Vol. XXV. No. 9.] 
POPULAE SCIENCE 'KKWS. 
135 
©he ^Gptilar (Bcienec ]^ew§. 
BOSTOX, SEPTEMBER 1, 1891. 
AUSTIN P. NICHOLS, S. B Editok 
WILLIAM J. EOLFE. LiTT. D. . . ASSOCIATE EDITOB 
In a few localities in the world, notably one in 
Massachusetts at Maiichester-by-the-Sea, there are 
deposits of sand which, when pressed or rubbed, 
give out a clear musical note, and are known as 
"singing sands." The cause of this peculiarity 
has remained unexplained, although extensive and 
long-continued investigations have been made with 
a view of discovering the mystery. Mr. Carus- 
WiLSON now writes to the London Chemical News 
that he has succeeded in producing musical notes 
from sand that was never before musical, and is 
also able to produce similar results from those 
raute, or "killed," musical sands which have been 
temporarily deprived of their musical properties. 
Mr. Wilson will soon be prepared to publish his 
experiments with the explanation of the phenom- 
ena in detail, and they will undoubtedly be of the 
greatest interest and importance, and furnish a 
solution of a problem which has hitherto baffled 
investigators. 
Most of our readers have doubtless noticed the 
two short bits of wire melted into the glass of 
incandescent electric lamps, and which serve to 
convey the current to the carbon filament in the 
interior. ITiese wires are of platinum, a metal 
which is now nearly as villuable as gold, and con- 
stantly increasing in price, owing to the demand 
for it for this very purpose. Xo other metal has 
liitlierto been found available, as platinum ex- 
pands when heated at nearly the same rate as 
glass, thus keeping the joint air-tight through all 
variations of temperature. But it is now an- 
nounced that a process has been discovered by 
which other and cheaper metals can be firmly 
welded to glass and answer as well as platinum 
in the electric lamps. If this reported discovery 
is a genuine one, it will materially reduce the cost 
of electric lamps, and also reduce the price of plat- 
inum to a point where it can be more extensively 
used for chemical and physical apparatus. Com- 
plete details of the new process will be awaited 
with interest. 
An interesting paper was recently read before 
a medical society by Dr. Willis Cummings, of 
Bridgeport, Conn., giving the history of nearly 
one hundred consecutive cases of pneumonia 
treated by him without the use of alcohol with- 
out a single death. This is a remarkable record, 
and indicates that in the majority of such cases 
alcohol is at least unnecessary. Dr. Cummings is 
liy no means an advocate of the total abolition of 
alcohol from the materia medica, and, in fact, 
prescribed wine of coca as a tonic in some of his 
cases during convalescence; but he takes the 
ground that alcohol is a true medicine and only 
to be used as such when it is desired to obtain its 
characteristic physiological effects, and is only 
opposed to its general and indiscriminate use as a 
stimulant and tonic without regard to the nature 
of the disease under treatment. From the re- 
markable record presented by this list of cases it 
would seem that it is only in very exceptional 
cases of pneumonia that the use of alcohol is in- 
dicated. 
**i 
What is hydrochloric acid? is a question which 
it would seem that every student of chemistry 
could answer, but some inquiries made by a val- 
ued correspondent show that such is not the case. 
The hydrochloric acid gas (H CI) is a substance 
of well-known and definite composition, but the 
liquid hydrochloric acid in common use is pre- 
pared by passing the gas into water, by which 
it is absorbed in large quantities. Now is this 
liquid a simple solution of the gas, or has the 
water united chemically with it to form a definite 
hydrate, as in the case of sulphuric acid? This is 
as yet an unsettled point, although the subject is 
now under investigation. Some chemists state 
that hydrochloric acid gas, when perfectly free 
from water, will not turn litmus red, thus show- 
ing the absence of acid qualities ; others have 
failed to obtain this result, and find that the gas 
always turns the blue litmus to red. The ques- 
tion, therefore, remains unsettled, whether the 
true hydrochloric acid is a gas or a licjuid; and 
it is rather curious that the exact constitution of 
a substance which is so simple in composition, 
and has been known and studied by chemists for 
so many years, should yet remain unsettled. 
An interesting and novel application of the pro- 
cess of fermentation to the industrial production 
of lactic acid has been made by Jaoquejiin, who 
prepares a saccharine fermentable wort from 
malt, introduces pure lactic ferment produced by 
the method of Pasteur, as also a quantity of pure 
sterilized calcium carbonate, and allows the mix- 
ture to ferment at 40° to 45'^ C. The fermentation 
lasts five or six days. The fermented liquid is 
filtered and evaporated, when an inodorous cal- 
cium lactate crystallizes out, which can be decom- 
posed by sulphuric acid setting the lactic acid 
free. The process of vinous fermentation which 
decomposes glucose into alcohol and carbonic 
dioxide is, as is well known, of extreme impor- 
tance in the arts ; and the successful application 
of the lactic ferment, which is found in sour milk, 
on a commercial scale promises to open up a new 
line of industrial processes of great value. 
