I 



VIII NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 



tion, renders these invaluable lines of communication stronger, 

 lighter, and better conductors than the larger wires in ordinary 

 use. 



Another important recent improvement in Telegraph Instru- 

 ments is the invention of a double transmitter by Mr. J. B. Stearns, 

 of Boston, which consists of an apparatus capable of transmitting 

 messages in opposite directions over a single wire, at one and the 

 same time. Several previous attempts had been made and large 

 sums expended, both in this country and Europe, to accomplish 

 this object, but without developing any system of practical 

 value. 



This instrument (which, for the sake of a name is called *' The 

 Franklin ") was first attached to a circuit of nearly 250 miles of 

 wire, in March, 1868. So satisfactory was the result, that on the 

 following day the invention was attached to a wire between 

 Boston and New York, and since that time has been in constant 

 and successful operation, bringing the capacity of the wire to 

 which it is attached fully up to that of two separate wires operated 

 "by the ordinary Morse system, working in all weather as prompt 

 and reliable as any of the other wires in the same office. In 

 April, a second set of these instruments w^as placed upon a wire 

 between New York and Philadelphia, and is now working with 

 success. 



Since the introduction of the Ransome process, the manufacture 

 of artificial stone has become an extensive branch of industry in 

 this country, and one of great value in localities, as in the West, 

 where building stone is scarce. 



Among the most important of the improvements of the year 

 are the methods of preserving animal food, which, by simple and 

 cheap chemical processes, promise to remedy the insufficiency of 

 the supply of meat in our large cities by drawing upon the inex- 

 haustible living herds in Texas, on the great prairies, and in 

 South America ; preserving the meat in bulk, without salt or des- 

 iccation. The most notable are those of Prof. Gamgee, by 

 carbonic oxide and sulphurous acid gases, and of Dr. Sim, by the 

 bisulphide of carbon. 



In the use of paper for articles of utilit}'' we are fast overtaking 

 oriental nations, employing it as a substitute for leather, for wood, 

 for cloth, and even for making boats and dwellino^s. 



Chemistry during the year has been largely extended, not only 

 in the development of the carbon compounds, but in the syntheti- 

 cal or artificial formation of organic substances. Recent obser- 



