114 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



fore passing the fumes and gases through the said material they 

 are cooled by passing them through showers of water or otherwise. 

 Thus materials which would otherwise be destroyed by the heat 

 are utilized. 



A Hungarian gentleman has, we are told, constructed a rail- 

 way 5 miles in length on a mountain in the heart of Hungary. 

 A remarkable peculiarity is the total absence of all permanent 

 way. Square beams of oak 8 in. high and 14 in. broad are laid 

 on the ground, and only at rare intervals, where the great un- 

 evenness of the ground absolutely requires it, cross-sleepers are 

 laid under them. Each of these longitudinal beams has a length 

 of 18 ft., and on the two edges of the beams are the rails, which 

 are only 2 in. broad, and so thin that they weigh about 1 Ib. per 

 foot. These beams and rails may be taken up at any moment, 

 and the railway thus relaid whenever it is required. The trucks 

 run on two pairs of wheels 8 in. in diameter; the bodies of the 

 trucks are about 3 times the width of the rails, and are placed 

 so low on the wheels that they have just room to pass over them. 

 The arrangement of the weight and the system of brakes are 

 said to be so perfect that the" train may be stopped when on a 

 gradient of 1 in 7, And going at the rate of 20 or 30 miles an 

 hour, within 6 to 8 yards. The o miles cost 10,000 dollars, 

 and after the experience now gained the work may be done for 

 about 1,000 dollars per mile. 



The substitution of heavy paraffine oils for high-pressure steam, 

 used to obtain high temperatures for the evaporation of liquids, 

 has been made in an establishment at Lambeth, England. These 

 oils may be heated safely to a temperature of from 600 to 700 

 Fah., and they circulate in heating exactly like water. In the 

 establishment alluded to the apparatus used is as follows : A close 

 system being made, the oil heated in a coil pipe placed in a fur- 

 nace rises first to an air-tight tank, from which it runs through 

 pipes and the jackets of pans, descending as it cools to the coil of 

 pipe in the furnace. It is claimed that the method, besides being 

 safer, is more economical than steam. A pyrometer is contrived 

 to show the exact temperature of the oil as it leaves the tank, and 

 means are provided for regulating and keeping the temperature 

 uniform. This method appears to us to possess great promise, 

 and, if it prove entirely successful, is capable of extension to 

 many important branches of industry. 



Al. Ducomet, of Paris, has invented a simple and ingenious 

 method of cutting glass tubes. It consists in the employment of 

 a metallic rod with a diamond set in one end, the rod being cov- 

 ered with plaited cotton and supplied with a movable gauge to 

 regulate the length. To use this instrument, all that is neces- 

 sary is to introduce the end carrying the diamond into the 

 tube to be cut, and then turn it around so as to make a 

 scratch with the diamond around the interior of the tube 

 at the point where it is desired to separate the latter. The 

 correct position of the cut can be insured by the use of the 

 guard, which can be lixed at any desired point on the rod by a 

 screw. After the cut or scratch has been made in the manner 



