March 2 2, 1877] 



NATURE 



46: 



North Staffordshire, where a large area of coal and blackband 

 ironstone is being opened up, under the auspices of his Grace 

 the Duke of Sutherland, by our member, Mr. Homer. 



Dr. Siemens then spoke of Anthracite and the large extent to 

 which it was used in America, of Lignite and Peat, which may be 

 looked on as coal in formation. After referring to natural 

 gaseous fuel he went on to say : — 



Although the use of natural gas is not likely to assume very 

 large proportions owing to its rare occurrence, its application at 

 Pittsburg has forcibly reminded me of a project I had occasion 

 to put forward a good many years ago, namely to erect gas pro- 

 ducers at the bottom of coal mines, and by the conversion of 

 sclid into gaseous fuel, to save entirely the labour of raising and 

 carrying the latter to its destination. The gaseous fuel, in 

 ascending from the bottom of the mine to the bank, would 

 acquire in its ascent (owing to its temperature and low specific 

 gravity), an onward pressure sufficient to propel it through pipes 

 or culverts to a considerable distance, and it would be possible 

 in this way to supply townships with heating gas, not only for 

 use in factories, but, to a great extent, for domestic purposes 

 also. In 1869, a company, in which I took a leading interest, 

 was formed at Birmingham, under the sanction of the Town 

 Council, to fupply the town of Birmingham with heating gas at 

 the rate of 6(/. per 1,000 cubic feet, but their object was defeated 

 by the existing gas companies, who opposed their bill in Parliament 

 upon the ground that it would interfere with vested interests. I 

 am still satisfied, however, that such a plan could be carried out 

 with great advantage to the public ; and although I am no longer 

 specifically interested in the matter, I would gladly lend my aid 

 to those who might be willing to realise the same. 



With reference to water power, Dr. Siemens said : — The ad- 

 vantage of utilising water power applies chiefly to continental 

 countries, with large elevated plateaus, such as Sweden and the 

 United States of North America, and it is interesting to con- 

 template the nriagnitude of power which is now for the most 

 part lost, but which may be, sooner or later, called into requisi- 

 tion. 



Take the Falls of Niagara as a familiar example. The amount 

 of water passing over this fall has been estimated at 100 millions 

 of Ions per hour, and its perpendicular descent may be taken at 

 150 feet, without counting the rapids, which represent a further 

 fall of 150 feet, making a total of 300 feet between lake and lake. 

 But the force represented by the principal fall alone amounts to 

 16,800,000 horse-power, an amount which, if it had to be pro- 

 duced by steam, would necessitate an expenditure of not less than 

 266,000,000 tons of coal per annum, taking the consumption of 

 coal at 4 lbs. per horse-power per hour. In other words, all the 

 coal raided throughout the world would barely suffice to produce 

 the amount of power that continually runs to waste at this 

 one great fall. It would not be difficult, indeed, to realise a 

 large proportion of the power so wasted, by means of turbines 

 and water-wheels erected on the shores of the deep river 

 below the falls, supplying them from canals cut along the 

 edges. But it would be impossible to utilise the power on the 

 spot, the district being devoid of mineral wealth, or other 

 natural inducements for the establishment of factories. In order 

 practically to render available the force of falling water at this 

 and the thousands of other places under analogous conditions. 

 Me must devise a practicable means of carrying the power to a 

 distance. Sir William Armstrong has taught us how to carry 

 and utilise water power at a distance, if conveyed through high- 

 pressure mains, and at Schaffhausen, in Switzerland, as well as 

 at some other places on the Continent, it is conveyed by means of 

 quick-working steel ropes passing over large pulleys. By 

 these means, power may be carried to a distance of one or 

 two miles without difficulty. Time will probably reveal to 

 us effectual means of carrying power to great distances, 

 but I cannot refrain from alluding to one which is, in my 

 opinion, worthy of consideration, namely, the electrical 

 conductor. Suppose water power to be employed to give 

 motion to a dynanio-e!ectrical machine — a very powerful electrical 

 current is the result. This may be carried to a great distance, 

 through a large metallic conductor, and there be made to impart 

 motion to electro-magnetic engines to ignite the carbon points of 

 electric lamps, or to effect the separation of metals from their 

 combinations. A copper rod of 3 in. in diameter would be 

 capable of transmitting 1,000 horse-power a distance of say 

 30 miles, an amount sufficient to supply one quarter of a million 

 candle power which would suffice to illuminate a moderately 

 sized town. 



