April 21, 1882.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



535 



instructive manner on the lubject of oceanic currents. 

 Chapter V., also, dealing with the principles of resistance in 

 fluids, is of f"\t:rrae interest. In one of the experiments 

 illustrating this part of the subject, a leaden bullet fired 

 directly against a tliin parchment film covering a small 

 water surface is found to be shattered into fine films, which 

 the author arranges in the following form : — 



Fig. 5. 



In the sixth chapter, ^Ir. Stanley discusses the generation 

 of bi-whirl systems under the action of conic resistance, 

 while in Chapter VII. we have an interesting series of 

 experiments with pipes and channels. Chapter VIII. 

 deals with the important subject of the projection of solids 

 in fluids, showing how the solid, carrying forward with it a 

 volume of fluid, acts like a fluid projected in a fluid. The 

 author considers this principle further supported by an 

 experiment by Mr. J. Scott Russell, in which a boat stopped 

 in a canal was found to project forward a volume of water 

 greater than its bulk, this projected water forming a wave 

 half-a-yard in height, which yh: Russell followed on horse- 

 back to a distance many miles from the stopped boat. Mr. 

 Stanley thus represents (as experiment has established) the 

 forms of the following whirls in this case. 



Fig. C. 



His application of this part of his research to the theory 

 of rudder action is full of interest. 



Passing over other valuaVjle experiments, we come to the 

 second section, to which, however, we can give space very 

 inadequate to its real impoi-tance. Mr. Stanley here con- 

 siders ihe general conditions of fluids on the globe under 

 the influence of the sun's heat and the earth's revolution. 

 He erroneously describes, by the way, as Dr. Carpenter's 

 theory of oceanic circulation that according to which the 

 chief motive force of the system of oceanic circulation is 

 the sun's heat in tropical regions. This theory had been 

 adopted before Dr. Carpenter advanced his views, the 

 special point of which is the action of cold water descending 

 from melting ice in the arctic regions. We believe there 

 can be very little doubt that solar action on the equatorial 

 and tropical seas is altogether more potent than any other 



cause — melting ice, trade winds, or the like — in generating' 

 and maintaining the system of oceanic circulation. Jlr. 

 Stanley's researches admirably illustrate this subject, and 

 we would specially recommend this portion of Mr. Stanley's 

 work to the careful study of all who take interest (as who 

 does not?) in the wonderful mechanism of the ocean 

 currents. 



The discussion of aerial circulation is also full of interest, 

 though of necessity this part of the subject is less fully 

 illustrated by experiments than those which precede it 

 We wish our space would permit us to present a full 

 account of what ]Mr. Stanley says in these important 

 portions of his work. It would be an injustice to him to 

 give a mere abstract. 



We cannot too warmly commend Mr. Stanley's book to 

 all interested in the discussion of fluids and their move- 

 ments, in open sea, in rivers and canals, and in more 

 limited spaces. He has dealt, and dealt successfully, with 

 some of the most diflicult of hydrodynamical problems. 



MEAT PRESERVATION. 



THE second part of a demonstration of a new method (under 

 Jones's patent) of meat prescn-ation was given on Friday at 

 the Cannon-street Hotel, when tlie efficacy of the process was 

 pi-oved in a practical way by the serving for luncheon of mutton 

 killed on March 6, or thirty-nine days before. The carcases from 

 which the joints served up were cut had been kept in a butcher's 

 shop at a temperature varying between 50" and 60° Fahr. Mr. 

 Hardwicke, who presided, remarked, on sitting down to lunch, that 

 the meat would be found to have been prepared in the simplest 

 way, in order that tho flavour and quality of the flesh might be 

 better appreciated. The experiment showed that the mutton, of 

 which boiled and roasted joints were served, was perfectly free 

 from any taint or taste of the antiseptic chemical used to preserve 

 it, and that the meat i-etained its natural juiciness and flavour. It 

 was, moreover, vei-y tender. The process, which was described 

 in the Times of March 9, differs from other applications of 

 antiseptics to the preser ration of meat in one important 

 feature — the preservative substance (boracic acid) is injected 

 into a vein while the creature, though stunned by a blow 

 on the head, is still alive, and the action of the heart 

 is relied upon to pump it tlu-ough every part of the body into 

 which the vascular system ramifies. With regard to a question 

 which has been raised as to the innoccncy of boracic acid as an 

 antiseptic. Colonel Harger quoted Dr. F. P. Atkinson, who says: — 

 " Considering the well-known 'properties of boracic acid, it is ex- 

 ceedingly curious how little it has been administered as an internal 

 remedy. Its effect in diphtheria, both locally and internally, is 

 very marked." This he proceeds to show by reference to observa- 

 tions of Dr. Cossar Ewart and Dr. Malcolm Simpson, and subse- 

 quently states that, " A dose is 5 to 15 grains. It has one particular 

 recommendation, and that is its tastelessness." In the room was 

 shown the carcass of a sheep killed on the 6th of March last, 

 still in perfect condition, and to preserve which 5 oz. of boracic 

 acid were used, the whole carcass weighing 7-tlb. The two hind- 

 quarters of another sheep, killed on the 20th of February, or 54 days 

 ago, were also shown. No difference was perceptible between the 

 condition of one or the other. To preserve the latter, which weighed 

 89 lb., 6 oz. of boracic acid had been used. As, however, a large 

 proportion of the solution injected probably Bows away with the 

 blood when the creature is struck by the butcher, two minutes 

 after the injection of the boracic acid, it is impossible in the 

 absence of any data from careful ([uantitative analysis to calculate 

 the quantity remaining in the fibre of, say half-a-pound of mc:ir 

 before cooking. But small as this quantity must be, there c;iu 

 ba no doubt that, introduced in this way into the living organism, 

 it suflices to preserve, not only the carcass, but also the heart, 

 liver, kidneys, and other organs of the body. The economical 

 advantages of a method which, it used in the alattoirs of Sydney 

 or Melbourne, would only render it necessary to reduce the 

 temperature in the storing-rooms during the voyage to 50 deg. 

 Fahr., instead of 30 deg. Fahi-., mu.st evideutly be considerable. The 

 loss of weight in a sheep thus preserved and kept for one month 

 has been found to be about 5 per cent. — Times. 



A NEW use has been found for gi-aphite in the shape of paint to 

 protect articles of iron, notably roofs, bridges, smoke-stacks, &c., 

 against rusting and corrosion. 