The decision of the government weather bureau 
to allow local observers to aid in making up the 
"probabilities" for their districts, is a most com- 
mendable one, and should result in a greatly in- 
creased efficiency in this branch of the service. 
liOcal meteorological conditions are so constantly 
varying, and exercise such an important effect 
upon the succeeding weather, that it is difficult 
and often impossible for an officer stationed at 
Washington to predict with accuracy the changes 
in the weather for all sections of the country 
from such data as may be telegraphed to him. 
The private observatory at Blue Hill, near Bos- 
ton, has issued for several years a series of 
weather predictions based upon local observa- 
tions, which have been much more correct than 
those issued by the United States signal service. 
The success of their predictions has undoubtedly 
been due to the above cause, in addition to the 
freedom from the red tape and formalities which 
so seriously interfere with all governmental un- 
dertakings. 
^*^ 
The introduction of the concept of "chemical 
evolution" into science is, perhaps, one of the 
most important of recent years, and the idea that 
the elements are not absolute and distinct forms 
of matter, but have been formed at some time 
from a single primitive form of matter, is con- 
stantly gaining in favor with chemists, and 
strongly confirmed by the results of experiment 
and investigation. Kekule foreshadowed this 
hypothesis when he wrote : " The relations of a 
body to that which it once was, and to that which 
it may become, form the essential object of chem- 
istry." The crucial test of this theory would, of 
course, be the actual transformation of one ele- 
ment into another; but this has not only never 
been done, but, up to the present time, no facts 
have been observed which would indicate that it 
can be done. But the fact that a transformation 
is impossible under the present conditions which 
prevail upon the earth is by no means an indica- 
tion that it might not occur under conditions pre- 
vailing in some former period of time, and such a 
"missing link" of evidence would no more dis- 
prove the theory than does the apparent lack of 
change of form and function in existing living 
organisms disprove the theory of organic evolu- 
tion. 
•♦* 
WATER GAS. 
The above name is applied to a kind of gas 
which, in many cities, is largely used for illumi- 
nating and heating purposes. The cost of manu- 
facture is, apparently, somewhat less than that of 
gas distilled from bituminous coal in the old way, 
and, for this reason, some gas companies have 
altered their plant so as to manufacture the water 
gas exclusively. 
The term " water gas " is misleading, for water 
does not contain any of the gas, although it is 
used in the process of manufacture. The use of 
such a name tends to confirm the erroneous belief 
held by so many people, that, by some chemical 
process, water may be made to burn; and many 
have been the fraudulent inventions claiming to 
accomplish this impossibility. Water is a product 
of combustion, and all the chemical affinities of 
its constituent atoms are neutralized. It is a 
perfectly neutral, impassive body, and contains 
neither fire nor force. 
Water gas is the product of a peculiar chemical 
reaction which takes place when steam is passed 
over red-hot coals. The steam is decomposed by 
the carbon of the coal, and a mixture of carbonic 
dioxide, carbonic oxide, and hydrogen is the re- 
sult. The reaction, expressed by chemical sym- 
bols, is as follows : 
411,0 + C, = CO., -I- 2C0 -f H, 
Bteam carbon carbonic carbonic hydrogen 
dioxide oxide 
The last two gases are inflammable and constitute 
the valuable constituents of the mixture. 
Water gas, as constituted above, burns with a 
hot but non-luminous flame. It is exceedingly 
well adapted for use as fuel without further prep- 
aration, and, in some cities, is largely used for 
that purpose. To render it luminous, crude pe- 
troleum is allowed to flow into the retorts; and 
the heavy hydrocarbon vapors resulting from its 
decomposition so "enrich" the water gas that it 
is rendered as luminous as coal gas, and, after 
being purified, can be burnt from an ordinary 
burner in the same way. 
The only objection to the general use of water 
gas is the large percentage of carbonic oxide it 
contains. This gas is extremely poisonous when 
inhaled, and many cases of death from this 
cause have been reported. Coal gas contains a 
much smaller percentage of carbonic oxide, and, 
on this account, is less dangerous in case of an 
accidental leak. Considering the large number of 
consumers of water gas, however, the number of 
accidents has been so few that the danger would 
seem to be very slight. Water gas is also quite 
inodorous and without the characteristic smell of 
coal gas. A leak occurring in a building is thus 
likely to escape detection until a dangerous quau- 
