June 28, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



497 



ever constructed. The method of utilizing this force for the de- 

 struction of an enemy's ship, by vessels as now built, is to seize the 

 opportunity when the intended victim is aground, at anchor, or in 

 some way not in motion, and then to strike her as nearly at right 

 angles to the exposed side as possible. This, of course, causes the 

 complete stoppage of the attacking vessel, after which the engines 

 are to be reversed, and the ram released. If the blow is given at 

 an acute angle, or the attacked vessel is in rapid motion across 

 the line of attack, the wrenching force produced would be perhaps 

 more dangerous to the giver than to the receiver, owing to the lack 

 of lateral strength in the form of ram as now universally built. 



The consequence of this well-known lateral weakness of the 

 regulation ram is, that all naval officers share Admiral Porter's 

 opinion that no ship has yet been constructed that would serve the 

 purpose of a ram ; and they recognize the fact that the cases are 

 few and far between in which a commander would be justified in 

 risking his ship and his reputation in what he would himself feel to 

 be a most reckless form of attack. 



In view of this well-known idea, it seems strange that the form of 

 ram shown in our illustration has not long ere this forced itself into 

 use, as the thing, when once seen, looks too obvious and simple not 

 to have come forward to fill the acknowledged want. 



With a ram formed as this one is, the most advantageous angle 

 of attack is precisely that which would be the most dangerous with 

 the usual pattern, or, say, about twelve degrees. Every sailor 

 knows how handily he can lay his ship alongside of a wharf or 

 another vessel in such a manner as to foul his anchor when it is 

 hanging at the bow, and this is the manoeuvre by which he can 

 use this ram with the best effect. The corner of the heavy iron 

 plate will, as it touches the enemy's side, enter it with ease as far 

 as the projection from the side of the bow will allow, and will cut 

 a long furrow, plough-like, under the water-line. This attack does 

 not necessitate any stoppage of the ship which acts on the offen- 

 sive, as is the case where the blow is given " end on," which is an 

 advantage of great moment in a strong current, a narrow passage, 

 or when crowded by hostile or friendly vessels. 



Having delivered her blow in passing, she is at once on her 

 course again, and ready for whatever is required by the exigencies 

 of the engagement. 



The ram here illustrated, for use on war-vessels, is the invention 

 of Mr. John F. Ward, M.Am.Soc.C.E.. of Jersey City, N.J. Ships' 

 rams, as usually constructed, present a sharp vertical cutting edge 

 with comparatively little horizontal width. Such a ram, by striking 

 squarely the side of an enemy's ship, may doubtless inflict much 

 damage ; but there is also great danger of wrenching off the ram 

 of the attacking ship, by reason of a glancing blow or the swinging 

 action of a strong current, or of so straining the frame of the at- 

 tacking vessel that the ram would be practically valueless for fur- 

 ther service. 



The present device is intended to overcome the inherent disad- 

 vantages of the older form, and it accomplishes this end by a de- 

 parture from former practice as radical as it is simple. Instead of 

 a vertical plane of attack, we have here a horizontal ram, with pro- 

 jecting ends extending transversely through the bows of the war- 

 ship, and presenting on either side of the stem an attacking angle 

 of strong and heavy iron plate, so located as to strike below the 

 water-line, and to be effective at almost any angle of approach. 

 The most dangerous blow of all to an enemy with this ram would 

 probably be an almost parallel glancing attack, which would tear a 

 long, narrow path through the plating of the enemy's ship, and 

 rupture any frame in the track of the ram. A hole of this nature 

 would be most difficult to stop, and would to a considerable extent 

 cancel the advantages of water-tight compartments in a war- 

 vessel. 



The drawings show the ram as arranged in the bow of the ship, 

 though of course this arrangement might be modified at the will of 

 the naval constructor, and in accordance with the type of vessel 

 upon which it is to be used. The plate as shown here is about 6 

 inches thick, and about S feet wide and i6 feet long. Through 

 the forward half of this plate passes a steel shaft about 24 inches 

 in diameter, which is further braced 2 feet and 4 feet above and 

 below the main plate by other stiffening plates, about i A inches 

 thick, strongly secured to the sides of the ship by angle-iron ; and 



the main plate is also in like manner connected with the ship's 

 sides. The purpose of this steel shaft and the supplementary 

 plates is to transmit the strains coming upon the angle of attack of 

 the main plate to as great a surface as possible in the bow of the 

 ship. In the plan shown, this surface distribution amounts to 

 about 269 square feet. 



