1853.] 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



165 



note intended to explain more in detail, the object proposed in offering 

 the premium ; 



1. For the discovery in England, or the importation from any of the 

 British Possessions, of Plumbago, or of some other substance which 

 may be used in lieu thereof, equal in quality to that now obtained 

 fi'om Cumberland. 



The use of plumbago is greatly on the increase, whilst the supply 

 appears rather to diminish. 



2. For the best sample of any new Ornamental Wood, suitable for 

 the manufacture of furniture. 



New Zealand has already furnished some e.\cellent specimens of 

 woods, which have beeu applied successfully for tliis purpose. The 

 vast, unexplored tracts of Australasia and Canada, give promise, fom 

 what we already know of thr-m, that many valuable woods may also 

 be obtained from those quarters. 



3. For the importation of not less than one ton of the Galium Tincto- 

 rium from Canada. 



This root is stated to yield a very fine flesh lake. Although im- 

 ported ijto this country many years since, it has not yet become an 

 article of commerce. This may, perhaps, be due to a deficiency in 

 the mechanism for extractiiig the c.jlour, or possibly to an ignorance 

 as to the value of the root on the part of the natives tiiemselves. 



4. For an account of recent American Inventions, having for their 

 object the substitution of mechanical processes for manual labour in 

 the household and domestic arts. 



Many of the useful, though apparently unimportant conti'ivanccs, in 

 common use in the States, for facilitating, or altogether dispensing 

 with manual labour and attention, might, it is believed, be imported 

 hither with advantage. Even if not applicable to home purposes, they 

 would certainly be of considerable service to emigrants. 



5. For the production of Castings in Iron, equal in sharpness and 

 in delicacy of surface to those now imported from Berlin. 



It is said, that the great cause of the superiority of Prussian and 

 Swiss fine-art castings, is atlributable to some peculiarities in the 

 sand used in forming the moulds. 



6. For the best, simplest, and oiost economic Flour-mill, for the use 

 of Emigrants and Settlers. 



The e.\tension of civilization, the subsequent - centralization of all 

 manufactures and ths division of labour which this has led to, have 

 induced the construction of powerful machinery applicable to the 

 preparation, on a large scale of the food of man. But the simple and 



In'imitive methods used by our forefathers, have been altogether over- 

 ooked. Tlie production, therefore, of a simple portable, efficient, and 

 inexpensive mill, which .shall be capable of gri.nding and dressing the 

 emigrant's meal, placed as he is in a somewhat similar position, is a 

 point worthy the attention of our mechanists. 



SCIENTIFIC INTELtlKENCE. 



A Problem Solved. — What to do with the refuse of our alkali works, 

 has long been a perplexity. Not being an article of commerce, it was 

 a " growmg evil ;" but Dr. Glover, we are told, has in some mea- 

 sure solved the difficulty. He saw that, if not of value as cargo, — if 

 ships would not take it away in their holds, — it might be applied 

 externally to their hulls. He has had it converted into a pigment for 

 iron ships, anti-coiTosive, and repellant of barnacles and weeds. If the 

 ingenious device should be found to answer, the doctor may be con- 

 gratulated on having confeixed a great boon on our chemical works 

 and our shipping. — Gateshead Observer. 



Dcelhity of Rivers. — A very slight declivity suffices to give the running 

 motion to water. Three inches per mile in a smooth, straight channel, 

 gives a velocity of about three miles an hour. The Ganges, which 

 gathers the waters of the Himalaya Mountains, the loftiest in the world, 

 is, at eighteen hundred miles from its mouth, only about eight hundred 

 feet above<the level of the sea ; that is, about twice the height of St. 

 Paul's Church in London, or the height of Arthur's Seat, near Edin- 

 burgh ; and to fall these eight hundred feet, in its long course, the 

 water requires more than a month. The great river Magdalena, in 

 South America, running for a thousand miles between two ridges of 

 the Andes, falls only five huudred feet in all that distance. Above the 

 commencement of the thousand miles it is seen descending in rapids 

 and cataracts from .the mountains. The gigantic Rio de la Plate has 

 so gentle a descent to the ocean, that hi Paraguay, fifteen hundred 

 miles from its mouth, large ships are seen, which have sailed against 

 the current aU the way, by the force of the wind alone ; that is to say, 

 which, on the beautifully inclined plane of the stream, have been 

 gradually lifted by the soft wind, and even against the current, to an 

 elevation greater than that of our loftiest spires. — Arnott'n Physici. 



