Polytechnic Association Proceedings. 667 



The importance of this metal may be appreciated by the state- 

 ment that the United States imported from Great Britain, last year, 

 $7,000,000 worth of tin and tin compounds, about $6,000,000 ot 

 which represented the value of tinned iron plate sent to our 

 markets. 



BLACK BAND ORE. 



It is well known that the cheapest iron made in England is from 

 black band ore, or carbonate of iron. A large outcrop of this kind 

 of ore has been lately discovered in the great anthracite coal basin 

 of Schuykill county, Pennsylvania. It has been estimated by min- 

 ing engineers that iron can be made from this ore at a prime cost 

 of ten dollars per ton. 



EAIN ON THE ATLANTIC SLOPE. 



The spring and summer of 1867 have been remarkable for rainy 

 weather south of the Highlands. At the city of New York, from 

 the fii'st of February to the tenth of August, there have been 

 twenty-six snowy and ninety-six rainy days, the duration of the 

 actual raining being equal to about twenty-six days. The total 

 amount of water which fell as snow and rain during the whole time 

 exceeded forty inches in depth. 



NEW USE FOR ALUMINIUM BRONZE. 



Mr. Hulot, du'ector of the worlvshops where postage stamps are 

 manufactured, at the Imperial Mint of France, having found that 

 steel was rapidly deteriorated by gummed paper, substituted alumi- 

 nium bronze with entire success. The three hundred steel perfo- 

 rators used in piercing postage stamps became blunted after a few 

 weeks of use, yet the new tool, containing perforators made of 

 aluminium bronze, at ten per cent, has been strildng 126,000 blows 

 per day for several months past, and yet shows no signs of dete- 

 rioration. 



SANITARY CONTRIVANCES. 



The Union Medicate contains a flattering notice of the inven- 

 tions intended to alleviate the condition of the wounded on the 

 battle-field, which are seen in the United States department of the 

 Paris Exposition. The " hospital car " is fully described, and all 

 nations are advised to take pattern from it in the arrangement of 

 drugs, medicines, flasks and boxes for transportation. Everything 

 fragile is protected. No shocks, overturnings, or other accidents, 

 can break the bottles or force out their stoppers. It says the trans- 



