452 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



nsed, can produce more from her soil than the island of Great Britain. 

 G'his kind of latent wealth would be sought after and secured, provided 

 there were no special panics. But our currency does not increase with 

 actual production. Our gold and granaries should have the same propor- 

 tionate expani^ion. If our markets were all supplied by home manufac- 

 ture, the same increase of gold would be essential to preserve uniformity 

 of values, and prevent those periodical pressures, in which the usurers 

 manage to completely strip the producers. 



Mr. Seeley said that the color of pure gold was nearer to that of brass 

 than of any other substance, but that we seldom see pure gold. It is 

 always alloyed with irridum, palladium, &c., &c., which though in small 

 quantities, give a great variety of shades of color. 



Polytechnic Association of the American Institute, ) 



Jvne 30<A, 1859. \ 



Professor Mason, Chairman, John Johnson, Esq., Secretary, pro tem. 



The following extracts were handed in from Judge Meigs, the Recording 

 Secretary : 



By Henry Meigs. — Mr. Wise, the ^renaut, is at St. Louis with a balloon, 

 intending to come to New York. He states that he found out 17 years 

 ago that whenever he has ascended 3 to 4 miles, he always found the wind 

 steady from the west, with uniform velocity. He believes it crosses tho 

 Atlantic, so that he could go from California to New York, and thence to 

 the Eastern continent. 



The uniform movement of air 4 miles high, from west to east, is new- 

 It needs more evidence ; if true, it would become an excellent bearer of 

 despatches from West to East. 



the BESSEMER IRON, 



Has attained much credit. Many Engineering firms use no other for 

 their own tools. From recent trials at Woolwich, on his iron steel, the 

 following are the results : Iron boiler plate, 68.347 ; bar iron, 75.897 ; 

 round steel, 162.970. 



When we consider that the ordinary strength of Staffordshire bar iron is 

 only 56,000, the superiority of Bessemer's is apparent. The boiler iron 

 plates, I thick, can be folded up cold like a sheet of paper, and though 

 doubled over three or four times and flattened down, show no symptoms of 

 fracture at the edges of the folds. Of the Steel, a spiral shaving about 70 

 feet long was entire, and more resembles wire rope than any thing else. 



A gun has been made by the Bessemer process, from haematite iron, 

 which is quite a marvel in metallurgy. A six inch round ingot having 

 been run, it was then heated and rollei in the usual manner until reduced 

 to the proper dimensions for a four inch gun. After being turned and 

 bored, a cylinder of about six inches in length was cut therefrom, and sub- 

 jected to hydraulic pressure until completely flattened ; yet, notwithstand- 

 ing this severe test, no symptom of a crack or fracture could be discovered 

 in any part thereof. 



