July 3, 1879] 



NATURE 



221 



I 



Perhaps the comparative loan collection of farm imple- 

 ments is the most noticeable feature of the whole show. 

 The paucity of labels and the filthy condition of the 

 ground notwithstanding, the rollers, ploughs, harrows, 

 drills, threshing, winnowing, and reaping machines, are 

 full of interest. Of the actual specimens shown, but few, 

 if any, date back further than the last century, while the 

 majority belong to the first half of the present. The 

 reapers, including Bell's reaper of 1826, form an in- 

 structive series. 



When, about the year 1850, steam was becoming more 

 generally used for agricultural operations, an immense 

 impetus was given to the improvement of farm machinery. 

 Richard Trevithick's portable engine, made at Hayle 

 Foundry, in 181 1, and put upon Sir C. Hawkins's 

 farm at Trevithen for working a threshing machine, is an 

 historical agricultural relic far too curious to be allowed 

 to return, after the Kilburn Show is closed, to its prosaic 

 duties in Cornwall. It should be secured for the Patent 

 Museum at South Kensington. It must be regarded as 

 inaugurating the practical use of steam on the farm. The 

 later steps in the progress of steam cultivation may be 

 studied in this loan collection and in the modem imple- 

 ment sheds with tolerable completeness. 



Before leaving the subject of the loans exhibited at Kil- 

 burn, we may direct our readers to a case exhibited by 

 the Secretary of State for India. It is to be found close 

 to the house in which the plans for farm-buildings are 

 arranged, and in a line with one of the historical [imple- 

 ment sheds. The case in question contains specimens of 

 wheat from our Indian Empire, and is accompanied by a 

 map, some remarks on the quality of the wheats, and 

 some statistics. From the latter we learn that India pro- 

 duces 40 million quarters of wheat, of which but i'3 

 millions were exported in 1877 ; that the demand for 

 wheat of the whole world is at the most but 25 million 

 quarters ; and that the United Kingdom requires an 

 average import of 1 1 million quarters, in addition to her 

 home production of the same quantity. Had chemical 

 analyses of some of these samples of Indian wheat, to- 

 gether with their mill-products, been added to this exhibit, 

 it would have been still more instructive. 



In the same shed with the Indian wheats there are 

 shown a series of seventeen cases illustrative of the com- 

 position and nutrition of the human body. These are 

 lent by the South Kensington Museum and from what is 

 known as the "Circulating Food Collection." It consti- 

 tutes a small replica of the most characteristic parts of 

 the Food Collection at Bethnal Green, and like the latter, 

 has been arranged and fully described by Prof. Church. 

 It supplies in an exact yet popular form an immense 

 amount of information concerning the elements and com- 

 pounds of the human body and of food ; and concerning 

 the amount and nature of a day's ration, the equivalents 

 of foods, the analysis and adulteration of alimentary pro- 

 ducts, the qualities and testing of waters. It has been 

 lent to several provincial exhibitions already, and forms 

 an admirable instrument of popular instruction. 



Turning to another department of the show we notice, 

 amongst the raw materials used in the manufacture of 

 manure, some specimens of native phosphates which 

 claim our attention. The search for anything that can 

 be made into superphosphate has certainly been most 

 exhausting. As one supply fails a new one is discovered. 

 The Canadian apatites shown at Kilburn are very fine. 

 Some hexagonal prisms and pure blue crystalline masses 

 are quite museum specimens. Some samples of what 

 are called Russian coprolites are exhibited on Stand 

 615. They are large and have a well-marked radiate 

 structure, closely resembling that often seen in iron 

 pyrites. 



We do not recollect ever having before seen the seed of 

 the locust bean, Ceratonia siliqtca, prepared for food by 

 simple splitting, as shown in a fine sample (No. 11,081) 



on Stand 595. Some specimens of selected or pedigree 

 wheat, on Stand 629, are noticeable. 



The artificial drying of hay and some other crops is 

 likely to be more extensively employed before long. Mr. 

 W. A. Gibbs, the inventor, shows some improved forms 

 of his implement for this purpose. They effectually "get 

 rid of the excess of moisture in the materials submitted to 

 the process of artificial desiccation without stewing them. 

 One machine can dry out 35 per cent, of water from hay at 

 the rate of twenty loads a day. Another instrument, of 

 which a model is also shown, is specially adapted for 

 drying tea, coffee, manures, hops, and fruit. 



It is impossible to do justice, in a single set of brief 

 jottings like the present, to any of the subjects we have 

 handled. We can but direct attention to some of the 

 characteristic features of the stands, and to two or three 

 out of the thousands of specimens shown. We should like 

 to have dwelt upon numbers of inventions to which we 

 have no space to allude ; but we cannot refrain from 

 noticing the exquisitely ingenious application of hydraulic 

 pressure to the automatic opening, and, what is more 

 curious, the automatic closing, of entrance gates by the 

 pressure of the passing vehicle. The interval between the 

 opening and the spontaneous closing of these gates can 

 moreover be regulated to a nicety by a previous ad- 

 justment. A large working model of this invention will 

 be found at Stand 141, the patentee being W. Walton, of 

 Runiley, Manchester. We must also note a charming 

 chromolithographic diagram of the colours acquired by 

 the metal in tempering steel from the pale straw proper 

 to " scrapers for brass " through shades of orange, red, 

 and purple to the deep blue of " springs." This was 

 issued as a supplement \o\\sr Iromnoitger oi K^rCi 5, 1879, 

 and is shown at Kilburn on the stand appropriated to that 

 paper. 



We have not space to speak of the many admirable 

 features of the showyard, nor even of the delightful little 

 train of steam tramcars working on rails of less than two 

 feet gauge. But we may i-eturn to the subject of the 

 Kilburn Show next week. 



MAJOR PINTO'S AFRICAN JOURNEY 



MAJOR SERPA PINTO has been lecturing in Lisbon 

 to a distinguished audience on his journey across 

 Africa from Benguella to Durban. He apologises for the 

 disjointed character of his lecture, for which he had no time 

 to prepare, and which, therefore, cannot be taken as any- 

 thing like a complete account of the resultsof his journey. 

 There is some likelihood of his soon being in London, 

 and probably then he may give us a more systematic 

 account of what he has been able to gather in the inter- 

 esting region through which he passed. A good deal has 

 been said of the large natural history and other collections 

 he has made, and if these be such as they have been re- 

 presented, science will certainly be much indebted to the 

 gallant Major, who has tried to revive the glories of the 

 old days when Portugal was in the front rank of exploring 

 nations. A good many difficulties were met with at the 

 beginning as usual, and Major Pinto deemed it advisable 

 to separate himself from his companions Ivens and 

 Capello, who took a more northern route, and as they had 

 various scientific instruments with them, including such 

 as were suitable for observations in terrestrial magnetism, 

 possibly they may have some important contributions to 

 make to science. 



It is difficult to make much out of Major Pinto's 

 rambling talk, which often reminds us of the vague and 

 wonderful stories told by the simple travellers of old. He 

 certainly seems to have made important rectifications in 

 the hydrography of South- West Africa, especially of that 

 flat table-land about 12° S. and 18° E., where within a few 

 paces one can drink of the water of the sources of the 

 Zambesi, Coanza, and Cubango, and where it can easily 



