86 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



pass through a metallic plate pierced full of minute holes. A 

 vast numbm- of jets is thus obtained, which, after being driven 

 through a fine tissue of platinum wire, are lighted in the usual 

 way. The platinum soon acquires a white heat, and gives out 

 so brilliant a light that it cannot be endured by the naked eye. 

 About 1 metre of gas is consumed per hour. It is called the 

 " Bourbouze " lamp. — Oil Trade Review. 



Submarine Lamp. — Oil lamps, as ordinarily employed for this 

 purpose, require the use of a pump to force in air for combustion 

 through long rubber tubes, and are not only inconvenient, but 

 give little light. Electric lamps are too expensive for common 

 use. MM. Leaute and Denoyel have constructed a lamp fed by 

 compressed oxygen, enclosed in a reservoir below the lamp ; it 

 tiius carries its own gas with it, burns without communication 

 with the outer air, and is portable and inexpensive. The gas, 

 under a pressure of 5 atmospheres, is fed to the lamp by a tube 

 with 2 annular crowns, one external and the other internal to the 

 wick, both pierced by numerous small holes. The wick can be 

 regulated from the outside, and the jet of gas modified by a 

 cock ; the lamp is surrounded by a cylinder of thick, well-an- 

 nealed glass, covered by a brass plate. The flame is bright and 

 steady, and will endure for three-quarters of an hour. Numerous 

 successful experiments have been made with it in the River Seine, 

 at Paris. A man in costume of a diver recently descended into 

 the sluice opposite the Mint to the depth of 8 feet; the lamp 

 burned beneath the water, and at the distance of 2 yards from him 

 the diver was able to inscribe with a diamond on a piece of glass 

 the date and hour of the experiment. The lamp burned for tiiree- 

 quarters of an hour in the water, and when it was brought to the 

 surface it was still burning, and the flame as bright as ever. Not 

 only will tliis invention prevent the danger of explosions from 

 fire-damp, but it will enable search for drowning persons, or for 

 property lost by shipwreck, to be pursued with the utmost facility. 

 — Comptes Rendus, 1868. 



WATERING STREETS. 



In one of the principal streets of Glasgow, workmen are laying 

 down pipes, which are to be connected with the water-mains, for 

 watering and cleansing the highway, — an invention of Mr. Sim. 

 The pipes are of malleable iron, about 3 inches in diameter, and 

 are laid down immediately outside the pavement on one side of 

 the street only. The water is to escape by openings one-sixteenth 

 of an inch in diameter, drilled about a foot apart. By this ar- 

 rangement, Mr. Sim expects to be able to lay dust at a much 

 cheaper rate than by the old water-butt process ; and he will use 

 it in cleansing in conjunction with the scavenger's broom. — Jour- 

 nal of Franklin Institute, June^ 1868. 



