MISCELLANY. 



3 8i 



9. The downward current of the Alpine 

 streams generates motion in virtue of their 

 mass, and of the space passed over during 

 their descent. 



10. This mass-motion, when temporarily 

 checked by any resisting object, is convert- 

 ed back into heat. 



11. Man arrests a portion of this motion 

 by means of a large water-wheel, and, by the 

 aid of a crank and a connecting-rod, trans- 

 mits the motion to the piston-rod of an air- 

 compressor. 



12. In compressing air, we accumulate 

 motion as a force or tension ; and the com- 

 pressed air yields this force again without 

 loss (exception made of the loss occasioned 

 by the friction of the piston, which reap- 

 pears as heat). 



13. Compressed air a storehouse of 

 motion is made to pass into a contrivance 

 similar to the steam-chest of a steam-engine, 

 where a sliding-valve forces the air to enter 

 alternately above and below the piston to 

 which it thus imparts common mass-motion. 

 The process is the same as the one operating 

 in the steam-engine, with the difference that 

 the motor agent is compressed air in place 

 of steam, and that the motion is ultimately 

 obtained, not from the combustion of fuel, 

 but from the descent of water. 



14. The mass-motion of the water, now 

 transferred to a drilling-machine, is modi- 

 fied by means of mechanical contrivances 

 in a manner such that powerful blows are 

 dealt in rapid succession upon the cutting- 

 tool which drills the hole ; mass-motion is 

 thus converted back into heat. 



15. The drill-hole is filled with a mixture 

 of substances containing chemical motion, 

 which, at any time, may be given out as 

 heat and mechanical motion. By the igni- 

 tion of the mixture, new combinations of 

 substances occur, which, owing to the new 

 distribution of chemical motion, take up a 

 much greater space, and thereby split the 

 rocks. 



16. Mont Cenis Tunnel (as will be the 

 future one of St. Gothard) was bored by 

 the sun's heat. Mohr, translated by Hotze. 



Cinchona in Bengal. In 1862 Dr. T. 

 Anderson began the cultivation of cincho- 

 na (the tree that yields the Peruvian bark) 

 in Sikkin, Bengal. The venture has proved 



profitable ; and at the present time he has 

 under cultivation cinchona-trees of three 

 species, to the number of 1,707,115, yield- 

 ing about 300 pounds of bark per acre. 

 Besides these, he has 480,000 young plants 

 in nursery. 



Bnlb-Cnltnre in Holland. Although one- 

 fifth of the entire land in the Netherlands is 

 worthless for cultivation, and another fifth 

 is meadow-land, yet 47,500 acres of the re- 

 mainder are devoted to tobacco, 35,000 to 

 hemp, and 500 acres to raising tulips, hya- 

 cinths, and other flowering bulbs. Holland 

 has ever excelled in this sort of horticul- 

 ture. 



Antiseptic Properties of Borax. A paper 

 by M. Jacquez on the preservative action 

 of borax and the sub-borate of ammonia, 

 on animal matter, read before the French 

 Academy of Sciences, gives an account of 

 some important experiments made by the 

 author during a period of five years, with a 

 view to ascertain the antiseptic properties 

 of the substances named. In June, 1853, 

 he dissolved 25 grammes (about 387 grains) 

 of gelatine in 100 grammes (a little over 3 

 ozs.'of water) with 4.50 grammes nearly 

 70 grains of borax. The mixture remained 

 in an open flask all through the summer, 

 without any sign of mould or putrefaction. 

 In August of the same year, pieces of meat 

 dropped into a solution of borax and water 

 (5 parts of the former to 100 of the latter) 

 were there preserved unchanged for a month 

 being then taken out of the solution and 

 exposed to the air, they dried slowly, and 

 did not undergo decomposition. The next 

 series of experiments was with a mixture of 

 borax, sub-borate of ammonia, and tepid 

 water, in the proportion of 5 or 6 parts of 

 borax, and 10 or 12 of sub-borate of am- 

 monia, to 100 of rain or pure river water. 

 By injecting this mixture into the bodies 

 of rabbits killed two days previously, the 

 water kept them without sign of decom- 

 position for several months. M. Jacquez is 

 of opinion that this process is of high im. 

 portance for the dissecting-room, as it does 

 not alter either the coloring or the firmness 

 of the tissues, and at the same time imports 

 no poisonous element into the subject. 

 Futhermore, the edge of cutting- instruments 



