MAINE. 



box, the light being exhibited through a power- 

 ful lens, or "bull's eye." Burning the thinnest 

 ribbon lately manufactured, the light sufficed 

 for reading a watch at two hundred and fifty 

 yards distance. 



Capt. F. J. Bolton, inventor of the " flash- 

 ing" system of signalling, with the lime light, 

 and which the English Board of Trade is about 

 to incorporate with the commercial code of sig- 

 nals, has very recently experimented with the 

 magnesium light on board the Great Eastern, 

 lying at the time about six miles from shore, 

 off Shoeburyness. A lively conversation was 

 held with the town, the signals from the latter 

 being with the lime light. It is stated that the 

 experiments made proved the magnesium light 

 quite as effective for signalling on Capt. Bolton's 

 plan as the lime light, whilst it is also much 

 cheaper and more convenient. Thus the new 

 light bids fair to come into use for shore and 

 ships' signals, and perhaps to some extent for 

 light-houses ; and not only in these, but in 

 other ways, it is likely to render important ser- 

 vices in behalf of commerce and in time of war. 



Other Applications of Magnesium. In wire 

 and in other forms, this metal has been sug- 

 gested as a suitable material for certain pur- 

 poses of decoration and of ornament, including 

 to some extent ornamental articles of dress; 

 though how well it will serve such purposes, 

 under the ordinary conditions of use and ex- 

 posure, can scarcely be decided except by actual 

 trial. The considerable degree of strength pos- 

 sessed by good magnesium wire, in connection 

 with its extreme lightness scarcely heavier, in 

 fact, than like-sized rods of heart of oak has 

 led to the suggestion of its use in telegraphing ; 

 and whether these anticipations be or be not 

 justified by experience, there can be no doubt 

 that many and important uses for a metal pos- 

 sessing qualities so peculiar will in time be as- 

 certained. 



M. Bultinck, of Ostend, has proposed the use 

 of magnesium instead of zinc as the positive 

 element of voltaic batteries ; and he has deter- 

 mined the electromotive force of a couple com- 

 posed of magnesium and silver to be three times 

 that of one of copper and zinc. It is stated 

 (Mechanics 1 Magazine) that, being confined to 

 use of the wire, he constructed a galvanic chain ; 

 and that he found that this, moistened simply 

 with water, produced all the effects of a " Pul- 

 vermacher's" chain moistened with a saline or 

 acid solution. 



In Le Technologiste for December, 1864, ap- 

 pears an article on the utilization of the chloride 

 of magnesium in the chemical arts ; as, for lib- 

 erating chlorine in the preparation of bleaching 

 salts, the resulting magnesia being subsequently 

 useful for the revivification of peroxide of man- 

 ganese after its decomposition in liberating the 

 chlorine of chlorhydric acid, also for use in 

 bleaching. 



MAINE. The Legislature of Maine con- 

 vened at Augusta on January 4, 1865, and was 

 organized by the choice of Republican officers 



in both branches. On the succeeding day Gov- 

 ernor Cony was inaugurated, and delivered his 

 message to the Legislature. Among the meas- 

 ures recommended by him, were the necessity 

 of an organized State militia, the assumption 

 by the United States of all the State debts in- 

 curred for the national defence, and the abro- 

 gation of the Reciprocity Treaty with Great 

 Britain, which he alleged had proved detrimen- 

 tal to the lumber and agricultural interests of 

 the State. 



The funded debt of Maine on January 1, 1866, 

 was $5,164,500, as against $699,500 on January 

 1, 1861, the increase, amounting to $4,465,000 r 

 being due altogether to extraordinary expenses 

 growing out of the war. The expenditures for 

 war purposes since 1861 amount to $7,357,572, 

 of which the sum of $4,578,636 was paid for 

 bounties. The amount advanced by cities and 

 towns for aid to families of soldiers to January 

 1, 1865, was $1,599,536, which has been for 

 the most part refunded by the State. To this 

 is to be added the estimated sum of $400,000 

 advanced in 1865, which was provided for by 

 the tax bill of that year. Deducting $320,000 

 refunded by the United States, the amount 

 expended by the State for the support of the 

 war, reaches $7,037,572. Large claims for 

 money expended in behalf of the National Gov- 

 ernment are still outstanding, and will be press- 

 ed for settlement at an early day. Beyond the 

 above amounts, the cities and towns of the 

 State are in debt not less than $6,556,183 for 

 bounties. The aggregate of expenditures by 

 the people of Maine for the support of the na- 

 tional cause amounts to $14,093,572, for which 

 they owe about $12,000,000. During 1865, 

 bonds of the State to the amount of $100,500 

 were purchased for the sinking fund, at from 

 four to five per cent, discount. The total out- 

 lay of the State in 1865 was $2,872,080, of 

 which the sum of $325,113 represented the 

 entire cost of the civil department. The Legis- 

 lature adopted the policy in that year of resort- 

 ing to heavy taxation instead of loans for meet- 

 ing the annual expenditures. The result was, 

 that the credit of the State remained unim- 

 paired, and $1,000,000 borrowed in anticipation 

 of the taxes was obtained on terms as favorable, 

 within one or two percent., as the United States 

 7.30 loan with its higher rate of interest and 

 exemption from taxation. In accordance with 

 a resolution of the Legislature of 1865, adopted 

 before the conclusion of the war, the $355,000 

 of scrip for soldiers' bounties, payable February 

 1, 1867, was issued in the course of the year. 

 The State tax for 1866, it was estimated, would 

 be reduced $1,200,000, or about 50 per cent, 

 as compared with 1865. 



The troops furnished by Maine to the national 

 forces during the late war comprised three reg- 

 iments of cavalry, one regiment of heavy artil- 

 lery, seven batteries of light artillery, thirty-one 

 regiments of infantry, seven companies of sharp- 

 shooters, thirty companies of infantry mustered 

 into regimental organizations, and seven com- 



