Skpt. 12, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



223 



i¥li£!rfllanca. 



We are pleased to learn that Mr. Charles Welah, who spent the 

 first seven years of his business career with the late Mr. Henry 

 S. King, has become a member of the well-kno\vn firm of Griffith 

 & Farran (henceforth to be styled Griffith, Farran, & Co.), pub- 

 lishers, St. Paul's-churchyard. On the death of Mr. Griffiths in 

 1877, Mr. Welsh went into the service of the firm, and by his skill, 

 energy, and good judgment contributed very materially to the great 

 e.'ctension of business which it has of late years enjoyed. 



The Electeic.\l Reslstance of Ice.- — The resistance of ice has 

 been measured by M. G. Foussereau. He says he determined the 

 resistances of ice made from distilled water by taking for electrodes 

 two thin cylindrical and concentric plates of platinum. He found 

 the resistance became 15,000 times greater at the moment of con- 

 gelation. The specific resistances varied from 4,865 megs, at 

 — 1° C. to 53,540 megs, at — 17° C. " I found also," he says, 

 " that the resistance of ice varies with the nattire of the water 

 from which it is made. A sample of town water 65 times better 

 conductor than the distilled water previonsly mentioned gave ice 

 conducting 30 or 40 times better." 



Axle Breakages in Germany. — The report of axle breakages in 

 1883 on the railways in the German Union shows a total of 157, 

 against 181 in the previous year. Of those breaking last year 

 122 were iron and 35 steel. One of these axles had been running 

 35 years, three more than 30 years, 10 more than 25 years, and 

 35 more than 20 years. The average life of thoaa whose age was 

 known was a little less than 15 years. Three of the broken axles 

 were under passenger cars, 100 under freight cars, 35 under tenders, 

 and 19 under locomotives. On the average they had ran more than 

 200,000 miles each. The causes of the breakages are given as 

 foUows : — Defects in material, 17; defective manufacture, 2; an 

 old crack which could not be detected, 39 ; an old crack which could 

 have been detected, 49; collisions, 3 ; derailment, 1; hot journals, 

 10 ; unknown, 36. 



Sir Kich.\eu Owen's " History of British Fossil Reptiles," which 

 has been upwards of forty years in preparatioa, is now at length 

 ready for publication by Messrs. Gassell. On the preparation of 

 the 268 plates with which the volumes are enriched great labour 

 and attention have been lavished. The edition consists of 170 

 copies only (each copy being signed by Professor Owen), and no 

 farther number can be produced, as the plates from which the 

 illustrations have been printed have been destroyed. The publishers 

 are anxious to give an opportunity to the chief libraries of the 

 kingdom of acquiring the work. Among the original subscribers 

 were many distinguished men who are now dead, such as the Prince 

 Consort, the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Derby (the grand- 

 father of the present earl). Sir P. de Malpas Egerton, Sir J. J. 

 Guest (the father of Lord Wimbome), Henry Hallara, Sir Robert 

 Inglis, Sir William Jardine, Professor Lindley, Sir Roderick 

 Murchison, Bishop Wilberforce, Chief Baron Pollock, Professor 

 Sedgwick, Dr. Whewell, Sir F. Thesiger, and Lord Wrottesley. — 

 Athenceum. 



Wear of English Coixs. — More than eleven thousand pounds 

 sterling worth of silver is wasted every year in the cotirse of the 

 circulation of crowns, half-crowns, florins, shillings, and sixpences. 

 One hundred sovereigns of the date of 1820, which were weighed in 

 1859 by Mr. Miller, showed a loss in weight through the wear of 

 circulation which was estimated at £1. 6s. 7d. Mr. Miller some 

 years ago made a number of precise experiments, from which it 

 was ascertained that £100 worth of sovereigns lost £3. 9s. 8-4d. of 

 their value in a hundred years. Similarly, £100 worth of half- 

 crowns lost £13. lis. 8-8d. ; £100 worth of shillings, £36. 14s. S'ld.; 

 and £100 worth of sixpences lost £50. ISs. 9 8d. in value, or more 

 than one-half in the hundred years. It will be noted here with 

 regard to the silver coins that the less the value the greater the 

 amount of wear. These lesser coins are, of course, most used, ard 

 so, in the case of a sixpence, a century's wear reduces it to less 

 than half its original value. 



Brazilian Diamo.\d Mi.xes. — The diamond beds of Bahia and 

 Minas Geraes, in Brazil, are very similar in character as regards 

 the minerals composing them and their plateau form, or situation 

 on watercourses. A new bed has been recently opened on the Rio 

 Pardo, in Bahia, which presents some differences to those hitherto 

 known in Brazil. The country around is low and marshy, and 

 covered with forests. The working of these forests has led to the 

 discovery of the diamonds, which are found in a white clay along 

 with beds of decomposed leaves. The deposit appears of modern 

 formation. The minerals of the clay accompanying the diamond 

 are, according to M. Gorceux, quartz, si'.ex, monazite, zircon, 

 disthene, staurotede, grenat, almandine, corindon, and some oxides 

 of iron. There are no oxides of titanium, or tourmah'nes, as is i 



frequently the case in diamond beds. The clay appears to be from 

 its character and situation the debris of the granite mountains 

 bordering on the Bahia coast. 



