DRUM 



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A movement U being mad* toward* placing 



kgwlative coo- 



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trol the *ale of drum, on the (round that frequent 

 occur through the ignorance or oanl*ne*s of retail druggist*. The 

 physicians, surgeons, and apothecariM have also endeavoured, at 

 rarioiu time*, to hare the drug trade placed in tome degree under 

 professional control. Nothing, however, has yet been effected in thin 

 .Unction. In the " Medical Act," |ia**d in 1868, the new General 

 Council, formed to carry out the provision* of the Act, i empowered 

 " to cauM to be published under their direction a book containing a 

 lint of medicine* and oomtiounJ*, and the manner of preparing them, 

 with the true weighU and measures by which they are to be prepared 

 and mixed, and containing such other matton and things relating 

 thereto, a* the General Council shall think at, to be called British 

 I'harmaoopCBia ' ; and the General Council shall cause to be altered, 

 amended, and republished such Pharmacopoeia as often as they shall 

 ilmn neceanry ; " but there i a special clause, exempting chemist* 

 and druggist* from any interference in the new Council, which repre- 

 Mott all the physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries of the three 

 kingdoms. 



.CM. [DOKK.] 



I>Kl'M..i pulnatile musical instrument, of which there are three 

 kind*, the Side ilram, the bate or Turlcith drum, and the double drum. 

 The lirxt U a cylinder or tlirll, formerly of wood, but now invariably of 

 braas, on each end of which is a hoop covered with vellum or parch- 

 ment. This is the ordinary regimental drum. The second is formed 

 as the first, but of oak, on a much larger scale, and used, not in con- 

 junction with the fifes, but as part of the regimental band. U is like- 

 wise employed occasionally iu the orchestra. The third is made of 

 copper, nearly hemispherical, covered with a strong head of calfs-skin, 

 and stands on three iron lego. The double drums, or kettle drums as 

 they are also called, vary in dimensions, from nineteen inches to three 

 feet in diameter. They are always in pairs, and are tuned by means 

 of many screws which tighten the head, to the key-note and the 

 fourth below. The part for them is written in the key of C, and if 

 the music be in another key, it is notified at the beginning as " drums 

 in 1 > ," " drums in E 9." An improved method of tuning these instru- 

 ment* U by means of a lever operating on several hooks which act 

 simultaneously on the head, or hoop on which the skin is strained, so 

 that the tuning is performed at once, and with such rapidity, that a 

 melody such as ' God save the Queen ' con be performed on a single 

 drum in a time not much slower than that usually adopted. A patent 

 hat been obtained by the ingenious mechanist (Mr. Cornelius Ward) to 

 whom we are indebted for this useful invention. 



About two years ago a brass drum of improved construction was 

 introduced into the infantry regiments, weighing some three pounds 

 less than the one previously in uc, smaller in size and more portable, 

 superior in tone and more easily tuned. This drum is manufactured 



. V. . K- _. . I; .. - ' ' . I ';i : j:u I ' '. - -. \. :'. n. It i.- tu:h-l 



by mean* of screws, instead of the old straps and ropes : the head 

 which i* beaten, called the batter-head, alone requires to be tuned, 

 while the other head, which has three cords called the mart, drawn 

 across it* exterior surface, responds by reverberation. Messrs. Key 

 and Co., have also invented a iteltton tide drum, that is, a drum with- 

 out any shell ; it resembles a couple of tambourines with their con- 

 cavities presented to each other ; it is intended for indoor use, and 

 give* the lightest character of tone. 



DRUMMOND LIGHT. The difficulty of distinguishing the stations 

 chosen for the angular points of the triangles in a geodeticol survey, 

 when those station* are many miles asunder, renders it necessary 

 to have recourse to illuminations even in the day-time; and the 

 late Captain Drummond, of the Royal Engineers, invented a heliostat 

 which reflected the sun's rays in sufficient abundance to render the 

 station which was to be observed visible. This was a plane mirror of a 

 rectangular form and mounted on a stand with joints by which it 

 could be fixed at any angle with the horizon. On the stand was a 

 telescope which was capable of being moved horizontally, with the 

 mirror, and directed to the distant station, while another telescope was 

 directed to the sun. The adjustments of the mirror were such that, 

 when the telescope* were directed, as has been said, the face of the 

 mirror reflected the rays of the sun on the distant station, and illumined 

 it sufficiently to render a mark there visible in the telescope of the 

 theodolite by which the required angle was to be taken. 



When it was required to observe the angles subtended between distant 

 stations at night, the white or blue light* were first employed in this 

 country ; the material* being fixed, at the station, at time* agreed upon 

 by the partie* employed in performing the operations : Argand lamps 

 with parabolic reflectors, were used by the French, and subsequently 

 by the English geodisU ; but a light which Captain Dniniinond ob- 

 tained has been found to exceed in brilliancy any of the others. This 

 i* the ojy-ralritim light, and is produced l.y pi. icing a ball or disk of 

 lime, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, in the focus of a para- 

 bolic mirror, at the station to be rendered visible, and directing upon 

 it, through a flame arising from alcohol, a stream of oxygen gas. 

