214 



SCIENTIFIC NEV\^S. 



[Nov. 1st, 1887. 



Anglo-Saxons was transplanted to and flourished in America. 

 As a result our example has been followed, and our experience 

 rendered useful, and in some cases improved, by those whose 

 competition we have now to face. Such was the activity 

 throughout the world that, as we have already seen, the annual 

 increase in the total make of pig-iron was 50 per cent, between 

 the years 1S79 and 18S3, namely from 14 it rose to 21,000,000 

 tons. In this struggle for supremacy we lost, in relative 

 advance, the position which we had occupied probably for the 

 last 100 years. Between 1870 and 1S83 the increase of our pro- 

 duction was only 31 per cent., while that of the other nations 

 amounted to 138 per cent. At the same time we still remain the 

 largest makers of iron in the world, the chief producers standing 

 for the year 1886 in the following order; — Great Britain, 

 6,870,665 tons; United States, 5,683,329 tons; Germany, 

 3,489,400 tons ; France, 1,507,850 tons; Belgium, 697,100 tons. 

 The make of this country, it must, however, be remarked, fell 

 from 8,493,000 tons in 1S82 to the figure just given. 



The rapid increase in the case of Germany and Belgium has 

 compelled these two nations to become exporters to the extent 

 of fully one-third of their united make. It may appear extra- 

 ordinary that, being protected from importations from Great 

 Britain by the cost of the transport, the further .protection of 

 import-duties is levied, while, at the same time, these countries 

 meet us in neutral, and indeed in our home markets, with some- 

 thing like 3,000,000 tons of iron annually, upon which they have 

 generally more to pay for carriage than we have, and upon 

 which they lose the advantage afforded by the import duty. 

 There are indications that a position of maximum consumption 

 of iron has been reached in our own country, inasmuch as the 

 quantity, including that used for machinery exported, has 

 remained pretty stationary during the last dozen years, fluctua- 

 ting between 3 and 3J million tons. On the other hand, our 

 exports of iron have decreased to the extent of about 1,000,000 

 tons annually. These figures, taken alone, may well lead the 

 British public to fear that their own iron makers may be failing 

 either in intelligence or in energy, or in both. This is not true ; 

 no nation, taken as a whole, possesses greater natural advan- 

 tages for the successful pursuit of this branch of industry, and of 

 its advantages Great Britain makes as good a use as any other 

 people do of theirs. It has to be admitted that during the last few 

 years not only has our production fallen off, but what we have 

 made has left little, or in many cases no profit to the manufac- 

 turer ; but in this respect we do not appear to be worse off than 

 our neighbours. According to a published list, out of 18 works 

 engaged in manufacturing and mining operations in Germany, 

 only two made a profit exceeding lo per cent. ; eleven varied 

 from I- per cent, to 4i per cent. ; and seven realised no profit or 

 made an actual loss. 



The Steamships of the World.— Recently published sta- 

 tistics show that the estimated number of steamers existing in 

 the world in 1886 was 9,969, having an aggregate burden of 

 10.53I1S43 to"S. In 1885 the number was 9,642, with an aggre- 

 gate burden of 10,291,241 tons. The steam shipping of the 

 world in 1886 was thus distributed : — Iron steamers, 8,198, of an 

 aggregate burden of 8,911,406 tons; steel steamers, 770, of an 

 aggregate burden of 32,820 ; and wooden steamers, 822, of an 

 aggregate burden of 380,655 tons. Of the steamers afloat in 

 ■885, 5,792 were owned by the United Kingdom and its colonies, 

 their aggregate burden being 6,595,871 tons. The other countries 

 of the world owned steamers in the following order: — Germany, 

 579; France, 509; Spain, 401 ; the United States, 400; Norway, 

 287; Russia, 212; Denmark, 200; Italy, 173; Holland, 152; 

 Brazil, 141 ; Japan, 105 ; Greece and Turkey, 82 each ; Belgium, 

 68 ; Chili and the Argentine Republic, 43 each ; China and 

 Portugal, 27 each; Hawaii, 21; Mexico, 15; and miscellaneous, 50. 



Heating by Steam.— The Master Steam Fitter gives the 

 following rule for finding the superficial feet of steam-pipe 

 required to heat any building with steam : One superficial foot 

 of steam-pipe to six superficial feet of glass in the windows, or 

 one superficial foot of steam-pipe for every hundred square feet 

 of wall, roof, or ceiling, or one square foot of steam-pipe to 

 eighty cubic feet of space. One cubic foot of boiler is required 

 for every hundred cubic feet of space to be warmed. One horse- 

 power boiler is sufficient for forty thousand cubic feet of space. 

