NOTABLE THINGS IN THE PARIS EXHIBITION. 



(FUOM CIIAMnERs's JOURNAL.) 



Some of the things exhibited arc well worth attention. There is Beaumont 

 and Mayer's thcrraoprcnic engine, which heats water and generates steam without 

 fuel or fire. As yet, its aiipliciibility to mechanical purjioscs is not apparent; 

 but ways have been found of turning it to account. It is kept fully employed in 

 heating the chocolate sold in thousands of cups; this is without any breach of 

 the law that prohibits fire within the building. And the Emperor ordered one to 

 be sent to the Crimea, where, in case of the troops having to pass another winter, 

 it would serve to heat soup, coifee, or water, whether fuel was to be had or not — 

 no unimportant consideration during a campaign. It may supply beat to the 

 cooking-galley of a ship, as well as to the chocolate-establishment ; and thus a 

 source of danger from fire on shipboard may be avoided. 



The construction is simple enough. A boiler is made, traversed by a conical 

 tube of copper, 30 inches diameter at the top, 3.5 inches at the bottom, inside of 

 which a cone of wood of the same shape is fitted, enveloped in a padding of hemp. 

 An oil-vessel keeps the hemp continually lubricated, and the wooden cone is so 

 contrived as to press steadily against the inside of the copper, and to rotate 

 rapidly by means of a crank turned by hand or horse-power. The whole of the 

 boiler outside of the copper cone is filled with water. Thus constructed, the 

 machine, with 400 revolutions a minute, makes 400 litres* of water boil in about 

 three hours by the mere effect of the friction of the oiled tow against the copper. 

 When once the boiling-point is reached, it may be maintained for any length of 

 time, or as long as the movement is continued. It is quite easy to keep the steam 

 in the boiler at a pressure of two atmospheres, where, besides the uses above 

 mentioned, it blows a whistle as lustily as any locomotive. 



There is also the process for preserving vegetables, and another by which fresh 

 meat may be kept perfectly sweet, for perhaps an unlimited time. There are legs 

 of mutton, loins bf veal, poultry, &c., in the Exposition, which were prepared 

 three years ago, and are still as good as on the first day of their treatment, and 

 show no signs of alteration. They have all the odor and appearance of meat 

 recently killed, no taint or shrinking being perceptible. There are fruits, also, 

 preserved in the same way — bunches of grapes, melons, apples, &c. ; and vege- 

 tables, among which a cauliflower is as plump and bright with bloom as if but 

 just brought from the garden. What renders the process the more remarkable is, 

 that no pains are required to exclude air from the things preserved, a wire-screen 

 alone being necessary to keep off flies and other insects. A three years' trial 

 may, perhaps, be considered decisive; and now there remains to see whether place 



* A litre is about a quart. 



