February 28, 1890.] 



SCIENCE 



'45 



to explore the same border-ridge farther east, in the south of 

 Tchertchen. 



— The Western Union Telegraph Company has lately put in 

 operation in Chicago a new plant of dynamo-machines to take 

 the place of the gravity-batteries which have been used in the 

 business of the company. The plant consists of eighteen 

 dynamos of the Edison pattern, arranged in three gangs of six 

 each. Two gangs are in constant use, the third held as reserve. 

 Each gang is driven, independently, by a Sprague motor, 

 power being furnished from the central station of the Edison 

 Light and Power Company. The current for the Western Union 

 lines radiating from Chicago has been furnished heretofore by 

 gravity-batteries, aggragating something over thirty thousand 

 cells, at a cost of about one dollar and twenty -five cents per 

 annum for each cell. The reduction in cost of maintenance of 

 storage space, and the improvement in efficiency, are very 

 great. The Chicago office is the only telegraph station in this 

 country where the gravity -battery has been' entirely superseded 

 by dynamo-machines, and marks a new departure in telegraphy. 

 The plant and its connnections embrace many features and 

 applications novel and interesting. The plans, designs, and 

 calculations were worked out by Mr. L. L. Summers, one of 

 the electricians of the Western Union Company, and under 

 whose direct supervision the changes have been made, and 

 whose success establishes his reputation as a competent 

 scientific electrician. 



— The first shipment of Java cinchona-bark in commercial 

 quantities was made on Sept. 38, 1869, when fourteen packages, 

 weighing altogether nine hundred pounds, left the island for 

 Holland. The consignment was in the hands of the Nether- 

 lands Trading Company, and that organization called in two 

 professors to give an opinion on the trial shipment. Their 

 report was very favorable, says Indische Merkvr, and the bulk 

 of the shipment was sold privately to manufacturers and 

 dealers. Five of the purchasers afterwards also gave their 

 opinions of the bark ; but all agree, that, owing to its imma- 

 turity and insufficient alkaloid contents, the cinchona was unfit 

 for manufacturing purposes, although it would answer admir- 

 ably for druggists' use. In 1870 the Java exports amounted to 

 41 bales and 38 cases, and on Oct. 20 of that year the first 

 public auction of 876 kilos took place in Amsterdam. Up to 

 1883, one or two public sales were held every year. Last year 

 there were ten, and for 1890 the same number is announced 

 again. The first private planter to commence cinchona-growing 

 in Java was Mr. K. F. Holle, in 1866 ; but not until about 

 eight years later, when the first consignments of the rich Ledger 

 barks had been shipped to Europe and realized enormously high 

 prices, did private planters commence to pay special attention 

 to the article. At first the intention of the shippers appears to 

 have been to send all the Java bark for sale to London, where a 

 market already existed for the article; but the Netherlands 

 Trading Company determined to create a centre in Amsterdam, 

 and the importance which that market has now acquired demon- 

 strates the v^isdom of their decision. In 1878, when it had 

 been shown beyond doubt that the most valuable cinchona 

 alkaloids were found principally in the outer bark layers, the 

 then director of the Java Government plantations, Mr. Moens, 

 decided to adopt the system of scraping the older Ledger trees; 

 but after some seasons the scraping was found to be injmrious 

 to the trees, and since 1886 this method of harvesting has been 

 abandoned in the government plantations, although it is still 

 followed by a few private planters. At first all barks were cut 

 to the uniform size of twenty centimetres (about eight inches) , 

 and brought to market in quills, all bark which could not be 

 harvested in this manner being crushed to a coarse powder. 

 The trade in the beginning offered considerable opposition to 

 the sale of this powdered bark, as it was believed to facilitate 

 sophistication, and also on the alleged ground that the powdered 

 bark lost some of its alkaloidal richness by keeping. At 

 present, however, the system of crushing bark has become 

 universal in Java, and at the Amsterdam auctions nearly all 

 the manufacturing barks are now offered in that condition, and 



the pharmaceutical barks in quills. Since 1874 it has been 

 customary, according to the Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter, to 

 sort the Java quill bark into two classes, according to length. 



