2^8 



NATURE 



IJuly 17, 1879 



on the coppicing powers of certain trees in dry and arid 

 climates. 



The Annual Report of the Society of Arts for 1878-9, shows, 

 as might be expected, that during the past session, a vast amount 

 of good and useful work has been done under its auspices. As 

 to the material condition of the Society the report is favourable, 

 notwithstanding the badness of the times. 



The Report of the Auckland (N.Z.) Institute for 1878-9, 

 speaks of the steady progress of the Society, and the increasing 

 interest manifested by the public in its operations. Several 

 valuable papers on New Zealand natural history have been read. 



We have received a number of little Guides for Science 

 Teaching, issued by the Boston (U. S. ) Society of Natural History. 

 The enterprise is creditable to the Society, and the "Guides" 

 seem to us to be handy and trustworthy. Some of them are 

 reprints and second editions. They are — " About Pebbles," by 

 Alpheus Wyatt ; "Concerning a Few Common Plants," by 

 G. L. Goodall : "Commercial and other Sponges," by A. 

 Wyatt; a reprint of Mrs. Agassiz's "First Lesson in Natural 

 History;" "Common Hydroids, Corals, and Echinoderms," by 

 A. Wyatt. The last three are very fully illustrated. 



We have received from Mr. J. T. Peacock, the eminent 

 grower of succulent plants, a list of the plants cultivated by 

 him ; these comprise cacti, agaves, yuccas, sempervivum?, 

 euphorbias, and in fact all plants of a succulent or fleshy nature, 

 many of which have hitherto been much neglected by cultivators. 

 The extent of Mr. Peacock's collection may be judged from the 

 fact that at the present time portions are contained at Sudbury 

 House, Kew, the Alexandra Palace, and the Botanical Gardens, 

 Regent's Park. For the purpose of making this class of Plants 

 more generally appreciated among amateurs Mr. Peacock intends 

 sending the printed list to applicants who send an addressed 

 halfpenny wrapper to Sudbury House, Hammersmith. 



The AUgemeine Zeiiung reports important anthropological 

 discoveries in Moravia. Excavations have been going on for 

 some months back under the direction of Herr Carl Maschka, a 

 specialist in these subjects, in the Shipka and Tschertowa Dira 

 caves, near Stramberg. The discoveries, it is stated, have been 

 made in layers, carrying the investigator back step by step to the 

 palccolithic age. Stone and bronze weapons, with bones of a 

 variety of animals belonging to different periods, appear to have 

 been found in large numbers. 



Owing to the great cost and often very inferior quality of gas, 

 the Colonies and India states that for street lighting the electric 

 light is coming into favour in many parts of Australia, and in 

 South Africa particularly ; and when the problem of subdividing 

 the light for u«;e in small houses is satisfactorily solved, it will 

 find a wide field in which it can establish itself more rapidly than 

 will be the case in England. 



A Japanese paper states that some chemists have discovered 

 a vein of silver at Yuigahara, in Kioto-Fu. The water of a 

 pond in the neighbourhood being discoloured, their curiosity 

 was excited as to the cause, and a search for minerals in the 

 vicinity resulted in the discovery mentioned. 



From the Third Annual Report of the Eurton-on-Trent 

 Natural History and Archa:ological Society, it seems to be in 

 a prosperous condition. It forms one of the Midland Union of 

 Natural History Societies, and the work it is doing is on the 

 whole creditable. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Crested Porcupines (Hyslrix crislata) from 

 West Africa, presented by Mr. Moses Boyle; a Black -winged 

 Peafowl (Pavo nigripennis) from Cochin China, presented by 

 the Hon. A. S. G. Canning, F.Z.S. ; a Buff-backed Egret 

 (Ardea russata), European, six Small-scaled Mastigures (Uro- 



maslix microlepis) from Busreh, presented by Capt. Burke, s.s. 

