584 transactions of the american institute. 



Improvement of Steel. 



Tliis subject is still attracting the attention of several scientific experi- 

 mentists. Some mouths since a memoir appeared from M. Le General Sobrero, 

 of Turin, on the constitution of iron, cast iron and steel, in which he denies 

 that the nitrogen of the nitrogenized carbon compounds used in making 

 steel is an essential element in its constitution, but maintains that to insure 

 goodness and durability to steel and resistance to successive heatings, it 

 must contain a metallic oxide diificult of reduction and capable of solution 

 in the steely mass, as the sub-oxide of copper dissolves in copper. This 

 property is attributed by him to the oxides of manganese, titanium and tungs- 

 ten. Very recent experiments tend to prove the beneficial effect of the 

 presence of small quantities of either of these metals. Those made by 

 Caron, by order of the French Minister of War, show that tungsten added 

 in small quantities to both cast iron and steel increases their hardness and 

 tenacity. Mr. E. Riley, in a paper on the occurrence of titanium in pig 

 iron, and the use of titaniferous minerals in the manufacture of iron and 

 steel, read before the last meeting of the British Association, says that 

 titanium appears to have some beneficial effect in the manufacture of iron 

 and steel, and to act somewhat similarly to manganese. 



A Thallium Alum. 



Mr. Nickles announces that he has obtained an alum, in which thallia is 

 substituted for potassa and sesqui-oxide of iron for alumina, to which is 

 •added the usual twenty- four equivalents of water. 



The Spectrum Test. 



The same scientist does not find the characteristic green line of thallium 

 spectrum in the spectra of some of the thallium compounds. 



Aniline Colors. 



Mr. J. W. Young states in The London Chemical News that, by adding 

 wheaten starch to manure, magenta, &c., the coloring matter is absorbed 

 and the supernatant liquor is rendered nearly colorless. Most of the col- 

 oring matter may be removed from the starch by alcohol. 



Direct and Diffused Light. 



Prof. Bechi of the Technic Institute of Florence has made some experi- 

 ments in relation to the action of direct and diffused light upon the growth 

 of plants. The analysis of plants of the bean tribe, raised under these dif- 

 fering conditions, show that more than double the quantity of carbon, 

 hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, is found in plants exposed to direct light, 

 while those shielded from it contain an increased amount of *vater. These 

 experiments confirm what practice has taught the farmer ; that grass and 

 other plants grown in fields where shade-trees abound are less nourishing 

 than those which have received the full power of sunlight. 



Treatment of India-Rubber. 



Prof. Everett read an extract from a German periodical, Dingler's Poly- 

 technic Journal for October, 1863, in commendation of an American inven- 

 tion. Dr. Parmelee's process for the treatment of India-rubber with bi- 



