July 1st, iSS;.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEV/S. 



lOI 



dispels the tyrotoxicon and also destroys the germs of acid 

 fermentation. 



Wood Pulp for Furniture. — A writer in a Canadian 

 paper, speaking of the possibilities of wood pulp as a 

 substitute for lumber in the manufacture of furniture and 

 other articles now exclusively made of wood, calls attention 

 to the resources afforded by northern Canada for the best 

 pulp-making woods. It is found that in some localities the 

 forests are now at the best age for pulping purposes, and 

 capable of yielding from forty to one hundred and twenty 

 cords per acre, if the whole of the timber were utilised. By 

 mixing the pulp with clays, asbestos, plumbago, mica, etc., 

 substances of great closeness and with endless varieties of 

 colour may be produced. 



A Map of the Heavens. — The map ol the heavens 

 which the international astronomers, recently assembled at 

 the Paris Observatory, are taking steps to prepare, will be 

 composed of from i,8oo to 2,000 sheets, and will give an 

 exact impression of all the groups of stars. A new im- 

 petus will thus be given to the science of astronomy, and 

 it will be possible for astronomers to study the distribution 

 of the stars, and perchance the constitution of the universe. 

 Admiral Mouchcz states that heavenly objects are now 

 plainly visible, such as Maia, one of the Pleiades, which had 

 hitherto escaped the observation of astronomers ; and it is 

 hoped that the same instruments will enable further progress 

 to be realised. 



Power for Electric Lighting from Niagara Falls. — 

 A company in Buffalo has entered into a contract with the 

 Niagara Falls Hydraulic Tunnel and PowerCompany to take 

 10,000 horsepower, at i5dols. per horse-power perannum, 

 for producing an electric current to light the city and serve 

 various manufacturing purposes. The route for the proposed 

 cable has been surveyed from Niagara Falls, a distance of 

 20 miles. Negotiations are also pending for lighting and 

 supplying power to other towns in the vicinity. When Sir 

 William Thomson and the late Sir William Siemens first 

 suggested the use of the power so grievously wasted at 

 Niagara, the public treated their statements as somewhat 

 visionary, but in these days of rapid advance the realization 

 of their hopes has not been long in coming. 



A New Industry. — A new industry is being established 

 in South Staffordshire in connection with the steel trade. 

 A complete plant has just been laid down at the works of 

 the Staffordshire Steel and Ingot Iron Company, Bilston, 

 tor the grinding of basic slag for agricultural fertilizing 

 purposes. A slag-house, 140 ft. long by 50 ft., has been 

 built for the accommodation of grinding machinery. The 

 process is divided into three stages, the last of which com- 

 pletely pulverizes the slag, making it of such a fineness 

 that it will pass through a mesh of 10,000 holes to the 

 square inch. The slag, being composed of forty per cent, 

 of lime and from fifteen to twenty per cent, of phosphoric 

 acid, its value as an agricultural fertilizer is becoming in- 

 creasingly appreciated. 



Chemical Nomenclature. — The Journal of the American 

 Chemical Society contains a report of the committee appointed 

 to consider the questions of chemical nomenclature and 

 notation. The subject is one of great importance, as it 

 affects the only intelligible means which chemists have of 

 expressing the reactions which occur. The report points 

 to the necessity of a uniform practice being adopted by 

 English speaking chemists, and recommends that, with a few 

 minor modifications, the system of nomenclature originally 

 adopted by the English Chemical Society should be adopted 

 by American chemists. The committee warmly support 

 Dr. Odling's suggestion for the introduction of simple 



empirical names for substances of complex structure and 

 scientific name, especially in organic chemistry. 



The Influence of Cold and Hot Baths. — From Nature 

 we learn that M. E. Quinquaud has been investigating the 

 influence of baths on respiration and nutrition. He finds, 

 by experiments on dogs, that cold baths increase the con- 

 sumption of oxj'gen, the consumption being on the average 

 ten times more abundant after the bath than before. Very 

 hot baths exert a like influence, but in a less marked manner. 

 Cold baths (and hot as well, but in less degree) increase 

 pulmonary ventilation ; the quantity of air passed through 

 the lungs is double or treble after the bath. At the same 

 time a greater quantitj^ of carbonic acid is expelled. By the 

 analysis of arterial and venous blood, it is shown that the 

 respiratory combustions are very much increased under the 

 influence of cold or hot baths, and it is also shown that the 

 production of blood sugar is greater. 



A New Lift. — The great height of the tower proposed for 

 the Paris Exhibition of 1S89, has necessitated the invention 

 of a lift, by which the whole ascent can be safely made in 

 one journey. The plan to be adopted consists in having a 

 vertical shaft with a spiral thread ; and on the top of this 

 there will be a cage in the usual way. On the ground level 

 there is to be a truck or trolley of special construction, fitted 

 to the shaft in such a way that, when the trolley is turned 

 round, the shaft will be propelled upwards or downwards. 

 The principle is, in fact, similar to that of an ordinary bolt 

 and nut, in this case the siiaft of the lift being the bolt, and 

 the trolley the nut. The cage will be kept from revolving by 

 fixed guides, so that the passengers will not feel the spiral 

 motion of the trolley beneath it. The trolley is to be 

 revolved by an electric motor or a water-engine. 



Transmission of Articulate Speech. — M. Mercadier, 

 in a memoir presented to the Paris Academy of Sciences by 

 M. Cornu, contends that the transmission of articulate speech 

 is chiefly, if not solely, the result of molecular motion in the 

 plate of the telephone receiver. Vibrations of the plate as 

 a whole are only capable of yielding a single tone and its 

 harmonics. This tone remains unaltered when the plate is 

 supported at various points which are nodal points for this 

 particular note, but under these conditions the transmission 

 of other tones is much enfeebled. An instrument so ar- 

 ranged M. Mercadier calls a mono-telephone. On the other 

 hand, a diaphragm supported in such a manner as to be in- 

 capable of performing transversal vibration is still able to 

 transmit speech with perfect clearness, although with con- 

 siderable diminution of intensity. 



M.\nganese-Steel Wire. — Professor W. F. Barrett, of 

 Dublin, has been investigating the properties of some wire 

 manufactured from steel containing twelve to fourteen per 

 cent, of manganese. This wire has the peculiar property 

 of softening when suddenly cooled, and hardening when 

 cooled slowly. Its electrical resistance is very high, being 

 nearly four times that of German silver, and about eight 

 times that of ordinary iron. Hence Professor Barrett 

 recommends it for electric lighting resistance coils. Man- 

 ganese steel has very feeble magnetic properties, and there- 

 fore Professor Barrett thinks it would be serviceable for 

 building the hulls of ships, since it would not affect the 

 compass like other steel. In fact there are many uses for 

 it. Its tenacity is great, and amounts to no tons per 

 square inch of sectional area in the case of hard wire, and 

 forty-eight tons in the case of soft wire. 



Owens College, Manchester. — The library and the 

 museum of Owens College have recently received valu- 

 able additions from the bequest of the late Mr. W. Walton, 

 ot Blackheath. Among the books are Reeve's " Concho- 



