JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 107 
and the cannon balls are thrown on the mats.”—Boston Daily 
Globe. 
\ Several specimens of cut nickel ore from the copper mines in 
the Sudbury district. One piece taken from a shaft 1,400 feet be- 
low the surface. This piece is of great value. 
A collection of fresh water shells from the lakes and rivers of 
Canada. 
A number of specimens of carborundum : 
About eight or nine years ago a then unknown man sat ponder- 
ing the possibilities of discovering or producing some substance 
more efficient than either emery or corundum for grinding wheels 
and for polishing purposes. He pondered to some purpose ; then 
turned to experiment. An iron bowl lined with carbon, filled with 
a mixture of coke and clay, was connected witha dynamo. The 
current was turned on. Intense heat with a violent chemical action 
resulted. When cool once more the little mass of what had been 
clay and coke was broken open and a very few hard crystals of a 
bright blue color were seen. It was the birth of carboruudum, a 
mineral probably as much harder than emery as emery itself is 
harder than chalk. 
Encouraged by the presence of the few crystals the man re- 
newed the experimnt on a larger scale with equal success and a daily 
product of not less than a quarter of a pound of carborundum. ‘The 
precious stuff when ground to a fine powder was greedily bought by 
lapidaries at $10 per pound. Even at this famine price it was more 
economical, as well as more efficient than emery ; just two drams— 
one-eighth of an ounce—being found sufficient for a day’s use in 
valve grinding. 
The size of furnaces for producing carborundum steadily grew 
till now at Niagara Falls, N. Y., each of ten furnaces can produce 
two tons per day. This establishment, although already found too 
small for the demand, is of immense proportions, and is managed— 
with the aid of a staff of experts—by the inventor, the man who pon- 
dered and acted, E. G. Acheson, a name become famous the world 
over. 
Carborundum, as it comes from the furnace, is a brilliant and 
beautiful object, a glittering mass of pinnacles clustered together 
and variegated in hue. Purple, garnet, sapphire, ultramarine blue, 