The use of electrical power has sometimes been suggested as 



a substitute for steam power, but it should be borne in mind 

 that so long as the electric power depends upon a galvanic bat- 

 tery, it must be much more costly than steam power, inasmuch 

 as the combustible consumed in the battery is zinc, a substance 

 necessarily much more expensive than coal ; but this question 

 assumes a totally different aspect if in the production of the 

 electric current a natural force is used which could not otherwise 

 be rendered available. 



Dr. Siemens then went on to speak of the processes of manu- 

 facture, sketching briefly the history of the improvements in 

 these processes, and concluded by referring to the various appli- 

 cations of steel. Speaking of the means of preserving iron 

 and steel from rust, he referred to Prof. BarfT's recently dis- 

 covered process. This consists in exposing the metallic surfaces, 

 while heated to redness, to the action of superheated steam, thus 

 producing upon their surface the magnetic oxide of iron, which, 

 unlike common rust, possesses the characteristic of permanency, 

 and adheres closely to the metallic surface below. In this respect 

 it is analogous to zinc oxide adhering to and protecting metallic 

 zinc, with this further advantage in its favour, that the magnetic 

 oxide is practically insoluble in sea water and other weak saline 

 solutions. 



Dr. Siemens concluded his valuable address by urging upon 

 the Institute, now that it has attained to such importance, to 

 obtain recognition in official quarters and to become possessed of 

 a habitation in a central position, and in such a building as would 

 serve the societies devoted to applied science in the same way 

 that Burlington House does those devoted to pure science. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Mathematical Society, March 8. — Mr. C. W. Merrifield, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — The following communi- 

 cations were made : — On a new view of the Pascal hexagram, by 

 Mr. T. Cotterill. In a system of co-planar points, the number of 

 intersections of two chords is a multiple of 3. In the case of 

 the hexagram the forty-five points thus derived are divided into 

 four sets of triangles — (i) The three intersections of the chords 

 joining four points form a triad self-conjugate to the conies 

 through the four points. (2) Any three non-conterminous chords 

 intersect in three points, forming a diagonal triangle. In each 

 of these two cases, a derived point determines uniquely its cor- 

 responding triad, the number of triads being fifteen. (3) An 

 inscribed triangle determines an opposite inscribed triangle ; the 

 three intersections of the pairs of sides supposed to correspond 

 form a triangle, the intersections of two inscribed triangles, the 

 nine intersections of the two triangles forming an ennead. (4) The 

 three intersections of the opposite sides of a hexagon of the 

 system form a Pascal triangle. The number of triangles in each 

 of the two last cases is sixty ; to each triangle of one set corre- 

 sponding a triangle of the other, as well as a triad of the 

 second set, the nine points forming three triads of the first set. 

 Denoting, then, the primitive points by italics and fifteen of the 

 derived points (no two of which are conjugate) by Greek letters, 

 we obtain all the derived points by accenting once and twice the 

 Greek letters to form self-conjugate triads. Tables are then 

 formed in matrices of the nine chords joining the vertices of two 

 opposite triangles and their eighteen intersections, found to con- 

 sist of six triangles of each of the second and fourth sets. To 

 these corresponds a matrix containing the nine intersections of 

 the two triangles. In the case of a conic hexagram, the pro- 

 perties of the sixty points of intersection of chords with the 

 tangents at the conic points are then examined. — On a class of 

 integers expressible as the sum of two integral squares, by Mr. 

 T. Muir. [The class of integers considered included those whose 

 squaie root, when expressed as a continued fraction, has two 

 middle terms in the cycle of partial denominators. A general 

 expression was given for all such integers, and an equivalent 

 expression in the form of the sum of two squares.] — Some 

 properties of the double- theta functions, by Prof. Cay ley, F. R.S. 

 (founded on papers by Goepel and Rosenhain). — A property of 

 an envelope, by Mr. J. J. Walker. 



Chemical Society, March 15. — Prof. Abel, F.R.S., presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The secretary read a paper by Dr. W. A. 

 Tilden and Mr. W. A. Shenstone, on isomeric nitroso terpenes, 

 being a further contribution to Dr. Tilden's previous researches 

 on these compound?. This was followed by «. communication 