 Arcot ; a Gold Pheasant (Thaumalea picta) from China, pre- 

 sented by Mr. J. E. Liardet ; two Common Barn Owls (Strix 

 flatntnea), European, presented by Mr. R. A. Baldwin ; an 

 Indian Python (Pyfhon molurus) from India, a South American 

 Rat Snake {Spilotes variabilis) from South America, presented 

 by Mr. George Billett ; two Elliot's Guinea Fowls {Ntimida 

 ellioti), four Vulturine Guinea Fowls (Numida zmlturina) from 

 East Africa, deposited ; a Striped Hyaena (Hyana striata) from 

 India, a Yellow-footed Rock Kangaroo (Petregale xanthopus\ 

 four Black Swans (Cygnus atratus) from Australia, two Balearic 

 Cranes (Balearica pavonina), four Rose-ringed Parrakeets {Palis- 

 ornis docilis) from West Africa, two Siamese Pheasants (Enplo- 

 camus pralalus) from Siam, a Darwin's Pucras Pheasant (Pucrasia 

 darwini) from China, purchased ; a Japanese Deer ( Cervus siia), 

 born in the Gardens ; three Australian Wild Ducks [Anas super- 

 ciliosa), a Spotted-billed Duck (Anas pcecilorhynchd), six Rosy- 

 billed Ducks (Metopiana peposacd), bred in the Gardens. 



HOLLWAY'S NEW APPLICATION OF RAPID 

 OXIDATION BY WHICH SULPHIDES ARE 

 UTILISED AS FUEL 1 



'T'HIS process has for its object the utilisation of the heat 

 -*- generated by the rapid oxidation of certain mineral sub- 

 stances, which have not hitherto been used as sources of heat for 

 smelting operations. The heat thus obtained is employed in 

 the reduction of the furnace charge, which may be composed 

 partly of sulphides and partly of siliceous ores. A current cf 

 air is forced through molten sulphides, by which means they are 

 very rapidly oxidised. Great heat is thus developed, rendering 

 the process of smelting a self-supporting operation ; therefore 

 no extraneous fuel is required, excepting that employed in raising 

 steam for the blowing engines ; where, however, water power is 

 available, steam can be dispensed with, in which case all the 

 carbonaceous fuel necessary for the operation is a little coke to 

 start the furnaces, which stands in the same relative position to 

 the ores as wood does to coal in the lighting of an ordinary fire. 



It is well known that pyritous minerals are readily combustible, 

 but the best means of utilising the heat- producing property of 

 metallic sulphides is not so apparent as would at first sight ap- 

 pear. Of these sulphides only iron pyrites is sufficiently com- 

 bustible at a low temperature to bum in the open air, the mass 

 being raised to the temperature at which the oxidation takes 

 place solely by the union of sulphur and iron with atmospheric 

 oxygen. In Spain there are numerous deposits of poor cupreous 

 pyrites, and the Rio Tinto and I'harsis Companies annually 

 treat, at their mines, about one million tons for the extraction of 

 copper only, which does not average 2 per cent. The process 

 employed consists essentially in roasting the pyrites in heaps in 

 the open air, dissolving out the copper from the roasted mate- 

 rial, and precipitating it from the solution by means of iron. 

 These operations extend over several months ; any gold or silver 

 contained in the ore is lost, and the iron and sulphur are also 

 wasted. The sulphur passes into the air as an obnoxious and 

 annoying gas, desolating the country for miles around the works. 



From the earliest ages, carbon has been considered a necessity 

 in all metallurgical operations. The first reduction of metals by 

 means of carbon forms a connecting link between the age of 

 stone and the commencement of civilised art. It is well known 

 that carbon burns at widely varying temperatures, as, for 

 example, in our bodies, in a common coal fire, or in a furnace. 

 A great deal of thought has been devoted to the subject of 

 economising carbonaceous fuel, and great advances have been 

 made in this direction ; yet the expenditure of coal or coke 

 necessary, say, to melt a given quantity of metal, still far exceeds 

 the theoretical limit. The main causes of this discrepancy may 

 be accounted for as follows : — 



1. Only part of the oxygen of the air passing into a furnace, 

 acts on the material to be burnt. 



2. The oxygen is not brought in contact with the combustible 

 matter with sufficient rapidity, to obtain the necessary tempera- 

 ture for the operation. 



3. Gases pass off hot and unburnt These are now, however, 

 frequently utilised. 



I Communicated by Mr. Ho'hv ay. 



