November 23, 1888.] 



SCIENCE 



247 



tramways has not been solved, nor is it much nearer solution than 

 it was a year ago. The ideal system for such work is undoubtedly 

 the storage-battery system, and the experiments that have been 

 made in that direction are few. In Philadelphia a partial test of 

 storage-batteries was made, with the result — as stated before the 

 Street Railway Convention a month ago — that the cost of running 

 a car was nine dollars per day, — about that of horses. In New 

 York the cars on the Fourth Avenue Road are being slowly 

 equipped, but it is too early to obtain even approximate figures as 

 to the cost. A storage-car was run for a few months in Balti- 

 more, and another in Rochester, but nothing has been heard of 

 them for some time. 



So that, although a number of roads have been equipped with 

 electricity, yet the work has been in the direction of suburban 

 tramways, and the question of city tramways remains still unsolved. 

 But the important question now is, what will be the effect of snow 

 and sleet on the overhead structures, and on the possibility of pro- 

 pelling the cars ? And according as the reply is favorable or not, 

 will the work of next year be satisfactory or otherwise. If there 

 are no hitches other than any system would be subject to, then 

 it is easy to predict that next year the companies engaged in elec- 

 tric railroading will get as many roads to equip as their capacity 

 will allow, for on the question of economy of operation there is no 

 doubt. 



It should be the aim, then, of the electric-motor companies to 

 supply every possible means of clearing the tracks of snow and ice. 

 In Boston the Sprague people have constructed a special clearing 

 car with an abundance of power, and with brushes worked by elec- 

 tric motors, for clearing the track, and it is fair to suppose that 

 such an arrangement will be more efficient than a team of horses. 

 It is probable that both this company and others have equipped all 

 of their roads with some such construction-car. If they have not, 

 they will lose by it, for this winter will test electric tramways ; 

 and the company that best stands the test will have the most work 

 next year. 



The Westinghouse Company's Extensions. — The growth 

 of the Westinghouse Electric Company in the last two years is one 

 of the remarkable features of the rapid extension of the applica- 

 tions of electricity now taking place. Two years ago the alter- 

 nating system of electric distribution was practically unknown in 

 this country : several successful installations were in operation in 

 England and on the continent, but it had not been taken up here. 

 The Westinghouse Company purchased the patents of Goulard 

 and Gibbs, and undertook the exploitation of the system with so 

 much energy and success, that to-day they have over three hundred 

 thousand lights in operation. At first they had no fundamental 

 patents on incandescent lamps, under which to operate ; but a 

 combination with the Sawyer-Mann interests gave them the pro- 

 tection of the patents granted to Sawyer and Mann, and in the last 

 few weeks they have absorbed that company. Their latest move 

 has been the purchase of the control of the Waterhouse Electric 

 Company, whose system of arc-lighting has many points of merit. 

 Some time ago the Tesla patents for alternating-current electro- 

 motors were acquired, and now the Westinghouse Company ad- 

 vertises that they are ready to supply motors for their alternating 

 circuits. It would seem as though this company was gathering its 

 energies for the conflict between alternating currents with con- 

 verters and continuous currents with secondary batteries, — a con- 

 flict that is already at hand. They have very wisely secured 

 control of apparatus that will enable them to use their stations to 

 the fullest capacity possible. They can supply arc lamps, incan- 

 descent lamps, and motors from the same station, and the latter 

 will partly compensate for the advantages that secondary batteries 

 offer. It is not probable, however, that in the lighting of crowded 

 city districts they will be able to successfully compete with a direct 

 system of distribution, especially if electric-light wires are ordered 

 under ground, and if storage-batteries are slightly improved. But 

 the field for the alternating system is wide enough to fully occupy 

 the energies of even the Westinghouse Company. 



