38 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMER. 



Feb 



I, lull and the machine on hand. We have 

 not been writing this for the manufacturer 

 of the machine, for he needs none of our 

 aid, but for the patient wife who is pressed 

 with care, and cannot at pleasure call to her 

 aid the washc-woman who forms so import- 

 ant a part of the city population. If one 

 thing is needed more than another it is some- 

 thing to ameliorate the severity of the wash- 

 ino- day. The wringer is one step in the 

 right direction, and we need further aid in 

 the washing part. 



Patent washing machines by the hundred, 

 with recipes of washing made easy by fluids 

 that saved little of labor, while the fabrics 

 were badly damaged by them, the buttons 

 broken and the patience of the washer ex- 

 hausted. The genius that has dabbled in 

 washing machines and fluids thus far was 

 but an arrant pretender, and it is time that 

 he was nailed to the wall as bogus. But 

 through the suds we can discover a faint 

 glimmer that at no distant day will rob wash- 

 ing day of half its dark clouds, and thus 

 give to the industrious wife of the farmer a 

 brighter future. 



The right thut we claim for woman is that 

 inventive genius shall give to her department 

 a proportionate share of his labors, and that 

 the lords of creation shall foot the bills with- 

 out grumbling. 



-«•► 



Sakd, Soap and Glass.— The difference be- 

 tween chemistry and mechanics can be very 

 clearly explained by the changes produced on 

 eand. Thus, if we take a piece of quartz andre- 

 duce it to powder, it becomes sand. This is sim- 

 ply a mechanical change, the sand remaining of 

 the same nature as it was prior to being reduced 

 to dust. Silica is the chemical name for quartz, 

 and it is one of the most refractory substancee 

 known. It is perfectly insoluble in water, and 

 neither sulphuric, hydrochloric nor nitric eoid 

 will dissolve it. It is also so infusible that it can 

 not be melted by any heat obtained by the blow- 

 pipe : and yet this substance, so hard, so infusi- 

 ble and insoluble, can readily be converted 

 into soap, and made to melt like wax, through the 

 subtle agencies of chemistry. By taking some 

 Band and mixing with it a portion of caustic so- 

 da— carbonate of soda and lime— and submitting 

 these substances to a very high heat in melting 

 pots plaoed in a furnace, it fuses and becomes 

 glass. In its molten state it is blown into bot- 



tlP8 and vessels of every variety of form, and is 

 also converted into sheets for window panes, and 

 molded like clay for many other purposes. 



Gliss contains just a sufficient quantity of al- 

 kali to render it fusible, but not soluble, as nei-' 

 ther water nor the three ac'ds named, dissolve it 

 — indeed, glass is the substance common'y used 

 for containing those very corrosive acids, and for 

 this purpose it is of inestimable value to the arts. 

 The change produced by the soda on silica is a 

 chem'cal one. The molding of glass when fused 

 BO as to change its form, is a mechanical princi- 

 ple ; the action of the soda upon the silica, in 

 conjunction with the high heat in the furnace, 

 whereby the silica is made fusible, is a chemical 

 one, and the compound thus formed, which W8 

 call g'ass, is a silicate of soda. A still more 

 wonderful change than this is effected, if an ex- 

 cess of caustic akali is combined with the silica, 

 as it then forms what is called "soluble glass," 

 a substance which will dissolve by being boiled 

 in water Soluble glass, (silicate of soda) is best 

 formed by boiling finely subdivided sand in a 

 very caustic lye under steam pressure, so as to 

 subject the silica to the highest possible temper- 

 ature, as this tends to form m'>re concentrated so- 

 lutions of the silica. This is also a chemical 

 change The hard silica, formerly so insoluble, 

 unites with the excess of alkali, and really be- 

 comes a soap, which is now used in Prussia and 

 some other places for washing purposes. The 

 silica takes the place of tallow, oil and grease, 

 which are used for making common soap, and 

 uniting with the alkali, it becomes soluble in wa- 

 ter, and may be used for washing an inferior sa- 

 ponaceous compound. Such are some of the 

 mysteries of chemistry. 



Silica is one of the most common and useful 

 substances in nature. It is the constituent of 

 many rocks, and composes most of the pebbles 

 in gravel beds. Rock crystal is pure transpar- 

 ent quartz, and its name is derived from " krus- 

 tallos," a Greek word signifying ice. Silica is the 

 base of a great number of precious stones, such 

 as the carnelian and sardonyx, which are bright 

 red ; also the opal, etc. We are entirely depend- 

 ent upon silica for our present advanced position 

 in some of the arts. It forms the lenses of the 

 telescopes by which such advances have been 

 made in astronomy, and from it the lenses are 

 made for our most improved system of light 

 house illumination. 



Spectacles, those aids to the aged, are also 

 formed of it, also our window and looking glasses; 

 in short, silica is applied to numberless purposes 

 in all the philosophical, useful and elegant arts. 

 The " little grains of sand" have become miphty 

 agents in the haada of cultivated man. It is said, 

 however, that the ancients were acquainted with 

 the art of making malleable glass— an artwhich, 

 if it ever existed, can be re-discovered. — Scientifie 

 American. 



—A little nine year old girl, the other day, 

 observing a discussion among a parcel of ladies 

 about cooking steak— some advocating broiling 

 beef and others frying mutton— inquired : 

 " Aunt Kit, how do they cook sweepsteaks ? 



