460 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Six Lectures on Light, by Prof. John Tyndall, F.R.S., in Humboldt Library, 

 Vol. II, No. 37, 15c.; Sketch of rion, Lewis H. Morgan, by F. W. Putnam, pp. 

 7 ; Semi-Annual Report of the Comptroller of the City of Kansas for the six 

 months ending June 30, 1882, by N. Grant, Comptroller; Advocacy of the Pro- 

 posed Amendment to the Constitution of Missouri concerning the Judicial De- 

 partment; T\\.Q. American Journal of Forestry, Vol. I, No. i, monthly, devoted to- 

 the interests of Forest Tree-Planting, etc., edited by Franklin B. Plough, Ph.D., 

 Washington, D. C, $3 per annum; The Collector, a monthly journal devoted to 

 Natural History, etc., edited by Charles and James Keyes, Des Moines, Iowa, 

 50c per annum ; The Epitome, a monthly Medical Journal, edited by C. F. Kirk, 

 M. D., Meridian, Miss., $2.00 per annum; Signal Service Notes, No. Ill, to 

 Foretell Frost, by Lieut. James Allen, U. S. A., Washington, D. C, 1882 ; Drunk- 

 enness a VicC; Not a Disease, by Rev. John E. Todd, Hartford Conn.; Taylor's 

 Freezing Microtome, by Thomas Taylor, M. D., Microscopist Agricultural De- 

 partment, Washington, D. C. 



SCIENTIFIC MISCELLAN 



SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 



BY F. B. BROCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Mechanical Telephone P^xchange. — In this novel system of mechanical 

 telephone lines, a series of telephones, which are severally connected with the 

 several conveying line-wires, are employed. Means are provided for connecting 

 therewith an extension-line, and a angle-hanger located centrally with relation to 

 said conveying lines and their attached telephones. Two branch lines are ar- 

 ranged to connect any two of the telephones through the angle-hanger. These 

 branch wires can be attached and detached from any of the telephone line termini, 

 and thereby form a circuit with any two of the lines. 



Artificial Fuel. — A late invention consists of artificial fuel made out of 

 cut straw, chaff or hay, and residuum of petroleum, combined with peat, turf, or 

 other like material molded by pressure into suitable blocks. 



Preservation of Wood. — A. recent German invention consists of a process 

 for preserving wood, which contemplates exposing timber to a current of steam 

 •under pressure ; then removing the moisture by the production of a vacuum 



