K^lSrS^^S CITY 
Review of Science and Industry, 
A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 
SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 
VOL. VII. JULY, 1883. NO. 3. 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN THE PAST YEAR. 
HON. R. T, VAN HORN. 
( Read at the 8th Anntial AJeeting of the Kansas City Academy of Science, May 2g^ i8Sj.) 
The task undertaken this evening was imposed by your action during my 
absence, and is one usually requiring wide examination and reference to many 
authorities. It is fortunate for you and me both, that the original discoveries in 
science the past year are few, the activity in that department being mainly in the 
investigation of principles and in improved methods of application of previous 
knowledge. And it is natural, perhaps, in this utilitarian age, that discovery and 
improved processes are largely in the direction of the useful and industrial arts. 
We may begin with constructive engineering. The most notable event is 
the completion of the bridge over the east river between New York and Brooklyn, 
which was formally opened with ceremonies of a character suited to its import- 
ance on Thursday last. Its complementary work, the tunnel under the Hudson 
River, is progressing satisfactorily. 
Last year a commission was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, to 
investigate and report upon the theory of Mr. D. T. Lawson, of Ohio, in refer- 
ence to the explosion of steam boilers. His theory is that boilers explode from 
the sudden abstraction of steam, which relieving the w^ater in the boiler from 
pressure, causes it to instantly burst into steam. This sudden change of the 
superheated water into steam exerts an effect by concussion on all parts of the 
VII— 9 
