Vol. XXIV. No. 9.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
141 
resembling a horse-hair, but, like all other animals, 
is reproduced from previously existing forms of the 
same species. 
H.T. v., Boston — What is the comparative calor- 
ific value, or heating power, of equal weights 
of hydrogen and carbon? 
Answer. — One pound of carbon (pure charcoal), 
in combining with oxygen to form carbonic dioxide, 
produces heat enough to raise 8,080 pounds of water 
from o^' to V- C. A pound of hydrogen during its 
conversion into water will evolve enough heat to 
raise 34400 pounds of water a centigrade degree. 
The calorific value of hydrogen is therefore more 
than four times as great as that of carbon. Of course 
the above figures are only theoretical ; in practice 
only a small portion of this heat can be utilized. 
J. H. C., Sew York — What causes the formation 
of " anchor ice".' 
Answer. — Anchor ice is usually formed at night 
around stones at the bottom of rivers, before the top 
is frozen. While the exact cause of the phenomenon 
is somewhat obscure, it is probably due to radiation 
of heat from the stones, through the water and air 
to the celestial space. The formation of anchor ice 
is analogous to the deposition of hoar-frost on terres- 
trial objects, which radiate their heat in the same 
way, till their temperature is reduced below the 
freezing point. The facts that anchor ice is formed 
most abundantly in clear water, and on cloudless 
nights, tend to confirm this theory. 
Subscriber, Oregon. — When antimony is depos- 
ited by an electric current, under certain circum- 
stances, it, apparently, takes an allotropic and 
amorphous form, very different from the usual 
highly crystalline metal, and analogous to amor- 
phous phosphorus, which element belongs to the 
same chemical group. The substance has not yet 
been sufficiently studied to determine whether it is 
really an allotropic form of pure antimony, or 
simply a highly basic chemical compound. 
LITERARY NOTES. 
Sewage Disposal Works, by W. Santo Crimp. J. B. 
Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. 
The safe and economical disposal of sewage is a 
diflicult problem, and one that has enlisted the 
services of many distinguished engineers. Few 
cities are so favorably,situated as to be able to run 
their sewers directly into the ocean, or a stream 
of water which can carry it off without creating 
a nuisance. The present work is by an English 
author, and gives full illustrated descriptions of the 
various chemical and mechanical processes in use in 
many English cities and towns, with drawings 
of the machinery, and much additional information 
which will be indispensable to those intending to 
erect such works, or in any way interested in the 
subject of sanitary engineering. 
Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking, by Mary 
Hinman Abel. American Public Health Associa- 
tion. Concord, N. H. 
The importance of nourishing and well-cooked 
food is evident, and the purpose of this little work 
is to show how a family of limited means can live 
cheaply and well, and so order their dietary that 
they may obtain the greatest amount of nutritive 
value in proportion to the money spent. It treats 
of the scientific principles of food and cooking in 
popular language, and gives a large number of 
recipes for preparing dishes which shall be both 
palatable and economical. This work obtained the 
Lomb prize, offered by the Association for an essay 
on the subject, and we can heartily recommend it to 
all housekeepers. 
The Ethical Problem, by Dr. Paul Carus, is pub- 
lished by the Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago, 
at 50 cents, and consists of three lectures delivered 
by the author upon the science and theory of ethics. 
The subject is well treated, and the work is worthy 
of a perusal by those interested in the matter. 
Pamphlets, etc., received : Bulletin of the Labor- 
atories of Natural History of the State University 
of Iowa; Ueber Feurbestattung. by Dr. Friedrich 
Goppelsroeder, of Mulhausen ; and the Twelfth 
Annual Report of the Rhode Island State Board 
of Health. i 
IQediciije aqd Pljarnjacy. 
A PHYSIOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE 
EIGHT-HOUR MOVEMENT. 
The human body is a machine for the pro- 
duction of power by the oxidation of hydro- 
carbon compoimds in the shape of food, ju.st 
as a steam-engine effects the same results, 
more economically, by the oxidation of simi- 
lar substances in the shape of wood or coal. 
But an important difference is, that, while a 
steam-engine will rim continually if supplied 
with fuel, the human organism can only work 
for a comparatively short period of time, 
when it must stop until, in the mysterious 
state of semi-existence known as sleep, the 
exhausted tissues are repaired, and the supply 
of the incomprehensible vital force renewed. 