The Electric Launch 'Viscountess Bury.' — The Lon- 

 don Electrical Reviciv describes, in a recent issue, this launch, — 

 the largest, with one exception, in the world. She will carry eighty 



passengers comfortably. Her dimensions are 65I feet long by 10 

 feet beam, with a draught of 23 inches and a displacement of 22 

 tons. Her rudder is specially designed with the object of clearing 

 weeds and obstructions. The steering-wheel is forward : adjoin- 

 ing it is an indicator communicating with the electrician in charge- 

 of the switches controlling the electrical power. The electrical en- 

 ergy is stored in two hundred of the Electric Power Storage Com- 

 pany's accumulators of the 1888 type, each of which has a storage 

 capacity of 145 ampere hours, with a discharge-rate up to 50 am- 

 peres. These cells are arranged one hundred on each side under 

 the seats. The space occupied by them is lined with lead, with- 

 small drains leading off, so in case of accident there would be no- 

 damage from the acid. It is calculated that the stored energy will 

 propel the vessel for ten hours at six miles an hour. Twin pro- 

 pellers are used, each driven directly by a 7|-horse power Immich 

 motor, making one thousand revolutions per minute. The switches 

 are fixed so that either motor can be worked independently of the 

 other ; or they can be driven at half speed or astern. All of the 

 machinery is beneath the flooring, leaving a clear space fore and 

 aft for the passengers. 



The Direct Utilization of the Sun's Energy. — Many 

 plans have been proposed for the direct utilization of the sun's- 

 energy, — Ericsson's heat-engine supplied by solar radiations ; the 

 plan of MM. Conova, Piffre, and Mouchot, who proposed to con- 

 centrate the sun's rays on a mass of water, which would be turned 

 into steam ; with a number of others, none of which have even reached 

 the stage of successful experiment. Mr. Edward Weston proposes^ 

 and has recently patented, the idea of using a thermopile, which is 

 to be placed in the focus of a mirror or lens, and which is to be 

 used to charge a storage-battery, from which the energy is finally 

 to be drawn. An electro-magnet in the circuit is so arranged as 

 to cut out the pile when its electro-motive force falls below that 

 of the battery. When we consider the very lov/ efficiency of ther- 

 mopiles, — not over three or four per cent, — it would appear 

 doubtful whether the plan will ever be more than an interesting 

 suggestion. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 

 Fifteenth Annual Report of the Secretary of the State Board of 

 Health, Michigan, for the Fiscal Year ending J luie 30, 1887. 

 Lansing, State. 8°. 



In addition to the statistics and routine reports usually found in. 

 official health reports, this volume contains a number of exceedingly 

 valuable contributions to sanitary science. The most important of 

 them is that which describes the investigations conducted in the 

 State Laboratory of Hygiene, under the direction of Prof. V. C. 

 Vaughan. These include experimental studies on the causation of 

 typhoid-fever, poisoning from tyrotoxicon, and an exposure of the 

 stenocarpine fraud. At the time this exposure was made we called 

 the attention of our readers to it. It will be remembered that the 

 announcement of the discovery of a new local anesthetic was made 

 through the medical journals, to which the name of ' stenocarpine " 

 was given. F. G. Novy, M.St., instructor of hygiene in the State 

 Laboratory, analyzed the drug, and found it to be a mixture of co- 

 caine and atropine. Since the publication of his analysis, nothing 

 more has been heard of stenocarpine, and we are informed that it 

 has been withdrawn from the market. 



The cases of poisoning from tyrotoxicon which were investi- 

 gated were those which occurred at iVIilan, Mich., in September,. 

 1887. Four persons in one family were poisoned ; and of these^ 

 three died. Professor Vaughan reports that the sickness was dis- 

 tinctly traceable to milk, in which tyrotoxicon had developed. The 

 milk was kept in a buttery, the floor-boards of which had rotted, 

 so that a second layer of boards was necessary. Between these 

 two floors a great mass of moist, decomposing matter was found, 

 the accumulation of years. When the floor was taken up, a nau- 

 seating odor was perceived, sufficient to cause vomiting in one of the 

 persons engaged in the examination. 



The experimental studies on the causation of typhoid-fever were 

 made by Professor Vaughan and Mr. Novy, and had special refer- 

 ence to an outbreak at Iron Mountain, Mich., in October, 1887. 

 Attention seemed to be directed to the drinking-water used by the 



