HELIOGRAPH, THE. 



IIILL, BENJAMIN II. 



471 



Subsequent observations, made in Washington, 

 showed tlio same crystals deposited on glasses 

 brought from infected spots, such as Morgan 

 liayou r.ii-uf, and the New Orleans Char- 

 ity Hospital, \vliilo none were found in those 

 from IMlevuo llospitd, New York. 



Finally, twenty-two autopsies were per- 

 foniu-d in Havana. Preparations of tissues 

 were made and brought to the United States. 



The statements in the preliminary report, of 

 which the above is a brief synopsis, are to be 

 regarded, the Commissioners say, as sugges- 

 tions rather than conclusions. The value of 

 the work done by the Commission can only be 

 estimated by the amount of pabulum it furnish- 

 es to the scientific minds of the country. 



In addition, they publish an interesting re- 



B>rt on the alkalinity of the atmosphere, by 

 r. Charles Finlay of the Spanish Commission. 

 Observations dating from 1858 have convinced 

 him of the excessive alkalinity of the Cuban 

 atmosphere. To show the alkalinity resulting 

 from free ammonia in other atmospheres, he 

 instances the ventilation experiments in St. 

 Mary's Hospital, Paddington. The maximum 

 value obtained in these hospital wards in July, 

 1875, was 2,000 times smaller than the Havana 

 maximum of 1879, and 228 times smaller than 

 the Havana maximum in October, 1864. This 

 alkalinity increases and diminishes in inten- 

 sity pari paasu with yellow fever. The blood, 

 breath, and excretions during certain stages of 

 yellow fever are markedly alkaline. The most 

 recommended disinfectants are just the agents 

 that would destroy a volatile alkali. Empiri- 

 cal treatments by non-professionals in the West 

 Indies have oily and acid substances for their 

 basis, just as if the object were to saponify or 

 neutralize some alkaline poison. Scientific in- 

 vestigations may verify his proposition that 

 some volatile alkali of the compound ammonia 

 type, disseminated in the atmosphere surround- 

 ing centers of infection, is the material cause 

 of yellow fever. 



The National Board has completed a sani- 

 tary survey of Memphis, with a view to remov- 

 ing causes which might bring about a recur- 

 rence of yellow fever. 



Twenty State boards are now working in sub- 

 ordination to the National Board. The Ameri- 

 can Health Association, in its convention at 

 Nashville, commended and endorsed the Na- 

 tional Board, and recommended its continuance 

 with increased powers. Whatever the discrep- 

 ancy between public expectation and the results 

 gained by the Board, it must be admitted that 

 during its brief existence its labors have been 

 neither few nor small. With more definite 

 powers it mut have a field of ever-widening 

 usefulness. The creation of this bureau was 

 au imperatively needed act of legislation. 



HELIOGRAPH, THE. The Mance helio- 

 graph, an instrument for signaling by means 

 of reflected solar rays, was made use of among 

 the British forces in Afghanistan, and in the 

 latter part of the war in South Africa, The 



signals made by the Mance heliograph are visi- 

 ble, under favorable conditions of position 

 and atmosphere, to very great distances, and 

 have been read as far as eighty and a hundred 

 miles. It consists of a specially prepared mir- 

 ror, with mechanism for reflecting the son's 

 rays with absolute precision to any required 

 spot, notwithstanding the sun's apparent mo- 

 tion. By pressure on a finger-key the flashes 

 are made of short or long duration, thus adapt- 

 ing the instrument to the Morse code of teleg- 

 raphy. A second mirror is provided to per- 

 mit of signaling being carried on irrespective 

 of the sun's position. The instrument in- 

 tended for field service weighs from six to 

 eight pounds, and is mounted on a light tripod 

 stand. The working parts are protected from 

 injury during transit, and the complete appara- 

 tus admits of being easily carried, as it is also 

 efficiently worked, by one man. By working 

 different adjusting screws the sun's rays may 

 be made to strike any desired point on the 

 mirror. The groupings and duration of the 

 flashes admit of sufficient variety to give a dif- 

 ferent signal for every sign and letter, so that 

 verbal messages can be transmitted. Different 

 forms of this instrument have occasionally 

 been used for various purposes a long time. 

 It never, however, so recommended itself to 

 military use as when General Roberts, be- 

 leaguered in Khost, employed it to signal for 

 reinforcements to Baunee, sixty miles away. 

 In the present improved form it is capable of 

 being used with great advantage in the signal 

 service or for other purposes between points 

 which have no telegraphic communication by 

 electric wires. 



. HILL, BENJAMUT HARVEY, an American 

 statesman, born in Jasper County, Georgia, 

 September 14, 1823. He is of Irish lineage on 

 his father's side, and of English on his mother's. 

 He graduated with the first honors from the 

 University of Georgia in 1844, studied law, 

 was admitted to the bar, and began the prac- 

 tice of his profession at La Grange, Georgia, 

 in 1846. In November of that year he mar- 

 ried Caroline E. Holt, daughter of Cicero Holt, 

 a prominent lawyer of Athens, Georgia. He 

 soon acquired a high standing as an advocate 

 and orator, and now ranks as the foremost 

 lawyer at the Georgia bar. 



In 1851 he was elected to the State Legisla- 

 ture. Without being fully in sympathy with 

 the American or Know-Nothing party, he was 

 chosen an elector at large on that ticket in 

 1856. His speeches during this Presidential 

 campaign enhanced his reputation as an orator 

 and popular speaker. In 1859 he was elected 

 to the State Senate as a Union man. In 1860 

 his name was on the Bell and Everett electoral 

 ticket. He was a member of the Secession 

 Convention held at Milledgeville, January 16, 

 1861. Georgia did not secede without consid- 

 erable hesitation on the part of a large propor- 

 tion of her people, nor without solemn warn- 

 ing and earnest remonstrance from her most 



