SCIE 



LEntered at the Posi-Offioe of New York, N.Y., as Second-Class Matter.J 



A Weekly newspaper of all the arts and sciences. 



Eighth Year. 

 Vol. XV. No. 378. 



NEW YOEK, Mat 3, 1890. 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 3.50 Per Year, in Advance. 



A SUPERIOR AEC-LAMP. 



Many pfforts have been made by trnined electricians and other 

 experimenters, both in the United States and in Europe, to apply 

 the disk carbon to the electric arc-lamp, every one appreciating 

 how much more brilliant and lasting a light would be where the 

 disk carton was used rather than the ordinary pencil carbon, 

 provided that it could be controlled. Until the present, all efforts 

 in this direction, so far as made public, have ended in complicated 

 and clumsy contrivances altogether unsatisfactory, and too ex- 

 pensive for general purposes iu lighting. 



The invention, of which we present illustrations, has for its 

 object to provide an arc- lamp that will burn atiout twice as long 

 without re-trimming as the arc-lamp now in general use, at a cost 

 of constructing and operating not greater than that of the ordi- 



THE RUSSELL DISK-CARBON ARC-LAMP. 



nary arc-lamp. It consists in the combination of a vertically 

 moving and intermittently rotating carbon electrode in disk form, 

 with a pencil-shaped carbon electrode, fixed and immovable, stand- 

 ing vertically in the bottom of the lamp- frame. Arc-lamps as 

 heretofore made burn atiout eight hours, when the carbons will 

 be consumed; and if longer service is required, they must be re- 

 newed. 



This lamp will burn and give a full light for about eighteen 

 hours, and it may be so constructed as to burn twenty four hours 

 before renewing the carbons. The cost of the carbons is less than 

 the cost of those ordinarily in use in proportion to the amount of 

 carlion in them. The electric current is less than that required 

 by other arc iHmps, as the length of carbon resistance is two inches 

 less. The pencil being stationary, the di.sk is made to revolve 

 sloivly by the vibrations of the armature and the ratchet arrange- 

 ment shown in the sectional view, and thus made to burn evenly 

 around the centre. The disk descends a little lower after each 

 rotation than it was during the previous rotation, and so on until 



the disk is as nearly consumed as it may be. As the disk presents 

 a greater surface of contact, a stronger and more steady light is 

 secured ; and over seventy per cent of the light is reflected below 

 the disk, and not thrown above. 



The lamp is provided with a device for arresting sparks, so that 

 none can get outside the globe. It is known as the Russell elec- 

 tric lamp, and is attracting attention in Boston, where it is being 

 introduced by the company controlling its manufacture. 



ON THE USE OF THE PHONOGRAPH IN THE STUDY OF 

 THE LANGUAGES OF AMERICAN INDIANS. 



The invention by Edison of the phonograph, and the improve- 

 ments in its effectiveness which rapidly followed, naturally turned 

 attention to the possibilities which it presents in the preservation 

 of the languages of the aborigines,of the United States. It was 

 recognized inderiendently by several persons, that, if the instrument 

 could be brought to a certain stage of perfection, it would serve 

 as a valuable means for this purpose; but no one, as far as the 

 author knows, has published an account of experiments made to 

 test its capabilities m this direction. 



In order to determine iis present value for this purpose, the 

 author undertook a series of experiments, ' taking for that pur- 

 pose the language of the Passamaquoddy Indians, who are the 

 purest IJooded Indians now living in the confinpsof New England. 

 The result of these experiments has fully justified his expecta- 

 tions, and convinced him that the instrument has now reached 

 such a degree of perfection that it can be adopted by scientific 

 students for that purpose. He believes that it is a most valuable 

 auxiliary in linguistic researches, and that it should be used in 

 the study of the fast disappearing languages of races, and in 

 making record of those w-hich are rapidly becoming extinct. 



It is thought that phonetic methods of recording Indian lan- 

 guages are not all that might be desired for this purpose. Even 

 with the assistance of the admirable system of letters and conven- 

 tional signs which have been prop sed for that purpose, there are 

 many diificulties besetting the path of one who would accurately 

 record the aboriginal languages, which are but imperfectly met 

 by this method. There are inflections, gutturals, accents, and 

 sounds in aboriginal dialects which elude the possibilities of 

 phonetic methods of expression. It is desirable, also, to preserve 

 songs, sacred and secular, which are rapidly becoming extinct. 

 Their counting out rhymes often have inflections which are im- 

 perfectly expressed by letters. The use of the phonograph among 

 the Passamaquoddies has convinced me that the mam character- 

 istics of their language can be recorded and permanently preserved, 

 either for study or demonstration, with this instrument. 



On a visit to Calais, Me., undertaken in March, to make experi- 

 ments on the value of the instrument iu recording Indian lan- 

 guages, many cylinders full of records were taken. These em- 

 brace a large variety of subjects, such as it was thought would 

 represent, in a general way, the main peculiarities of this branch 

 of the Algonquin languages. The records taken may be roughly 

 classed as follows: 1. Songs; 2. Folk-tales; 3. Pronunciation of 



1 The author read a paper on this subject before the American Folk-Lore 

 Society at its last meeting in Boston on April 19. This paper will be published 

 later. These experiments were carried on preparatory to taking the instru 

 ment for the same purpose among the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. The 

 work was done under the auspices of the Hemenway expedition. 