 Five cubic feet of steam, at seventy-five pounds pressure to the 

 square inch, weigh one pound avoirdupois. 



REVIEWS. 



The Architect's Register. Vol. II. Illustrated. Issued half-yearly 

 for the use of architects, engineers, builders, contractors, 

 and others. London: W. Pope, 16, Holborn, E.C. 1887. 



The primary object of the compilation is the publication of such 

 papers of merit as have been read before architectural societies, 

 which otherwise would not be published. House Sanitation, by 

 Dr. W. H. Corfield, professor of hygiene and public health, at 

 University College, London, is the first paper. According to this 

 gentleman, the examination of a house should begin with the 

 roof and the ventilating pipes, which last should be of adequate 

 size, and carried above all parts of the building, with the excep- 

 tion of the chimneys. Next, he discourses on the cowls, which 

 should be adopted for crowning the ventilating pipes, and then 

 passes to the adequacy of the discharge of rain water from a 

 roof. In the inside of a house the first care should be the con- 

 dition of the cistern, and keeping this in view, he says that lead 

 in cisterns and pipes is not nearly so mischievous as it is com- 

 monly made out to be. The effect, he says, of ordinary town 

 water on lead is inappreciable. The sink should be against an 

 external wall, with a window over it, capable of affording ample 

 ventilation. The waste pipe from a kitchen sink should end in 

 the open air, over a trapped gully, and from an upstairs sink 

 the waste pipe should be carried through the external wall and 

 discharged into an open pipe. Much is added about water 

 closets, and the fact is mentioned that a considerable degree of 

 perfection in these apparatus was introduced by Alexander 

 Cummings so long ago as 1776. Drains, syphon-traps, and 

 flush tanks close the subject. The second paper, by Mr. 

 Walter Crane, is in some measure a comparison of the art 

 of the present day with that of the past, especially with 

 the mediaeval and classical past. It has been contended that 

 the Exhibition of 1851, as those of later years, has had the 

 effect of vulgarising and commercialising art, but Mr. Crane's 

 opinion is that the exhibitions have been a summing up of 

 change, which he thinks must be obviously refining. In support 

 of this view he instances the necessary influence upon the 

 national taste of the Christmas scatterings of oil paint- 

 ings, after our first masters, fresh from the printing press. 

 The next paper, on Welsh Churches, by Mr. A. Baker, 

 may be summarised into, respect tor their historic value, 

 respect for their art value, and into the professional lessons in 

 restoring them. Mr. Baker finds that the cost of restoring village 

 churches of ordinary type averages from 15s. to £\ per super- 

 ficial foot of the whole area of the church, the fittings if required 

 being in oak, and the roof in oak and re-slated. We shall here- 

 after turn to the remaining papers of the series, space alone pre- 

 cluding present mention of them. 



Metal-plate Work : its Patterns and their Geometry. By C. T. 



Millis, M. Inst. M.E. London : E. and F. Spon, 125, Strand, 



and 35, Murray-street, New York, 1887. 

 This is one of the Finsbury Technical Manuals, and Mr. Millis 

 is the lecturer on metal-plate work and practical geometry at 

 the City and Guilds of London Technical College, Finsbury. The 

 prevailing reflection while reading this useful volume is, that the 

 days of rule of thumb are ending, and that the artisan classes, 

 for whom the book has chiefly been written, must at length 

 combine principles with manual dexterity. They must master 

 the problems of angles, lines, circles, polygons, ovals, ellipses, 

 and oblongs, and if all this is not done by them, and done 

 speedily, the reasonable apprehension is that they will be 

 beaten in the economical laying out of their work as well as 

 in its symmetry, truth, and intricacy. The author sets out 

 with a classification of metal-plate work, and the classes are 

 three in number. Class one is of patterns for articles of 

 equal taper or inclination, as pails, oval teapots, gravy strainers, 

 etc. ; and the class has these subdivisions, namely, those 

 of round surfaces, of plane or flat surfaces, and of curved 

 and plane surfaces combined. Class two is of patterns of" unequal 

 taper or inclination, as baths, hoppers, cannister-tops, etc. ; and 

 the class has like subdivisions with the other. Class three is of 

 patterns for miscellaneous articles, as elbows, and of articles of 

 compound bent surface, as vases, aquarium stands, mouldings, 

 etc. These articles of the different classes and subdivisions are 

 separately dealt with in the volume ; and it should be mentioned 

 that the setting out of patterns in sheet metal work belongs to 



