36S 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6. 



pened, accidentally, to become acquainted with 

 Professor Henry's discoveries in electro-magne- 

 tism. Possessing one of those minds, which can- 

 not be confined to the limits of a blacksmith shop 

 — nor any shop less than the canopy of heaven — 

 he applied this power (with which Professor Hen- 

 ry astonished the scientific world) to the asti nish- 

 ment of scientific mechanics. He turns three 

 horizontal wheels around 50 times per second 

 with this power. The wheels and shaft weigh 

 eleven pounds. He has convinced Professors 

 Henry and Bache, that, the power is sufficient for 

 strong machinery. A detailed account of it wdl 

 appear in the next number of Silliman's Journal. 

 The Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer has purchased 

 his first constructed machine, (or model) for the 

 Rensselaer Institute in Troy, as a piece of school 

 apparatus. No chemical nor philosophical appa- 

 ratus, can hereafter, be considered perfeel without 

 it. Whatever may be its late in mechanics, it will 

 cause the "name of Thomas Davenport (the in- 

 ventor) to accompany that of Professor Henry, 

 to the ends of the earth. 



AMOS EATON. 



Sen. Prof, in the Rensselaer Institute. 



N. B. Professor Bache of Philadelphia, and 

 Prof. Turner of Middlebury, Vermont, have 

 given opinions in writing, which I have before me, 

 (after examining the machine in operation) that 

 Mr. Ds. application of Prof. Henry's discoveries 

 may be made to move heavy machinery lor useful 

 purposes. According to their views, another Li- 

 vingston might make another Fulton, of the 

 Brandon blacksmith. 



From tiic Cultivator. 

 DEAR FRUIT. 



Loudon's Magazine for June, quotes the price 

 of peaches in Covent Garden market, at £3 

 ($13.32) per dozen, about. Ill cents each! — cher- 

 ries at £ 1 to £1 10s. per lb. — and strawberries 



at Is. 6d. (22 to 33 cents) per ounce! These 

 were of course of ibrced fruit. 



Extracts from a Lecture delivered by Doctor Birkbeck, at the 

 Society of Arts, Adelphi; December 9, 18:J4. 



ON Till: PRESERVATION OF TIMBER BY KY- 

 An's PATENT OF PREVENTING DRY ROT. 



We have heard persons assert that it appears 

 to them almost ridiculous to suppose that it ever 

 can become necessary, on a large scale, to per- 

 form any operation with a view to render timber 

 durable, beyond that of properly seasoning it by 

 exposure to the atmosphere. But is not this 

 mere prejudice? Why should not timber be pre- 

 pared by a particular process, which conveys 

 something additional into it, and thereby effects a 

 a chemical change in its nature, as well as leather 

 is tanned? 



"A very effectual procedure has taken place, in 

 regard to one form of animal matter, by the pre- 

 servation of the skin from natural decay, by a pro- 

 cess known by the name of 'Tanning.' This process 

 will give a very good idea of Mr. Kyan's inven- 

 tion. Tanning consists in protecting the leather 

 and skin by the introduction of tannin, which is 

 generally derived from an infusion or decoction of 

 the bark of the oak. If no change were produced 



in the gelatine, which makes the largest part of 

 the skin to be immersed in the tan-pit, it would 

 undergo certain chemical changes. — it would pu- 

 trify, and lose its tenacity; but ii a portion of ani- 

 mal jelly is dissolved in water, and a iittlc of ihe 

 substance added, similar to the tannin, a combi- 

 nation will take place between the gelatine; a pre- 

 cipitate will follow of the animal matter-, which is 

 the tanno-gelatine, or a compound of tannin and 

 gelatine, and is precisely that substance which is 

 formed in the leather, and gives durability 

 and | ower to resist the causes of decay. The 

 same intention exists in the process of Mr. Kyan. 

 Ii is true he does noi act on ihe gelatine of animal 

 matter; but he does on the albumen: one of the 

 approximate principles of vegetable matter, which 

 appears to have been slightly perceived by Four- 

 croy, but which was actually discovered by Ber- 

 zelious, about the year 1SI3. 



"In order to obtain this vegetable matter (albu- 

 men,) there are various substances which may be 

 employed. The hibiscus esculentus yields it in 

 considerable abundance: it is a West Indian plant, 

 which Dr. Clarke mentions as adopted in Deme- 

 rara, for the same ] urpose as in other islands 

 the white of eggs and blood are employed in the 

 process of clarifying sugar. The ficus indica, 

 also, if di\ ided at the stem, will exude a consider- 

 able quantity of' this matter. If the solution of 

 the bi-chloride of mercury (which is the accent 

 adopted by Mr. Kyan) is added to the vegetable 

 matter, albumen, it will be (bund, when they come 

 in contact, that, decomposition occurs." 



'■Mr. K van, who had been a series of years 

 (since 1S12) engaged in trying a variety of ex- 

 periments on the preservation of timber, was led 

 to the present experiment by having, as he con- 

 ceived, at length ascertained that albumen was the 

 primary causeof putrefactive fermentation, and sub- 

 sequently of the decomposition of' vegetable mat- 

 ter. Aware of the established affinity of cor- 

 rosive sublimate for this material, he applied that 

 substance to solutions of vegetable matter both 

 acetous and saccharine, on which he was then op- 

 erating, and in which albumen was a constituent, 

 with a view to preserve them in a quiescent and 

 incorruptible state, and obtaining a confirmation 

 of his opinions by the fact that, during a period 

 of three years, the acetous solution openly exposed 

 to atmospheric air had not become putrid, nor had 

 the saccharine decoction yielded to the vinous or 

 acetous stages of fermentation, but were in a high 

 state of preservation; he concluded that corrosive 

 sublimate, by combination with albumen, was a 

 protection against the natural changes of vegeta- 

 ble matter." 



"The mode in which the application of the. so- 

 lution takes place, is in a tank similar to the model 

 on the table. They are constructed of different 

 dimensions, from 20 to 80 feet in length, 6 to 10 

 in breadth, and 3 to 8 in depth. The timber to be 

 prepared is placed in the tank-, and secured by a 

 cross beam to prevent its rising to the surface. — 

 The wood being thus secured, the solution is then 

 admitted from the cistern above, and for a time 

 all remains perfectly still. In the course of 10 or 

 12 hours the water is thrown into great agitation 

 by the effervescence, occasioned by the expulsion 

 of the air fixed in the wood, by the force with 

 which the fluid is drawn in by chemical affinity, 

 and by the escape of that portion of the chlorine 



