1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



J97 



with additional ones, the decayed portions were removed, and the whole 

 bound together with wrought-iron chain-bars. Proper precautions were 

 talten to retain the challi in the piers, and the gravel of the platform was 

 reduced in thickness 18 inches, in order to lighten the superincumbent 

 weight ; and the structure, though still presenting a somewhat disjointed 

 and sunken appearance, is now firm and compact. 



2. " On the Chancel of Rim/vood Church, Hants," by Mr. F. J. Francis. 

 This chancel, 50 feet long and 22 feet broad, is (as appeared from the draw- 

 ings exhibited) a fine specimen of the early pointed style; and, although, 

 like the rest of the church, it has suffered from continued neglect, spoliation, 

 and bad taste, enough remains to prove, that the ancient builders had be- 

 stowed on it no ordinary portion of ingenuity and skill. The peculiar fea- 

 ture is the number of windows which it contains, there being a series of 

 eight lofty, narrow lancet windows on each side, with deep splays, some of 

 which bear traces of painted decorations, with a fine triple lancet at the east 

 end, making a total of nineteen. The peculiar features of the style are well 

 carried out in all the details. The caps and bases of the slender Purbeck 

 pillars, which separate the splays of the window at the east end, are in the 

 purest taste ; indications of similar pillars are to be found between the win- 

 dows on the north and south side. 



THK ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS. 

 February 12.— Professor Traill, M.D., F.R.S.E., President in the chair. 



The following communications were made : — 



1. (Part II.) Observations on, and Improvements proposed in, the Ventilat- 

 ing and irarming of Factories. By Robert Ritchie, Esq., C.E. Mr. Ritchie 

 continued his exposition of the modes in use for warming and ventilating 

 factories. He showed the diversity of opinion which exists on the subject of 

 ventilation, some being in favour of an upward, and others in favour of 

 doionward, withdrawal of the vitiated air. He also showed, from the opinions 

 of many scientific men, the advantages, as regards salubrity, to he derived 

 from not separating the ventilating from the warminr/ process, &c. 



2. Account of a Cheap and Portable Self. Register-Tide-Gauge. Invented 

 by John Wood, Esq., of Port-Glasgow. Communicated by John Scott 

 Russell, M.A., F.R.S.E., C.E. One of these tide-gauges and examples of its 

 work were shown. This is a very beautiful, simple, cheap, and portable tide- 

 gauge. It can be packed in a box of about two feet square, costs about 21. 

 only, and registers by a pencil on a cylinder of paper the total rise and fall 

 of the tide for a month at a time. IJy a simple addition, costing only 20s. 

 more, where there is a clock at hand, it can be made to register the state of 

 the tide at every period of time. The machine was much admired for its 

 simplicity and cheapness, and was referred to a committee. 



3. On the Naphtha or Camphine Lamp, and its expense compared with other 

 sources of Light. By Andrew Fyfe, M.D., F.R.S.E. The lamp was exhibited. 

 After describing the construction of the lamp. Dr. Fyfe alluded to the nature 

 of the oil used, which he said seemed to be a preparation of turpentine, if 

 not turpentine itself, and then afterwards to the comparative expense. From 

 different trials he had made, comparing its light with that of gas, he found 

 that the expense would be as about three to one, compared to that of an 

 equal light from the gas as supplied to Edinburgh. Of course, if the gas 

 were more expensive, or the quality inferior, theu the comparative expense 

 of the lamp would be less. As compared to lamps with common oil, the 

 expense was as about three to five for whale oil, and as about three to eight 

 for sperm oil. Accordingly, though the lamp was more expensive than gas, 

 yet, in those places where gas could not be got, the lamp was much more 

 economical than lamps with sperm or even with common oil. 



4. Account and Description of a Self-Registering Dynamometric Apparatus, 

 constructed in Paris for the Hydraulic Experiments of Mr. Scott Russell, by 

 M. Morin, Chef de Bataillon of Artillery. With diagrams of its work, and 

 some account of its results. By Mr. Scott Russell. The apparatus was ex- 

 hibited. It is a very scientific and expensive apparatus, requiring the greatest 

 care in its construction, as the springs, on bending, show on the register 

 equal strains in equal spaces traversed by the pencil. It is particularly useful 



i n hydraulic and railway experiments, registering correctly the strains and 

 forces at all parts of the voyage or journey. It has several very beautiful 

 adaptations and adjustments, and requires little attention from the engineer 

 observing. The whole work is carefully recorded on a roll of paper which is 

 taken off and preserved at the end of the journey. 



5. Autographic Apparatus for obtaining accurate Drawings of the Forms 

 of Surfaces or Double Curvature ; with Autographic Projections and Draw- 

 ings, illustrated by Practical Examples. By Mr. Scott Russell. Referred to 

 a Committee. 



February 26. — Mungo Ponton, Esq., F.R.S.E., in the Chair. 



The following communications were made : — 



1. (Part HI.) Observations on, and Improvements proposed in the Venti- 

 lating and Warming of Factories. By Robert Ritchie, Esq., F.R.S.S.A., 

 Civil Engineer, Edinburgh. In this part of his paper Mr, Ritchie stated the 

 general principles upon which all approved modes of warming and ventila- 

 tion must proceed ; and in particular the combination of the two, so that 

 the air of the chamber shall not only be warmed, but a constant influx of 

 pure warm air, and the extraction of the vitiated air, shall be effectually 



secured, in order that the health of the operatives in large factories may be 

 promoted. 