The plan or " Section E F " is proposed for the adaptation of 

 this ram to a war-ship already built, in which the difficulty of ad- 

 justing a large single plate to the position required for the shaft is 

 overcome by making the plate in pairs. This plan also shows 

 heavy bars or brackets in the rear of the ram-plate, for further con- 

 necting it with the ship's side, and transmitting strain from the 

 ram to the ship. 



SANITARY CEILINGS AND WALLS.'- 



Much has been done by the sanitarians of the country, and es- 

 pecially the Board of Health of this State, to try to enlighten the 

 people sufficiently in regard to the unsanitary nature of the pre- 

 vailing modes of coating, or recoating and ornamenting, the ceil- 

 ings and walls of rooms for domestic habitation ; yet much remains 

 to be done in this direction. The reason is, no doubt, that those 

 who strongly condemned the prevailing modes offered no relief, 

 gave no way of any kind by which the people could even plainly 

 cover their ceilings and walls. Professor R. C. Kedzie, in his 

 lectures when president of the State Board of Health some years 

 ago, advised his audience to forego the pleasure of decorated walls, 

 or to simply whitewash them with lime, rather than stop what he 

 terms " wall-respiration " by sealing or strangling the pores in the 

 plaster with paste and paper, kalsomine, or paint. He illustrated to 

 his audience, by means of blowpipes filled with dried mortar, and 

 some coated with paper, others with paint and kalsomine, how 

 readily air passes through walls of ordinary mortar and with stucco 

 finish (the so-called hard finish), or when simply whitewashed, and 

 how this " wall-respiration " was prevented by all the other modes ; 

 and under the professor's directions the State published a book en- 

 titled " Shadows from the Walls of Death," and placed copies of it 

 in all the public libraries, with this Bible inscription on its cover : 

 "And behold if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow 

 streaks, greenish or reddish, then the priest shall go out of the 

 house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. 

 . . . And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round 

 about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without 

 the city into an unclean place." 



This book contains seventy-five specimens of arsenical wall- 

 papers, all gathered from the paper-stores of Michigan, and gives 

 authenticated rases of poisoning from many of these papers ; and 

 on all of them arsenic was found in the colors, not only green, but 

 nearly all colors and tints, and some also in making the finish or 

 lustre. A year or two ago the sanitarians of Massachusetts made 

 quite an effort in this direction, introducing a bill in the Legislature 

 to prohibit the sale of such paper ; but the paper-men used their 

 influence against it, sent representatives to the Legislature, who 

 claimed or pretended to prove that there was no foundation to the 

 claims made by the sanitarians, and the bill was defeated. 



Now, while there are many cases where the people have suffered 

 from arsenical wall-paper, I am fully satisfied from a thorough 

 study of this subject of wall-coatings constantly for fifteen years, 

 and quite a portion of the time applying the same, removing old 

 papers and kalsomine, and from talking with sanitarians and sci- 

 entists on the subject, that a greater amount of sickness is caused 

 from other conditions of the walls, and conditions that generally 

 prevail, and in nearly every house, than from the very dangerous ar- 

 senical wall-papers ; and I believe in many of the cases cited, where 

 it was proven that the patients had suffered in rooms coated with 

 paper which proved on examination to contain arsenic, that other 

 conditions connected with the same paper and walls contributed 

 largely to the troubles. 



Before going further, I wish to explain that I will show, before 

 the completion of this paper, how people may decorate their rooms 

 in a way that is approved of by the sanitarians who had before 

 condemned every thing used for the purpose, except lime white- 



^ Abstr.ict of .1 paper read by M. B. Church of Grand Rapids at a sanitary con- 

 vention at Hastings, Mich., Dec. 4, iSSS. 



