April 12, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



277 



THE WAGNER REGULATOR. 



This electric regulator, invented by Mr. Frank C. Wagner of 

 Ann Arbor, Mich., consists essentially of a high-resistance wire 

 stretched tightly between two supports, and carrying a weight at 

 its middle. The actuating current passes through this wire, which 

 is selected in such a manner as to heat thereby, thus allowing the 

 weight to descend a fixed amount for each strength of current. 

 The weight carries a bar adapted to make contact successively 

 with a number of spring contact-pieces, which are in electrical con- 

 nection with a number of resistance-coils so arranged as to shunt 

 varying portions of current around the device requiring regulation. 



The field for the application of this form of regulator is very 

 wide. Up to the present time, it has been applied practically to 

 only two cases. The first was to compensate for extreme varia- 

 tions of speed in an incandescent dynamo. The wire of the regu- 

 lator was placed in series with an incandescent lamp fed from the 

 main conductors. Any increase of voltage due to an increase of 

 speed immediately increased the expansion of the wire, thus drop- 

 ping the weight, and throwing additional resistance into the field- 

 circuit of the dynamo. Before the application of the regulator, 

 lamps were being burnt out continually by sudden increase of 

 speed. This regulator, although very crudely made, has been in 

 use for nearly a year, and with excellent results. 



The second application is in connection with an electric meter, 

 also invented by Mr. Wagner. This meter uses the heating action 

 of the current for the actuating force, and in consequence the direct 

 readings are proportional more nearly to the square of the current 

 than to the current itself. The regulator is employed to shunt such 

 portions of the entire current around the meter proper as will ren- 

 der its readings directly proportional to the current strength. 



There are many other ways in which the regulator can be ap- 

 plied, especially in connection with alternating currents. Its ex- 

 treme simplicity, and the very small amount of energy consumed, 

 are greatly in its favor. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



The Hughes Crematory. 



The city of Savannah, Ga., is soon to have a crematory for the 

 destruction of garbage by fire. The model selected is that known 

 as the Hughes Crematory, and is thus described by the Savannah 

 News : — 



The crematory will be about 30 feet long, and from 15 to 20 feet 

 wide. The main body of the kiln or furnace is a vertical shaft 

 built of brick. At its base will be two hydrocarbon-burners. 

 Upper and lower triangular flues extend across the middle of the 

 shaft, and also an upper and lower set of baffles or side-wings, 

 which are connected by means of wall passages or flues. Under- 

 neath these is a shelf, forming a retort in which air may mix with 

 the flames from the burners. Flues are provided for the return of 

 the gases arising from the incineration to a smoke-stack at the side 

 of the shaft. A hydrocarbon-burner is placed at the bottom of the 

 shaft conveying the gases to the chimney, which deodorizes them 

 before they pass out into the air. Perforated steam-pipes are 

 located over the top drop-shelf of the shaft, connecting the burner 

 with the boiler, so that the fluids may be carried off. 



The operation of the crematory is simple. When the furnace is 

 brought to the required degree of heat, a load of the material to be 

 burned is emptied into the top of the shaft. It falls on the first 

 drop-shelf. After a suitable period this shelf is dropped, and the 

 mass of material is allowed to fall on the second shelf, and a sec- 

 ond is dumped into the kiln. After another interval the second 

 drop-grate is allowed to fall, and the material is thrown upon the 

 baffles and flues below, whence the residuum finally drops down 

 into the ash-pit at the bottom of the shaft. The capacity of the 

 crematory will be 50 tons of garbage per day, and the cost of the 

 process is from 18 to 20 cents per ton. 



In Montreal it costs just $43,000 to destroy by fire a year's mis- 

 cellaneous refuse, and $8,000 additional for the burning of its night- 

 soil. The destruction of the latter costs 75 cents per ton, and of 

 the former 25 cents per ton. In Minneapolis it is estimated that 15 

 to 20 cents per ton of refuse pays for the labor employed and the 

 fuel used. Within five days recently the refuse cremated consisted 



of 33 horses, 59 hogs, 103 barrels of hotel and commission-house 

 refuse, 12 loads of market offal, and 70 loads of manure. The ag- 

 gregate weight was 200 tons, but the ashes deposited in the course 

 of consumption weighed considerably less than l.ooo pounds. 