The Electric Light in South Africa. — The Diamond Fields 

 Advertiser, in noticing a meeting to be held at Kimberley, fur the 

 purpose of deciding as to whether the electric light shall continue 

 in public use or not, says : — " As applied to Kimberley the light 

 has been an unqualified success, and has been a great boon to the 

 inhabitants as regards both the convenience and security of night 

 travelling in and around the town. To how great an extent the 

 safety of our streets has been enhanced it would be difficult 

 to estimate. But some idea may be formed from the 

 fact that outrages are seldom reported, and that the thorough- 

 fares are more free from danger. This has been so marked 

 that it has been well said that each lamp is equal to ten policemen. 

 When fires occur at night, as is most frequently the case, very little 

 looting takes place, because any irregularities of this kind are now 

 so easily detected that gentlemen whose activity would otherwise 

 lead them to secure the goods for their own benefit, instead of 

 trusting to the salvage, do not care to run the risk when the silver 

 rays of an electric lamp are radiating around them. The company 

 has never gone thoroughly into the matter of lighting the mines, 

 theatres, clnbs, churches, and private houses, but this could easily 

 be done by the adoption of incandescent lamps, and there can be 

 no doubt but that the results would prove to be of a highly satis- 

 factory nature." 



The Progress of Xew York. — In 1771 the population of the city 

 of New York was a little over 21,000; and in 1786, three years 

 after the close of the revolutionary war, it had 23,614 inhabitants. 

 The several censuses taken during the past 100 years exhibit the 

 marvellously rapid strides which New York has made toward her 

 present imperial position. In 1790, however, the population was 

 little more than it was in 1771 ; but by 1800 it had risen to 60,515. 

 The remaining censuses are thus given : — 1810, 96,373 ; 1814, 

 95,518; 1820, 123,706; 1825, 166,086; 1830, 202,589; 1835, 

 270,089; 1840, 312,710; 1845, 371,223; 1850, 515,547; 1855, 

 629,908; 1860, 813,669; 1865, 726,384; 1870, 942,292; 1875, 

 1,041,886; and 1880, 1,206,299. On only two occasions 

 has the enumeration shown a decrease from the figtires 

 of the preceding census. The first time was after the war 

 of 1812, and the second after the Civil War. The population 

 of New York city has doubled six times within a century — doub ing, 

 on an average, once in every 17 years. In other words, the New York 

 of to-day is 64 times as large as the New York of 100 years ago. 

 The rate of increase in the country at large is insignificant beside 

 that of the metropolis. In 100 years the population of the United 

 States has multiplied itielf by 16, bat the population of New York 

 has increased at four times that rate. At the rate of increase 

 shown by the last 25 yesirs alone — a rate diminished by the decline 

 of American commerce and the influence of the Civil War — there 

 are children now nursing who will behoW. a New York city contain- 

 ing no less than 10,000,000 inhabitants. 



A RETCRx is published containing the gross receipts and the work- 

 ing expenses of the twelve chief railway companies during the first 

 six months of this year, as compared with the corresponding period 

 of last year. The gross receipts of these twelve companies for the 

 whole six months are £25,609,075, a diminution of nearly £20,000 

 since last year; the working expenses are £13,748,990, an increase 

 of nearly £80,000. The net receipts, therefore, £11,880,985, this 

 year, are less by nearly £100,000 than those of last year. The fol- 

 lowing six companies show an increase in net receipts since last 

 year : — London and Brighton has increased from £455,193 to 

 £457,289 ; South-Eastern, from £469,129 to £486,136 ; Great 

 Eastern, from £673,373 to £746,259 ; London and South- Western, 

 from £559,295 to £573,012 ; Lancashire and Yorkshire, from 

 £802,325 to £831,782 ; Great Northern, from £722,057 to £734,767. 

 On the other hand, sis companies have diminished in net receipts. 

 Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln, from £459,109 to £441,622; 

 London, Chatham, and Dover, from £242 989 to £242,248 ; North- 

 Eastern, from £1,594,955 to £1,470,997; Great Western, from 

 £1,875,216 to £1,869,769; Midland, from £1,668,450 to £1,653,882; 

 and London and North-Westem, from £2,437,380 to £2,353,222. 

 If now we look to the proportion that working expenses bear to 

 gross receipts, we shall find that this year the expenses of the 

 twelve companies, taken together, have slightly increased from 53'4 

 to 537 per cent, of the gross receipts. It we take each company 

 separately, we shall find the working erpenses bear the following 

 proportion to the gross receipts : — Great Northern, 5S'9 ; London 

 and Sonth-Western, 57'7 ; London, Chatham, and Dover, 57'2; 

 Great Eastern, 554 ; Lancashire and Yorkshire, and London, 

 Brighton, and South Coast, 545 each; Midland, 534; Manchester, 

 Sheifield, and Lincoln, 532 ; North-Eastem, 513 ; South-Eastern, 

 52-3; London and North-Westem, 52-1; Great Western, 51. In 

 each case the percentage is given. 