— Possibly no food-product was more extensively shown at 

 the Paris Exhibition than olives and olive-nil. In the French 

 official catalogue 606 exhibiters of olive-oil are specially 

 named, besides numerous collective exhibits, and many others- 

 which are included [under the general term "comestible" or 

 edible oils: 448 of these exhibiters are from Portugal, 138 fromi 

 California, and only 13 from France. One French exhibit, 

 however, is made by 67 associated producers. The Mediter- 

 ranean has from time immemorial been the seat of the olive- 

 culture, and, according to the Journal of tlie Society of Arts^ 

 Spain has about 3,000,000 acres under olives ; Italy, 3,350,000; 

 and France, about 330,000. Tunis has over 4,000,000 trees, 

 Algeria 3,000,000, Nice 1,000,000, where olive-oil forms four- 

 fifths of the agricultural j^roduce, and Syria several million. 

 The number of trees in other countries is unknown. Tuscany 

 first exported olive-oil: hence its old name, "Florence oil." 

 Forty-flve distinct species of the olive-tree have been described, 

 and in countries where it is indigenous the tree sometimes 

 reaches a height of sixty feet, with a trunk circumference of 

 twelve feet. Besides the difference in the nature of the wood, 

 foliage, and habit of growth, there are large olives and small 

 olives, pointed, oval, round, and curved fruit, and of all 

 colors, ranging from white to black and from green to red. The 

 flavor of the fruit is mild, sharp, or bitter, and according to 

 the variety there is obtained sweet-oil, light-colored and of 

 exquisite flavor, up to dark green, thick, and of a bitter taste, 

 strong and very unpleasant to the taste. 



— For the last forty years attention has been paid to the pro- 

 duction of smokeless explosives, and in no country with more 

 marked success than in England ; and this is due mainly to the 

 initiative and energy of Sir Frederic Abel. He is to-day looked 

 up to, says Engitieering , as a great authority on the subject 

 of explosives ; and it is not surprising, then, to find that the 

 mere announcement that he was to give a "Friday evening" 

 discourse brought to the theatre of the Royal Institution, Lon- 

 don, not only a large number of those who have its entree, but 

 also knots of gentlemen from abroad who were eager to hear 

 the very latest about smokeless explosives, and the probable- 

 effect of their introduction into naval and military warfare. 

 Sir Fredric Abel spoke of the early efforts made in Germany 

 in France to produce smokeless explosives, and dwelt with' 

 emphasis upon the superior intrinsic qualities of gun-cotton, 

 pointing out at the same time that its application as a safe 

 and reliable propulsive agent for military and naval use is 

 still attended by many serious difficulties, — difficulties which 

 will be ultimately overcome, and probably in the immediate 

 future. Eeference was made to melinite and other French- 

 explosives. Despite the secrecy with which their composition 

 is kept, it is pretty certain that the chief element is picric 

 acid ; and, as this body is exceedingly unstable, it is probable that 

 but little more will be heard about these much-vaunted desti-uc- 

 tive explosives. The most successful of contemporary experi- 

 menters with high explosives is Mr. Nobel, the inventor of 

 dynamite and other efficient blasting-agents. He appears to 

 have derived from nitro-glycerine and nitro-cotton a material 

 which, when treated with camphor, compares very favorably 

 with gun-cotton as to its ballistic properties, its stability, 

 and uniformity, besides being almost absolutely smokeless.. 

 This powder has been tried in small arms in Italy, and reports 

 are current that Mr. Krupp is carrying on experiments with 

 it in guns of various caliber. Sir Frederic Abel corrected an 

 impression that seemed to be spreading; viz., that the new 

 powder would be not only smokeless, but also noiseless. It 

 was shown that there is hardly any noticeable difference 

 between the explosive violence of the new and the black 

 powder. If any thing, the report of the former is sharper and 

 more ringing, as well as of shorter duration. The absence of 

 smoke in the battles of the future will call into requisitioiE 

 military qualities that up to the present have lain dormant. 



