INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1875. cclxxvii 



rupture of the fibre, will be apparent, while its great sim- 

 plicity and directness will commend it to general favor. 



A French inventor, M. De la Bastie, has succeeded in pro- 

 ducing, by a simple process, specimens of glass, perfectly 

 clear and transparent, but extremely hard and durable. 

 He calls the product verre trempe, or tempered glass. The 

 liquid in which the glass is tempered is said to be a com- 

 pound of melted wax and resin and various oils, the ingre- 

 dients being mixed in different proportions according to the 

 purpose for which the glass is intended. Into this liquid, heat- 

 ed to the desired temperature, the glass, which has reached 

 the required heat in the oven, is pushed out upon a metallic 

 slide, and descends by it upon an inclined plane placed in 

 the vat. The depth to which it is allowed to sink in the oil 

 is regulated by a species of brake, which stops at the proper 

 point. It is allowed to remain in the bath for about a 

 minute, when a self-acting rake draws it into a metal frame, 

 which is removed from the vat, and the glass is allowed to 

 cool. Meantime more glass has taken its place in the vat, 

 the operation being thus made continuous. This tempering 

 process is said to add decidedly to its value, and most ex- 

 traordinary accounts of the resisting qualities of the verre 

 trempe have reached us; on which account the process prom- 

 ises to become of great importance. In this connection it 

 may be added that, while the idea of tempering glass is not 

 a new one, attempts having repeatedly been made at glass- 

 works to effect it, M. De la Bastie appears to have been the 

 first who has succeeded in solving a number of practical dif- 

 ficulties, which appear to have rendered previous experi- 

 ments of this kind but indifferently successful. 



The investigations of Professor Kolbe, of Leipsic, brought 

 into great prominence last year a new antiseptic agent 

 Salicylic acid which has demonstrated itself to be of great 

 value in medicine and in the arts. Salicylic acid behaves in 

 nearly every respect like carbolic acid, for which it is rec- 

 ommended, and already largely adopted as a substitute. It 

 appears to be equally powerful with the latter in arresting 

 fermentation and putrefaction, in addition to which it pos- 

 sesses the advantages of being tasteless, odorless, and non- 

 poisonous. As a substitute for carbolic acid in medicine 

 and surgery, it has already achieved great popularity. 



