alter. As this
commission was international in character, and
the results attained of general interest, the
following description of the casting of the
standard metre, as condensed from a recent
account in Les Mondes, is given by the Engineers'
and Miners' Journal: "The first experiment
took place in the laboratory of M. H. SainteClaire Deville, who, with the assistance of M.
Debray, has succeeded in obtaining the iridioplatinum alloy perfectly pure. The operation
of casting this first international mnetre was
considered of so much importance, that the
President of the Republic and some of his
ministers, and other eminent Frenchmen,
' assisted' I,t it. Nine kilogrammes of platinum, with one kilogramme of iridium, were
minelted under the action of the oxyhlydrogen
flame from a blow-pipe in three-quatrters of an
hour. The ingot was then cast, perfectly limpid, in a mould formed, like the furnace itself,
of a block of carbonate of lime, whose interior
walls alone were burned under the influence
of the excessive temperature which was developed; consequently with this substance
there is no risk of breakage. The metal was
allowed to cool in the mould, and preserved
its bright surface; in this condition it will be
submitted to all the processes necessary to
give it the definitive form which it ought to
possess. The operation was considered, by all
who witnessed it, as perfectly successful."
In the recent trial of steam canal-boats, by
competitors for the government reward of one
hundred thousand dollars, the Baxter seems to
have taken the lead. This boat is fiat-bottomed, and, when loaded with two hundred
tons of cargo, draws five feet, eight and onehalf inches. There are two three- bladed
screws, four and one-half feet in diameter, and
having a pitch of four feet. These screws are
driven by a pair of twenty-five-horse-power
Baxter engines. During the trial-trip, which
occupied eighteen hours and three minutes,
only eight hundred and thirty pounds of hard
coal were consumed. The fact that this amount
of coal was less than omie-fifth that consumed
by the best of the four rival boats led to a
dispute as to the truth of the record. In order
to reach a final settlement of this very important question, a second trip was ordered, certain officials accompanying the Baxter for the
purpose of checking the weighing of the coal.
The result was satisfactory, and the inventor
of this compact and ingenious motor stands a
fair chance of being declared the winner of the
one-hundred-thousand-dollar prize. Should
the decision be reserved, we learn that it is
proposed to make such alteration in the model
of the Baxter as shall meet all the conditiomins
imposed by the Legislature.
Among the numerous protests made by
manufacturers and trade-unions against the
introduction of new materials or machines,
that of the German-silver manufacturers of
Germany deserves a special notice. These
artisans have presented a petition to the
Reichstag against the introduction of a nickel
coinage into the German Empire. This metal
is a component part of the alloy known as
German silver; and, as the supply of the ore
is limited, the price of the metal has already
risen from one and one-half to four thalers,
while in England the price has risen from four
to sixteen shillings, a pound. Though serious
objections might be urged against this attempt
to rmake personal considerations weigh against
an important reform, yet there are certain
points in it deserving of attention. German
silver is a material largely used by the middle
classes in the fabrication of household utensils,
and an increase in the price of these might be
a cause of serious embarrassment. Although
there is no record made of the fact in this petition, yet it is well to direct attention to a recent new and valuable industry which would
also be seriously affected by a great advance in
the price of nickel. We refer to its use in the
plating of iron for the more delicate parts of
machinery, etc. This nickel plating is, if we
mistake not, an important American industry.
It was recently announced in the JOIRNAL
that a Frenchman had devised, or rather discovered, a method by which silk could be
colored in the cocoon. It was proposed to
effect this important result by simply varying
the food of the worm. Additional information
on this subject is presented in the monthly
bulletin of the Paris Acclimation Society. M.
Mar6s there states that, in Algeria, experiments
have shown that silk-worms, fed on cherryleaves, produce a cocoon the fibres of which
are of a bright-chrome yellow: a darker shade
of the same color is the result of a pear-leaf
diet; while those fed on apple-leaves produce
a nearly white silk, but coarser than that obtained from wornms whose fcod is the mulberryleaf. Should these suggestions res;ult in a
general adoption of this natural mode of dyeing, our readers may soon be forced to change
their system of nomenclature-so far, at least,
as the name is identified with the color. A
cherry silk will be no longer red, but yellow;
while apple-leaf texture will be avoided, save
in times of financial embarrassment.
An esteemed correspondent, M. Howland,
of Hamrqonton, New Jersey, communicates
the following interesting information on the
adaptation of certain animal fibres to the
manufacture of fabrics: "Among the variety
of vegetable and animal fibres that have been
spun and woven, one of the most singular is
the bymsus. The word in the original means cotton, or the cloth made of cotton; but technically it designates the cable of many threads,
by which thie pinna and certain other bivalves
attach themselves to the rocks in the sea, and
also keep in place about their shells a barricade of bits of rock, coral, and other substances,
as a protection against enemies. The byssus
of the pinna is made up of long, silky, yellow
fibres, and it is counted the best for manufacturing purposes. Cloths of a rich brown hue
and an admirable texture have been made of
it, and also gloves and stockings, by the people of Taranto in Italy. Some years ago a
beautiful pair of mittens, made of this substance, was presented to the Society of Acclimatization in Paris."
Messrs. Clark & Son, having just completed the great telescope for the Washington
Observatory, are to be called upon to undertake a still grander work. The instrument for
the observatory recently endowed by Mr. Lick,
of San Francisco, will, it is contemplated, be
of greater size and increased power. We doubt
not these eminent opticians will enter upon
their new work with especial zeal, since the
site of the proposed observatory is the most
favorable that could be chosen. Being ten
thousand feet above the level of the sea, in the
clear atmosphere of the Sierra Nevada, the
observers will have less to contend with in the
way of unfavorable atmospheric conditions,
and the long months of cloudless ikies will
afford continued opportunities for observation
and discovery.
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