Coating Iron wilh Copper. — A patent has been granted to Theodore 

 6. Bucklin, of Troy, i\ew York, for a new and improved mode of 

 coating iron wilh copper, which promises to b ^ an iuveution of no small 

 importance to the .'iits. It has lung been a desideratum to coat iron 

 with some other and less oxidizable metal, in order lo render it more 

 durable in exposed situations. It is mure essential to have sheet and 

 pliite-iron than any oilier kind covered Avith copper. For example, 

 sheet-iron covered with copper would be cheaper than tinned iron for 

 roofs of buildings, (fee. ; and plate-iron, if coveied wUh copper, would 

 be excellent for making steam-boile:s so as to prevent incrustalions, 

 &c. Cheapness is an impoitaut item in the process. If the process is 

 expensive, then it cnn be of no general beueht, fur pure copper would 

 be preferable ; if cheap, it is a most impoitaut discovery. A method 

 of covering ii'on with brass, copper, etc., has long been known ; but to 

 cover it and make the copper unite with the iron, like tinned iron, has 

 hitherto been considered problematical. The iuveufiou of iMi'. Bucklin 

 promises to fuISl every cimdition desired in makiig copper iron. Cast, 

 malleable, and wrought-iron can be coated with copper by the new 

 process. The process consists in first removing the oxide from the iron 

 to be coated, tlien covering it with a medium metal wliich has a great 

 affinity for tlie iron, and afterwards dipping the iron so prepared iuto 

 molten copper, which, by the galvanic action of the medium metal, 

 makes the copper intimatily combine with the iron, and form a com- 

 plete coating. The oxide is removed from iron by means of diluted 

 sulpliuric acid, in which the castings or sheets are rubbed with sand ; 

 after this they ar;* washed and dipped into a solution of the muriato 

 of ammonia dissolved in a suitable vessel, Avhen they are ready for 

 the next process. This consists in dipping the sheets or plates into 

 molten zinc, immediately after they are lifted out of the sal ammoniac 

 solution. The surface of the molten zinc should be covered with dry 

 sal ammoniac, to prevent the evaporation of the metal. Tlie iron is 

 soon covered with a coating of zinc, and forms what is ttrmed galvanized 

 iron. At hand the operator has a crucible or pot containing melted 

 copper covered with some incombustible substance as a wiper, and he 

 at once dips the zinced iron into this, in which it is kept until it ceases 

 to hiss, Avheu it is taken out and found to be covered with a complete 

 and durable coating of copper. By dipping the iron thus coppered 

 into the solution of sal ammoniac, then into the zinc, and the copper — 

 repeating the process — coat upon coat of the copper will be obtained, 

 until acquires any degree of thickness. The black oxide is prevented 

 from forming on the copper by dipping it afterwards in the salam- 

 moniac solution, and then washing it in pure water. This process is 

 entirely different from that of Mr. Pomeroy, for which a patent was 

 gi'anted a few years ago. Wo have seen samples of iron coated by 

 Mr. Buckliu's process, which were very beautiful and well covered. 

 Unless the melted copper was covered with a non-combustible sub- 

 stance, the plates would come out in a very rough state ; but the 

 covering acts as a wiper, and the coppered plates come out smooth 

 and well coated. Brass, or any of the copper alloys, can be made to 

 coat the iron, in the same manner as the copper. We hope this new 

 process will be the means of extending the use of sheet-iron, so as to 

 save considerable to the counhy that is now paid out for tinned sheets. 

 — Scientific American. 



Manvfaclure of Gas from Wood. — Two years ago. Dr. Pettenkofer 

 showed by experiment, at a meeting of the Polytechnic Institute of 

 Bavaria, that a very considerable amount of illuminating gas could be 

 disengaged from 2 ozs. of wood. The inventor's process is now in 

 operation at Basle, and is also about to be introduced at Zurich, 

 Stockholm, and Drontheim, The process is said to be far less expensive 

 than the manufacture from fossil coal, and furnishes a gas which is free 

 from sulphuretted hydrogen, and several useful collateral products, 

 as charcoal, wood-tar, and wood-vinegar. — Central Blait. 



New Art of Ornamcniincj Metallic Surfaces. — Numerous as are the 

 inventions or methods which have been applied for the ornamentation 

 of metals within the last few years, we are not aware of any which, for 

 simplicitj^ and beauty, at all equal that recently invented and patented 

 by Mr. K. F. Sturges, of Broad-street, Birmingham. It affords the 

 means of decorating plain surfaces of ol-jects formed of metal, at a reduc- 

 tion of cost which throws all other processes, devised or invented, into 

 the shade, while, at the same time it materially improves their 

 appearance. The invention depends upon the compression of a material 

 between two or more plates of melal in the operation of rolling. It 

 may astonish our readers to learn that the most delicate thread lace, 

 such as is used in ladies' attire, perforated paper, or wiie webbing, 

 when passed through a pair of rolls, leaves an impression upon the 

 sheet of metal, coiTesponding in depth to the compressibility of the 

 material used as a pattern, and the density of the metal upon which 

 the pattern is required to be impressed or indented. In various articles 

 in eiecti-o-plate, Britannia metal, Ac, such as those used forallordin.iry 

 purposes, it is equal to the much more expensive process of decoration 

 by engraving. 



Purification of A'aplitha and Preparation of Xaphlhaline.—yir. Wliite- 

 smith (Glsgow), suggests the following method of purifying coal- 



