OlTOBKK .'), 188u.] 



SCIENCE. 



4()5 



true explosion ma\' be imagined, when tiic 

 amount of heat-energy stored up in sucli a 

 boiler is calculated. The quantity of heat 

 transfonned into mechanical energy by a mass 

 of water and of steam of such magnitude, set 

 free, and expanding down to the pressure and 

 temperature of the atmosphere, from the press- 

 ure and temperature at which it existed in 

 the boiler of the Riverdale, would amount to 

 above 1,500,000,000 foot-pounds (over 200,- 

 000,1)00 kilogrammetrcs). This would be suf- 

 ficient to throw the boiler and its contents, were 

 the heat all utilized, as in a perfect steam- 

 engine, five miles high. This m.\v give some 

 faint idea of the enormous forces at work, and 

 the tremendous energy stored in a steam-boiler, 

 even where the pressure of the steam is very 

 low, as it was in this case. 



It will be concluded, from what has been 

 above stated, that a steam-l)oiler of the most 

 ordinary and least dangerous type has stored 

 within it an inconceivable amount of available 

 energy in the form of heat, which maj- be at any 

 moment transformed, in part, into mechanical 

 energy with terribh' destructive results, both 

 to life and jiroperty ; that this powerful agent 

 for good or for evil can only be safely utilized 

 when the utmost care, intelligence, and skill, 

 are employed in its application, and in the pres- 

 ervation of the vessel in which it is enclosed ; 

 that the present code of law relating to the 

 care, management, and inspection of steam- 

 boilers, is entirely inadequate to insure safety ; 

 that the inspection of steam-boilers, as at pres- 

 ent practised b^- the emplovees of the govern- 

 ment, is not only liable to be inefficient, but is 

 likely to prove worse than none, as it gives to 

 the owner, and perhaps often to the man in 

 charge, of the boiler, a feeling of security which 

 is entirelj- without basis in fact, and which 

 may therefore cause the neglect of that watch- 

 fulness which might otherwise prevent acci- 

 dent; that simple pressure produced by the 

 test-pump, as now provided for by the law, is 

 not a sufficiently effective method of detecting 

 weakness in the boiler, or to be relied upon to 

 the exclusion of other better and well-known 

 methods of test. 



The fact that the hydrostatic test is not con- 

 clusive as to the safet^y of a boiler has long 

 been well known and admitted among intelli- 

 gent engineers. The steam fenyboat West- 

 field met witli i)reeisely such an accident a dozen 

 years ago ; and it was shown at the coroner's 

 inquest, at which the writer assisted that offi- 

 cial in the examination of his expert witnesses, 

 that the boiler had been inspected, and had 

 been tested, but a few weeks before, by the 



U..S. inspector, who applied a pressure con-, 

 siderablj- in excess of that at which the explo-" 

 sion took place. The cause of the accident, 

 by which a larger number of people lost their 

 lives, was precisel}' that which caused the 

 explosion of the Kiverdale's boiler, and the 

 method of rupture was the same. In either 

 case, proper methods of inspection would have 

 saved the lives of the sufferers. 



It is undoubtedly true, that many of the in- 

 spectors are conscientious, experienced, skil- 

 ful, and painstaking men, and do their duty 

 in spite of the defects of the existing law ; 

 but it is also true that now and then a care- 

 less or incompetent inspector will neglect the 

 simplest details of his work, and that we must 

 expect occasional repetition of this sad expe- 

 rience, until the law is intelligently framed, and 

 so administered that the passing of a defective 

 boiler bj- the inspector shall become as nearlv 

 as possible an impossibility. 



Robert II. Tuikston. 



Hobokcn, .Sept. 23, 1883. 



THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MICROS- 

 COP I STS. 



Thk sixth annual meeting was held this year in 

 Chicago, Aug. 7-11. The usual number of members 

 was present, and the meeting was full of interest 

 from the beginning to the end. The forenoon session 

 of Tuesday was given to organization, and tlie report 

 of the president on the official action of the execu- 

 tive officers for the year. At the afternoon session, 

 papers were read as follows. Microscopical examina- 

 tion of seminal stains on cloth, by F. M. Hamlin, 

 After pointing out the defects of Koblaiick's metliod, 

 that usually given in the manuals, he explained his 

 own, which he liad found eminently successful. It is 

 in brief as follows. ■• 1. If the stain to be examined 

 is upon any thin cotton, linen, silk, or woollen fabric, 

 cutout a piece about one-eighth inch square, lay if 

 upon a slide previously moistened with a drop of 

 water, and let it soak for half an hour or so; . . . 

 then with a pair of needles unravel or fray out the 

 threads at the corners, put on the glass cover, press 

 it down firmly, and submit to the microscope. 2. If 

 the fabric is of such a thickness or nature that it 

 cannot be examined as above, fold it through the 

 centre of the stain, and with a sharp knife shave off 

 the projecting edge thus made, catching upon a slide 

 moistened with water the particles removed. After 

 soaking a few minutes, say five to ten, tlu' powdery 

 mass will sink down through the water, and rest 

 upon the slide. The cover-gl.ass may now be put on, 

 and the preparation examined." 



College microscopical societies, by Sarah F. Whit- 

 ing. The author discussed, first, the question ' What 

 use can a microscopical society subserve ? ' second, 

 ' How can it be made a success ? ' Such a society, in 

 its range of topics, can take in almost all the physic.il 