2. Description, with a Drawing, of a neio Method of constructing the 

 Dwellings of the Poorer Classes, in order to ensure a more comfortable home, 

 and better ventilation. By Mr. Anthony Bower. In this paper it is pro- 

 posed to construct the dwellings of cast-iron as being cheaper than stone or 

 brick, and to ventilate them by a common double concentric shaft or chim- 

 ney, into the centre portion of which the fire flues are carried, and into the 

 outer portion are carried the ventilation flues — the beams supporting the 

 floors being cast hollow, and the ventilation going on through them. He 

 proposes to make the tops of the houses flat, to allow of drying clothes 

 thereon, and he collects the rain water in cisterns at the roofs for washing 

 the clothes. 



3. Description and Drawing of a Water-Meter. By William Praser, 



4. On a Reversing Locomotive Sleam-Engine, with Reversing Box, and 

 Pivot Valve. By Mr. Daniel Erskine. A Working Model in German Silver 

 was exhibited in action. This was a very beautiful application of Mr. Ers. 

 kine's reversing box and pivot valve to the locomotive steam-engine. The 

 reversing was performed in the most simple and instantaneous manner, by 

 moving a handle. The model was exceedingly well executed by Mr. Erskine's 

 own hands, and did its duty well, either on a straight or circular railway. 



ROYAL INSTITUTION. 



March 1. — Mr. Fownes delivered a lecture " On the Chemical History of 

 Sugar." — After a slight description of the properties and distinctive charac- 

 ters of the more important of the sweet principles of the vegetable kingdom, 

 the lecturer proceeded to discuss the subject of the practical manufacture of 

 raw and refined sugar from the juice of the cane. The sugar-cane itself, 

 originally a native of India or China, was introduced into Sicily, by the way 

 of Egypt and Syria, at a period antecedent to the Crusades. It was carried, 

 in 1420, by the Portuguese to Madeira, and subsequently, by the same people 

 and the Spaniards, to Brazil and to the West India Islands. The process of 

 sugar making in the British West India colonies has probably undergone but 

 little change for two centuries or more, except in the improvement of the 

 machinery for crushing the ripe canes and extracting the juice. he tem- 

 pering with lime, clarifying by heat, and quick evaporation in a series of 

 open pans, still remain. Under the most favourable circumstances a large 

 quantity of molasses is always produced ; and as we know from the experi- 

 ments of M. Peligot that nothing but crystaUizable sugar exists in the juice 

 of the cane, this production of treacle must be ascribed to an alteration of 

 the sugar from the high temperature of the liquid in the open pans towards 

 the termination of the boiling. The excellent plan now adopted by the 

 refiners of the raw or Muscovado sugar, for concentrating their purified and 

 bleached syrup by evaporation in vessels from which the air is exhausted, 

 patented in 1813 by the Hon. C. E. Howard, was then described and illus- 

 trated, and its adoption in the sugar islands, for concentrating to the neces- 

 sary degree the clarified cane juice, strongly recommended. Under this 

 system the product of sugar would be greatly increased, and its quality 

 much improved, while little uncrystallizable syrup would be produced. This 

 is, however, but a part, although an essential one, of the improvement of 

 which the sugar cultivation and manufacture are susceptible. The East India 

 sugars are made in part from the juice of a palm ; the crude product, 

 or jaggery, is subjected to a kind of refining process before exportation. 

 These sugars are softer and less crystalline, and inferior in sweetness to those 

 of the West Indies. The cause of the latter fact is to be sought for in the 

 quantity of grape sugar they contain, which, indeed, is found more or less in 

 every sample of raw sugar, having been produced in the first boiling at the 

 expense of the crystaUizable portion. For the purpose of detecting the pre- 

 sence of the grape sugar recourse may be had to a beautiful experiment of 

 Trommer, described in the " Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie," for 1841, 

 p. 360. The sugar to be examined is dissolved in water, mixed with a solu- 

 tion of sulphate of copper, and then a large excess of caustic potash ailded. 

 The blue precipitate at first thrown down is re-dissolved with intense purplish- 

 blue colour by the excess of alkali. So far, both cane and grape-sugar behave 

 alike; but on heating the liquid to the boiling point, the cane sugar solution 

 undergoes but little change, while that containing the grape sugar yields a 

 copious precipitate of brilliant red suboxide of copper. It was suggested that 

 this experiment might possibly be put into a form applicable to the assay of 

 sugars, in which the proportion of grape sugar — that is, worthless su^ar — 

 should be inferred from the quantity of suboxide of copper produced from a 

 given weight of the sample. The cheaper kinds of raw sugar, chiefly con- 

 sumed by the poor, are sometimes cruelly adulterated by an intentional ad- 

 mixture of grape sugar, |manufactured on a large scale for the purpose from 

 potato-starch. This is a fraud which should be suppressed. 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



March 5. — The President in the Chair. 



The first paper read was a description by Mr. J. T. Syme, of the bridge 

 over the river Jfhitadder, at Allanton. This bridge, which was executed at 

 he expense of Miss Boswall, of Blackadder, from the designs of Messrs. 