 ( Philosophical Transaction*,' 1626, p. 324.) The cistern containing 

 the alcohol is supported on a stand, behind the reflector, and 

 netted by a tube of caoutchouc with the lower part of a hollow stem 

 Kiipl-ii-ting the upright wire at the top of which is fixed the ball of 

 lime on a level nearly with the cistern : the spirit ascend* iu the (tern 



and afterward*, through three or more tubes, to the ball. The vessel 

 containing the oxygen gas is connected, by a flexible tube, with an 

 orifice in a cylindrical box on the sanu- stem, from whence it ascends 

 through three flexible caoutchouc tul- s to the ball, after passing with 

 through three small cylinders. The whole apparatus is 

 attached to a stand which carries the mirror ; and adjustments are 

 provided by which the ball may be placed exactly in the focus of the 

 mirror. The intensity of the flame i* from sixty to ninety time* as 

 great as that of an argand burner, while the expetue is only about ten 

 times a* great. The lime made from chalk is preferred to any other ; 

 and such is the brilliancy, that station* above sixty miles from .>; 

 another have been very distinctly visible even in hazy weather. In 

 clear weather the light has been seen at a distance of 112 mile*. On i !,. 

 31st Dec. 1845, it was seen acroai the Irish Channel, at 3.8U P.M 

 the top of Slieve Donard in Ireland, by an observer at the tp of 

 Snowdon, a distance of 108 miles in a direct line. 



Captain Drummond suggested in a paper which was printed in the 

 'Philosophical Transactions ' for 183d (p. 383), that burning linn- 

 should be employed for lighthouses ; and he proposed that instead of 

 olcohul, hydrogen gas should be used with the oxygen gas. Tho 

 gases were to proceed from separate vessels, or gasometers, and < 

 chamber through a series of small apertures : the united gases were 

 then to pass through two or three pieces of wire gauze, and iasue in 

 two stream* against the ball or disk of lime. To prevent the latter 

 from wasting too rapidly in one place it was made to revolve on. 

 minute; and in order to keep up a constant light, it was proposed to 

 have an apparatus by which a number of balls might be succt 

 made to fall in the focus of the mirror. The chief objection to this 

 proposal (to say nothing of the impropriety of entrusting so explosive 

 a compound as the mixed gases to the care of ordinary workmen) i> 

 the smallnees of the flame, whereas dioptric instruments require a 

 great body of flame for the purpose of producing a degree of divergence 

 sufficient to render the duration of the flash in revolving lights long 

 enough to be well made out; while in a fixed light with a reflector the 

 same defect of volume eminently applies. 



A light of this kind may also be employed as a signal in det< 

 ing the difference between the longitudes of stations. 



The lime light, as it is also called, has superseded the solar microscope, 

 or rather can be used at all times instead of the sun ; the oxy-calcium 

 light is in great request for microscopes, phantasmagoria, and 

 eflecU on the stage, 4o. There are some advantages in using the 

 mixed gases contained in separate bags, since no safety jets, 4c., should 

 be relied on, but the danger in inexperienced hands i* great. We have 

 even known an accident occur in the lecture-room of an eminent 

 chemist. 



DRUSES, DOROUZ, a people who inhabit the chain of Lilnnus, in 

 Syria, are under the government of their own chiefs, and have a 

 religion peculiar to themselves. The vernacular language 01 the 

 Druses is Arabic, though they have a tradition that they came 

 originally from China. Although the mountaineers of Libanus in 

 general obey the emir, or prince of the Druses, yet they ore not all 

 Druse*, but the greater part of them are Christians of the Maronite 

 communion, which belongs to the western, or Roman, church. [M.ino.v- 

 ITES.] Though much intermixed, they are frequently at war with 

 each other, and such a war was being carried on in 1859. The Druses 

 live chiefly in the south part of Libanus, east and south-east of Beiroot, 

 and as far south as the district of Haabeya, about the sources of the 

 Jordan, but a few thousands are still found about Jebel-el-'Ala, in 

 Northern Syria, where they were formerly more numerous till expelled 

 by the Mohammedans. At Jeir el' Ashayir, a small village of Druses, 

 there are the ruins of a large and splendid temple, a quadrangle, 80 

 feet by 36 feet within, on a raised platform, ornamented with Ionic 

 columns at the angles. Towards the cast the jurisdiction of the emir 

 extends over part of the Bokaa, or plain intervening between the 

 Libanus and the Antilibanus. North of the Bekaa is the Belad, or 

 district of Balbek, which is inhabited chiefly by Mussulman*, 

 under a distinct emir of the sect of the Metawoli*, subject to the 

 pasha of Damascus, with whom there are frequent hostilities. The 

 former capital of the Druses was Deir el K.-imr, in a valley on the 

 west slope of Libanus, about eight or nine hours' ride south-east of 

 Beiroot (Beyrut) : the town is said to have about 8000 inhabitants, 

 partly Druses and partly Christians. The town is built in the Italian 

 fashion, and is said to resemble a second-rate country town of Italy, hut 

 it suffered greatly in the war of 184(5. The land around the town 

 displays in a marked manner the industry and skill of the inhabitants, 

 .i* it 14 cultivated with the greatest care, and an almost barren soil 

 mode highly productive. The emir used to reside at the palace or 

 castle of Bteddin, about one hour's ride from Deir el Knmr, which ix 

 till kept in good order, though not used for his residence. Some of 

 the apartments of the palace are described us very handsomely iur 

 rushed, paved with marble, and adorned with rich folding draperies 

 :nnl divans, the walls inlaid with ivory and gilding, and adorned with 

 passages of the Koran and Scriptures in Arabic, in large embossed gilt 

 cliaractors, enclosed in panels of various size. The emir Hcshir, as he 

 was called, whom Captain Light saw in 1814, was described a* an 

 elderly man of an intelligent and prepossessing appearance, and 

 be very regular and abstemious in his habits. He had come to the 

 sovereignty by defeating several competitors, whom he imprisoned and 



