January 15, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



37 



from the disease when they were half grown; the rest were quite 

 well developed, but at the last part of the experiment began to be 

 affected. Several heads were large, the largest being over the 

 greatest number of wires and nearest the electrodes. Examina- 

 tion of the roots disclosed the same phenomena as in A. 



Near plot B were also set twenty other plants, subjected to like 

 conditions as the first, but without electricity; all but one died 

 from mildew before they were half grown, the solitary plant that 

 survived being only partly developed at the close of the experi- 

 ment, and even this was badly affected with the desease. 



Everything considered, the results were in favor of electricity. 

 Those plants subjected to the greatest electrical influence were 

 hardier, healthier, larger, had a better color and were much less 

 affected by mildew than the others. Experiments were made with 

 various grasses, but no marked results were obtained. 



The question would naturally arise whether there may not be a 

 limit reached where electricity would completely overcome the 

 attack of mildew and stimulate the plant to a healthy and vigor- 

 ous condition throughout its entire growth. From the fact that 

 the hardiest, healthiest, and largest heads of lettuce grew over the 

 greatest number of currents and nearest the electrodes, it would 

 seem that electricity is one of the agents employed by nature to 

 aid in supplying the plant with nourishment and to stimulate its 

 growth. To what extent plants may be submitted to electrical 

 influence, or what strength of current is best suited to them and 

 what ciu'rents prove detrimental to their development, have not 

 been determined as yet, but it is desirable to continue this re- 

 search until some definite information shall be gained on these 

 points. Probably different varieties of plants differ greatly in 

 their capacity for enduring the action of electric currents without 

 injury — experiment alone must determine this. 



It has been proved that the slow discbarge of static electricity 

 facilitates the assimilation of nitrogen by plants. Faraday showed 

 that plants grown in metallic cages, around which circulated elec- 

 tric currents, contained fifty per cent less organic matter than 

 plants grown in the open air. It would seem from the researches 

 of the latter physicist, that those plants requiring a large percen- 

 tage of nitro^jen for their development would be remarkably ben- 

 efited if grown under electric influence. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



»** Correspondents are requested to be ns brief as possible. The Vfriter^s name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



On request in advance, one hundred copies of the number containing his 

 communication loill be furnished free to any correspondent. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant toith the eharacttr 

 of the journal. 



The First Locomotive Run in America. 



It was in 1839, the same year in which Stephenson, with his 

 " Rocket," demonstrated the practicability of rapid steam traction 

 on railways. The engine was named the Stonebi-idge Lion. It 

 was made in England and imported by the Delaware and Hudson 

 Canal Company, and designed to draw coal from their mines in 

 Carbondale to the head of their canal in Honesdale, Penn. On its 

 arrival, it was placed on the railway and run from Honesdale to 

 Seeleyville, a little over a mile. It was found to be too tall to go 

 under a highway bridge over the track at that place, and was re- 

 versed and run back to Honesdale. All parts of the railway above 

 the surface of the ground were built on trestles, and the heavy 

 engine racked them so much as to endanger safety. For these 

 reasons the locomotive was set off by the side of the track, and a 

 board shed built over it. The railway was planked, and horses 

 employed to draw the cars. The engine stood there safe for sev- 

 eral years. 



The writer was personally acquainted with these facts. Two 

 men who rode on that trip are living at this time. 



In 1840 and 1841, while I was a student in the Honesdale Acad- 

 emy, I found the boards on one side of the shed torn off and the 

 engine exposed to view. I spent many hours in trying to study 

 out its mechanism and movement. No published description of a 

 steam engine was then within my reach. The Stonebridge Lion 

 had four wheels, three or three and a half feet in diameter, and 



the boiler rested directly on the axles. The cylinders were verti- 

 cal. Bne on each side of the boiler near the hind wheels, There 

 were two heavy iron walking-beams a few feet above the boiler, 

 and to one end of each a piston-rod was attached by Watt's paral- 

 lelogram. The other ends of the beams were joined by swinging- 

 rods to cranks at right angles to each other on the forward wheels. 

 There was no whistle or bell, I think. The engineer stood on a 

 small open platform behind the boiler. 



Soon after 1841 the engine began to be carried off piece by piece, 

 mostly by blacksmiths and machinists; and I am told that only 

 one small piece of the iron is now in existence in its primitive 

 form. If the engine had been kept intact, it would be worth 

 almost its weight in silver for exhibition in Chicago in 1893. 



M. H. 



The Historical American Exhibition at Madrid.' 



One of the most interesting and instructive celebrations pro- 

 posed for the year 1892 is the Spanish celebration, the chief fea- 

 tnre of which will be an exhibition at Madrid, termed the His- 

 torical Amei'ican Exhibition, the special object of which is to 

 illustrate primitive American life and the history of the period of 

 discovery and conquest. In selecting the prehistoric and early 

 historic eras for illustration, the Spaniards will make their own 

 exhibition complete in itself, without in the least competing with 

 the Chicago exhibition. 



The plan of the exhibition is, within its limits, a very broad one, 

 comprising five general divisions, viz., prehistoric America, the 

 historic jieriod, Indian industrial arts, cartography, nautical in- 

 stniments, etc., and the fine arts and kindred subjects. Under 

 the head of prehistoric America, plans, models, reproductions, 

 drawings, etc., are solicited of ancient caves and caverns, and 

 anything that may help to show the use of these primitive places 

 as human dwellings. Similar models, drawings, or photographs 

 ai'e desired of American menhirs, dolmens, and mounds, as well 

 as lacustrine dwellings. All sorts of implements and objects re- 

 lating to this period are desired, such as stone weapons, articles 

 of bone and horn, pottery, ornaments, utensils of bone, wood, 

 stone, and other materials, with fossil or animal bones throwing 

 light on the archseology of this time. Examples of all the ages 

 and periods of primitive life as they can be traced on the Ameri- 

 can continent are wanted. 



In the historic period the objects desired include models of an- 

 cient American buildings, architectural remains, plans, models, 

 and drawings of restored monuments. Examples of sculpture, 

 bas-reliefs, architectural paintings, and other forms of painted 

 decoration form another class. Under industrial art is included 

 clothing and adornment of the aborigines and uncivilized Indians, 

 with implements of war, offensive and defensive. Jewels of gold, 

 silver, bone and ivory, pottery, household utensils, and articles 

 used in transportation by water and land, constitute another di- 

 vision of this branch, while written documents in native tongues, 

 pictures, and photographs of Indians and elEgies sliowing native 

 costumes, models of Indian dwellings, and Indian crania, form 

 a third division. 



The department of cartography includes maps, plans, charts, 

 and drawings, and all that concerns ancient cartography, with 

 models of vessels anterior to the voyage of' Columbus, as well as 

 those he himself used. A section is devoted to nautical instru- 

 ments, with the idea of illustrating the instruments, charts, and 

 maps in use at the period of discovery, while objects in personal 

 use by Columbus and pictures of the same are also desired. The 

 fine arts department includes ancient architectural monuments, 

 sculpture, paintings, industrial and artistic work following the 

 discovery, American coins, literary and scientific publications, 

 manusci-ipts, charts, and plans of all kinds, from the discovery to 

 the middle of the eighteenth century. 



Most liberal inducements are offered to intending exhibitors 

 from America. The exhibition will be held in the new library 

 and national museum building in the park at iladrid, which will 

 be used for the fii-st time for this purpose, the exhibition serving 

 as a sort of inaugui-ation of the structure, which has been a num- 

 > Tliis letter appeared also in The Nation. 