 The total cost of labor and fuel for this five days' period was 

 $38.25. 



The Morphine Habit. — Erlenmeyer says that children born 

 of women addicted to the morphine habit are practically morphine- 

 eaters from birth. During the first few days of life, unless mor- 

 phine is given to them, they are very apt to suffer collapse ; and 

 this condition may end in death, the child being too weak to with- 

 stand the violent symptoms, which are similar to those which fol- 

 low the sudden withdrawal of the drug in adult opium-eaters. 



Schoolroom Space. — Mr. H. Courthope Bowen, whose 

 opinions on all matters connected with the proper construction of 

 schoolrooms are entitled to great weight, and are regarded as au- 

 thority by the leading medical journal of England, expresses some- 

 what as follows what, in his judgment, should be considered a good 

 schoolroom. Taking the case of a room 14 feet high, fairly venti- 

 lated and always well aired in recess, he would assign two thirds 

 of the floor-space to the scholars and their desks, and keep the 

 other third for the teacher, the blackboard, etc. With single 

 desks, 22 inches should be allowed from side to side, and 3 feet 

 from back to front, for each scholar. The passages need not be 

 more than 18 inches for those running from back to front, and i 

 foot for those running from side to side. In such arrangement, 

 counting the passages, each scholar has (without reckoning the 

 share of the space allotted to the teacher) a trifle more than 40 

 inches from side to side, and just 4 feet from back to front. In a 

 room 25 feet by 20 feet the fioor-space for scholars' desks will be 

 16 feet by 20 feet, with 4 feet from back to front per row, and ac- 

 commodation is provided for twenty scholars. The whole floor- 

 space is 500 square feet, and the cubic contents of the room 7,000 

 cubic feet, with 20 square feet and 280 cubic feet per person. 



Sulphur Fumigation. — Fumigation by the burning of sul- 

 phur is the most common method employed by boards of health in 

 the disinfection of apartments in which contagious disease has ex- 

 isted, and the clothing worn by the patients during their illness. 

 In an address delivered by the distinguished chemist. Dr. E. R. 

 Squibb, before the Kings County Medical Association, he called 

 attention to the fact that there must always be an abundance of 

 watery vapor in the room to be disinfected ; otherwise the sul- 

 phurous-acid gas generated by the burning of the sulphur is not an 

 efficient disinfectant. The same is true of chlorine gas when used 

 for disinfecting purposes. 



Dried Potato. — In the Voenno-Sanitarnoie Delo, Dr. Jakov 

 M. Shmulevitch emphatically draws attention to dried potato as an 

 important food-article, possessing some very valuable advantages 

 in comparison with the vegetable in fresh state. The advantages 

 claimed for the article are these : (i) while fresh potatoes easily rot, 

 blacken, and sprout, dried potatoes, when kept duly protected from 

 moisture, remain in the best condition for a very long time ; and 

 (2), being by far lighter and less bulky than fresh potatoes, are by 

 far more convenient for preservation and transportation, which 

 point has a great practical importance, especially in time of war. 

 To be fit for culinary use, the article requires a preliminary macer- 

 ation ill water for about ten or twelve hours. 



Spontaneous Combustion. — The following case of spon- 

 taneous combustion is reported in the British Medical Joztrnal by 

 Dr. Booth: " On the morning of Sunday, Feb. 19, I was sent for 

 to examine the remains of a man, aged 65, a pensioner of notori- 

 ously intemperate habits. I found the charred remains of the man 

 reclining against the stone wall of the hay-loft. The main effects 

 of combustion were limited to the corpse, and only a small piece of 

 the adjacent flooring and the woodwork immediately above the 

 man's head had suffered. The body was almost a cinder, yet re- 

 tained the form of the face and figure so well that those who had 

 known him in hfe could readily recognize him. Both] hands and 

 the right foot had been burnt off, and had fallen through the floor 

 into the stable below, among the ashes ; and the charred "and cal- 

 cined ends of the right radius and ulna, the left humerus, and the 