The modern tendency of the so-called 
"reforms" in the conditions governing the 
performance of labor is in the direction 
of shorter hours, that is, the performance 
of less work for the same wages, rather than 
in increased pay for the same amount of 
work. From an economical point of view, 
either plan amounts to about the same thing, 
but the effect upon the individual workman is 
very dif!erent. 
A definite amount of work will always 
command a definite price, depending upon 
the condition of the labor market, which is 
governed by the laws of supply and demand, 
in exactly the same waj' as the wheat or 
cattle markets ; and it is mathematically 
impossil)le that a man can, for any length 
of time, obtain as high a rate of wages 
for eight hours' work as he can for ten 
hours, unless by some means he is able 
to produce as much in the eight hours 
as he previously did in ten. The advocates 
of the eight-hour day claim that this is 
the case, and that, owing to the physical 
exhaustion produced by ten hours of toil, no 
more work is accomplished in this time than 
in eight hours, with the increased mental and 
physical vigor arising from a shorter period 
of activity. 
It is evident that there must be an average 
daily time of labor in which the greatest 
amount of work may be produced. It would 
be impossible and uneconomical to work, say- 
twenty hours a day, and equally wasteful to 
only devote one hour or less of each day to 
labor. It may be safely assumed that the 
average man will endeavor to so regulate his 
work as to produce the greatest possible daily 
amount, and, although unconsciously, yet 
none the less certainly, will an independent 
worker strike a very accurate balance between 
the production of energy in his body in his 
hours of rest, and its dissipation in his hours 
of labor. 
The question of a shorter period of labor, 
then, resolves itself into one of the natural 
strength and vigor of the laborer. For many 
years ten hours a day in the mechanical trades 
has been considered as the most economical 
period — that is, the time in whichj:he greatest 
amount of daily production may be accom- 
plished. The general adoption of an eight- 
hour working day would, therefore, indicate 
one of three things : either the average of 
human strengtii and vigor has been reduced 
by one-fifth, or that there has been for many 
years past an entire misapprehension as to 
the proper balance between work and rest, 
or, what is more improbable than either, that 
the great majority of men are willing to 
voluntarily accept a reduction of twenty per 
cent, in their wages — for that is what it 
would inevitably amount to — for the sake 
of more leisure time. The indifferent suc- 
cess of the eight-hour movement, which 
seems to have been the work of professional ' 
agitators, whose only occupation is to stir up 
strife between einployer and employed, would 
indicate that the ten-hour day is founded 
upon a scientific physiological basis, and that, 
in the mechanical trades at least, the energy 
produced in the average human body in 
twenty-ibur hours can be most profitably and 
economically dissipated in ten. 
[Original in Popular Science Hews J 
A CONSIDERATION OF SOME OF THE 
PARTS OF A MICROSCOPE STAND, OF 
INTEREST TO PHARMACISTS.* 
BY DR. H M. WHELPLEY, F. R. M. S. 
Thkre is a constant increase in the number 
of pharmacists who study the use of the micro- 
scope as it is applied to the drug business. This, 
of course, has the effect of causing a greater demand 
for instruments which are employed in drug stores. 
I have sometimes thought that an enterprising 
manufacturer of optical goods would place on the 
market a microscope especially designed for the u.^e 
of pharmacists, or, at least, one that could be 
advertised ae being especially a "druggists' micro- 
scope." It is not probable that, as yet, the demand 
from pharmacists has become sufficiently great to 
attract the special attention of manufacturing opti- 
cians. I do not consider this, as might be expected, 
a source of regret; for, in reality, the pharmacist 
does not require a special instrument, rigged with 
novel devices and decked with new accessories. 
The needs of the druggists are met by microscopes 
which are already in the market. In selecting an 
instrument, the first thing for consideration is the 
stand. With a good stand for work, the druggist is 
ready to add and make use of such quality of optical 
parts as his requirements may suggest and his 
means justify; but with a poor stand, the possessor 
is always at a disadvantage, even with the best 
of optical parts. 
The stand may be defined as a compound micro- 
scope without optical parts. Since the optical parts 
are the only essential portion of a microscope, and 
we can do no work whatever without them, this 
may seem like defining a gun as the portion of that 
firearm without lock, stock, or barrel ; but such is 
not the case. The stand is devised solely for the 
purpose of using the optical parts to the best 
advantage. Therefore, anyone can readily see that 
the more perfect the stand the greater the amount 
*Read before the St. Louis Club of Microscopists. 
