SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 569 



Valuable I.mprovement in Lead Furnaces. — An im^n-ovement in lead 

 furnaces, the invention of Mr. John B. McCardy, is creating quite a stir in 

 Jojilin. The nature of the improvement is confined principally to the man- 

 ner of introducing the blast to the charge in the Scotch hearth furnace. 

 Instead of directing the blast through one or more circular orifices or 

 "eyes," (the furnace of Mr. McCurdy, which is in full operation in the 

 smelting establishment, of the West Joplin Lead and Zinc Company), the 

 furnace back is so cast as to contain just above the usual metal well, a thin, 

 continuous air-slit which extends around three sides of the charge. The 

 action of the blast is modified at the point of greatest convergence by an 

 expansion of the air-slit at the points whereat the pressure is most indirect. 

 The result of the combination of this improved form of blast with the 

 Water Jacket back, is in the surprising increase in the quantit}" of lead 

 smelted daily, and the remarkably large percentage of lead from the ore. 

 When the patent is obtained we will illustrate this invention with a first- 

 class engraving. Hesuit of test runs on McCurdy's new water back: 



Mineral Le;i'l No. 



Name of Smelter. Smelted. Made. Pius. T'-i' cent. 



Brewer & Cummings 3,000 2,315 27 77 1-6 



" " 3 000 2,220 26 74 



Lloyd & Workizer 3,000 2,315 27 77 1-6 



Haics & Haugh 3,000 2,320 27 77 1-3 



12,000 9,170 107 76 5-12 



Ancient Pereumery. — M. Jules Simon traces back the origin of perfumes 

 to the early times of the Chinese Empire, and mentions a curious habit 

 which prevailed amongst the fine ladies of the Celestial Empire of rubbing 

 in their hands a round ball made of a mixture of amber, musk, and sweet- 

 scented flowers. The Jews, who were also devoted to sweet scents, used 

 them in their sacrifices, and also to annoint themselves before their rej^asts. 

 As for the Scythian women, they went even a step farther, and, after pound- 

 ing on a stone, cedar, cypress and incense, made up the ingredients thus 

 obtained into a thick paste, with which they smeared their faces and limbs. 

 The composition emitted for a time a pleasing odor, and on the following 

 day gave to the skin a soft and shining appearance. The Greeks, as a mat- 

 ter of course, obtained their knowledge of perfumes from the gods. It was 

 betrayed to them by (Enone, one of the attendants of Venus. They made 

 such use of the invention as ought to have caused them to be very grateful 

 to the indiscret nymph. They carried sachets of scent in their dresses, 

 and filled their dining-rooms with fumes of incense. Even their wines 

 were often impregnated with decoctions of flowers, or with sweet-scented 

 "flowers themselves, such as roses and violets. There were also appropriate 

 scents for each limb, and even each feature, and the elegants of Athens re- 

 sorted to such effeminate refi Dements of luxury in this matter as m-ight well 

 be ridiculed bj' Virgil in the lines which he puts into the mouth of Turnus. 

 One of these refinements consisted in annointing pigeons with a liquid per- 



