520 



KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



Judge E. P. West, who has contributed 

 several valuable archaeological articles to the 

 Rtview, in the past, is now engaged in an ex- 

 ploration of the Mound Builders' works along 

 the banks of the Missouri river between here 

 and Jefferson City, in the interest of the Daily 

 Times, to which paper he sends an interest- 

 ing report of his labors weekly. 



By a typographical error the word "Miso'\ 

 in Professor Penhallow's article in the No- 

 vember Review, was misspelled "Meiso" ; and 

 in the second line of page 437 the word "rice" 

 should be substituted for ''miso." 



begin the steam engine will be supplemented 

 by a gas motor. 



Connections will be made with manufacto- 

 ries through ordinary fifteen-inch iron pipes, 

 which will be laid underground in the same 

 manner as gas pipes. For private houses and 

 hotels, where the gas will be used as fuel, 

 smaller mains will be employed. The con- 

 densation is so slight that it is not considered 

 necessary to encase the pipes in asphaltum, 

 cement or any other non-conducting materials, 

 and it is claimed that an efficient service will 

 be obtained by these means. 



A COMPANY has been formed in St. Louis 

 for the purpose of manufacturing and sup- 

 plying hydrogen gas for heating and power 

 for dwellings and factories. The gas is gen- 

 erated under the Law process, which has 

 been successfully applied in several eastern 

 cities. The works are the largest and most 

 extensive in the country, and when in opera- 

 tion will have a capacity of 300,000 cubic feet 

 per bay. The gas is not adapted for illumi- 

 nation, and will only be supplied to tenants 

 requiring it in place of coal for raising steam 

 in ordinary boilers and for running gas en- 

 gines, in which work it is superior to coal 

 gas, furnishing greater pressure and only at 

 a cost of $1.50 per 1,000 cubic feet. 



The process can be briefly illubtrated, as 

 follows : Anthracite coal is fed to an upright 

 generator, where it is worked up to a white 

 heat by the agency of a blower, which is 

 driven at a high rate of speed by a fifty- 

 horse-power engine. As soon as the coal ar- 

 rives at the proper heat, super-heated steam 

 is admitted, and, impelled by the pressure of 

 the blast, passes through the furnace and 

 thence through super-heating chambers and 

 carburetters. In the passage the generated 

 gas is washed, and after passing through a 

 series of tile pipes is return ed to the conden- 

 ser ready for distribution to the consumer. 

 The surplus supply is conducted to a gas hold- 

 er in the yard which has a capacity for stor- 

 ing 30,000 cubic feet. The power required 

 in manufacturing the gas is supplied by a 

 sixty horse power boiler and an ordinary en- 

 gine of the* same power. After operations 



General Sherman makes the very sensi- 

 ble suggestion in his annual report that the 

 President authorize the transfer, out of class- 

 enlisted men who have served for twenty-five 

 years or more, a number not to exceed 500, 

 including ordnance sergeants (now 112) and 

 establishing a "veteran corps," to be sta- 

 tioned at such old forts as are worth preserv- 

 ing, with the rank and pay they held at the 

 close of iheir active career in the army serv- 

 ice, to be subject to the rules and articles 

 of war, but only to be used for guarding pub- 

 lic property. He says one or two oflScers of 

 the retired class and half a dozen of these 

 old soldiers would compose a good garrison 

 for an abandoned post or fort. By granting 

 retired officers thus detailed, fuel and quarters, 

 we would provide homes for worthy veter- 

 ans, which would be most honorable and 

 creditable to them and advantageous to the 

 government. At the same time the army 

 proper would be relieved from such duty, 

 and its able-bodied men put at their legitimate 

 work in the field. 



Extensive zinc smelting works are being 

 erected at Rich Hill, in this State. They are 

 to occupy thirteen acres of land, and will 

 comprise seven large buildings, costing ^50,- 

 000. 



The National Academy of Science met in 

 the hall of the University of Pennsylvania, in 

 Philadelphia, on the 15th ult. Among other 

 matters of importance was the appoiatment 

 of a committee to conduct the observations 

 of the transit of Venus in 1882. 



