536 



METALS. 



METHODISTS. 



On etching, the finest hair-like fractures are 

 rendered prominent. A piece of steel which 

 looked perfect before etching, afterward ex- 

 hibited a hair-like fracture throughout its 

 whole length. When different kinds of iron 

 are mixed, the acid attacks that for which it 

 has the greater affinity, while the other is less 

 acted upon than if it were alone. Etching is 

 exceedingly valuable to all who deal largely in 

 iron, as it enables them to determine with com- 

 parative accuracy the method of preparing the 

 iron, as in the case of rails, etc., as well as the 

 kinds employed. 



Iron can be plated or coated with silver or 

 gold by a direct process, i. e., without the use 

 of copper as an auxiliary, according to the 

 present custom of electro-platers. As an es- 

 sential preliminary, the iron must previously 

 be alloyed with nickel and manganese ; the 

 iron being melted and then mixed with those 

 metals in the proportion of 12 Ibs. nickel and 



half a pound of manganese to 1,000 Ibs. of iron. 

 Such mangano-nickelized iron may then be 

 silvered or gilt in baths of suitable solutions ; 

 it is first hand-rubbed and immersed in a lime- 

 bath, containing 1 Ib. of slaked lime for every 

 100 Ibs. or pints of water, and is thence trans- 

 ferred at once to the plating-bath, which is 

 prepared as follows : For gilding, 100 Ibs. or 

 pints ot water, 4 Ibs. bicarbonate of soda, 1|- 

 Ib. pyrophosphate of soda, 1 oz. cyanide of so- 

 dium, 2 drops hydrocyanic acid, and 1 oz. 

 neutral chloride of gold : for silvering, to the 

 same quantity of water add 2 Ibs. bicarbonate of 

 soda, 6 oz. cyanide of potassium or of sodium, 

 10 drops of hydrocyanic acid, and 2 oz. of neu- 

 tral nitrate or chloride of silver. 



METHODISTS. The Methodist Almanac 

 for 1875 gives the following general summary, 

 compiled from authentic sources, of the Meth- 

 odist churches in the United States and in the 

 world : 



I. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHTJKCH. The an- 

 nual minutes of the conferences for 1874 give 

 the details of the statistics of this Church (see 

 table on next page). 



The statistics of the "West Texas Conference, 

 after the number of traveling preachers, are 

 included with those of th.e Texas Conference. 

 The traveling preachers are classified as fol- 

 lows : On trial, 1,383 ; in full connection, 

 7,733 ; superannuary, 679 ; superannuated, 

 1,060. The number of local preachers is given 

 at 12,581 ; number of Sunday-schools, 18,628 ; 

 of officers and teachers in the same, 200,492; 

 of Sunday-school scholars, 1,363,870. The 



number of baptisms during the year was: o:' 

 children, 58,911 ; of-adults, 71,915. The num- 

 ber of churches is 15,010 ; probable value of 

 the same, $69,288,815. Number of parsonages, 

 4,893; probable value, $9,604,230. The con- 

 tributions for benevolent purposes were : For 

 conference claimants, $159,881.54; Missionary 

 Society (from churches, $424,267.03, from 

 Sunday-schools, $187,687.51), $611,954.54; 

 Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, $55,- 

 406.26; Church extension, $83,347.52; Tract 

 Society, $19,840.09; Sunday-school Union, 

 $20,196.61 ; Freedmen's Aid Society, $37,- 

 029.65 ; education, $23,754.68. 



