66 



ASCEiSTT OF MOUNN BLANC BY A LADY.— PRODUCTS OF COAL- 



[1864. 



water. At spawning lime the perch quits the running water, and 

 seeks still pools. In preparing the spawning beds for this fish, masses 

 of rushes or grass, faggots or branches, are thrown into the water ; or, 

 what is better still, boughs of trees with small branches attached (such 

 as willow boughs) are stuck into the banks at a depth of from half-a- 

 yard to a yard. It is very easy to gather the spawn, for all that is 

 necessary is to raise the ribbons with a stick or a small fork. 



Artificial spawning beds, applied to the hatching of certain cyprinidcn 

 particularly of the bream and the roach, and of the perch, have been 

 employed as a means of stocking waters in very many places. Since 

 the year 1761, Lund obtained successful results by this means; he 

 produced upwards often millions of young fish." 



Aseeut or Mont Blanc by a Lacly* 



A correspondent of the London Times saj's : — The ascent of Mont 

 Blanc has just been accomplished by an English Lady. It appears 

 that Mr. and Mi-s. Hamilton, a gentleman and lady who reside near 

 London, accompanied by nine guides, and by a boy of the village 10 

 years old, started from Chamouni to make the ascent on Sunday 

 morning last, about 8 o'clock. They arrived at the Grands Mulcts at 

 4 o'clock^ the afternoon, and passed the night in the hut the guides 

 have recently erected there ; at half-past o the next morning they 

 continued their journey, and after meeting with difiiculties of no ordi- 

 nary character succeeded in reaching the summit at about half-past 2 

 P.M. They rested there about 10 minutes, when the anxiety of the 

 guides respecting the weather induced them to commence the descent, 

 and they got back to the Grands Mulcts at 5 o'clock, and passed 

 another night in the hut. On Wednesday morning they returned thence 

 to Chamouni, and they found this to be the most difficult part of their 

 journey, in consequence of the descent of avalanches. They suc- 

 ceeded, however, in surmounting every obstacle, and were welcomed on 

 their arrival at the village by the firing of cannon, the forming of a 

 triumphal procession, and every other demonstration of enthusiastic 

 applause. 



A fete was given the next evening in the court-yard of the Hotel de 

 Lonch'es, which probably surpassed anything of the kind ever seen in 

 Chamouni, not excepting that which took place after Mr. Albert 

 Smith's ascent. Mrs. Hamilton had so far recovered from her 

 fatigue as to be able to join the dancers, and she did so with much 

 spirit. From a conversation I had with her on this occasion, 1 found 

 that neither she nor her husband suff'ered from the rarefaction of the air 

 at the summit, although several of the guides were so utterly prostra- 

 trated that they fell upon their faces as soon as they reached the top. 

 She spoke in the warmest terms of her two guides, Jean and Victor 

 Tairray, who paid her the utmost attention during the whole route. 

 An avalanche of immense size fell as they were passing the Grand 

 Plateau, and in its coiirse went over part of the track they had 

 crossed but a few minutes before, and completely filled a crevasse 

 beneath, said by the guides to be 2-5 feet wide and 40 deep. 



This is the first time the top of Mont Blanc has ever been reached 

 by an English lady, although two women have before made the 

 attempt successfully, one being a French lady of Geneva, Mdlle. 

 D'AngeviUe, and the other a peasant in the neighboirrhood of 

 Chamouni. 



Two other ascents have been made this season, both during the 

 present month ; one by a Mr. Birkbeck, and the other by a Mr. Black- 

 well. Dr. Talbot an American gentleman has commenced the ascent 

 to-day, and is now at the Grands Mulcts, where he will pass the nTght, 

 and, if the weather permit him, will continue his journey to-morrow. 

 It has been so unfavourable dui'ing the latter part of the day that it 

 is doubtful whether he will accomplish his wishes so soon, but he has 

 expressed his intention to remain upon the rocks for a week rather 

 than return tmsuccessful. 



Products of Coal — Paraffine. 



The case in which James Youkg and others were plaintiffs, and 

 Stephen White and others were defendants, tried before Lord Camp- 

 bell and a special jui-y on the 28th of June last, involved questions so 

 interesting to those who are concerned in the products of bituminous 

 coal, and in the recognition of patent rights, that a condensed notice 

 of it must be acceptable to our readers. It was an action brought by 

 the plaintiffs for an alleged infringement of a patent obtained by Mr. 



J.\ME3 yoTTNO, OH the 17th of October, 1850, as the inventor of "im- 

 provements in the treatment of certain bituminous mineral substances, 

 and in obtaining pi-oducts therefrom." The defendants, while denying 

 the infringement, pleaded that the pjlaintiif was not the true and first 

 inventor ; that the manufactui-e was not, at the time of obtaining the 

 patent, a new invention within this realm ; and further, that the patent 

 did not sufficiently particularise the natui'e of it. The defendants are 

 chemists and gas manufacturers, in and near Manchester under two 

 patents for making gas by what is called the "hydro-carbon process." 

 It appeared that, in 1847, Mr. YousG, as a scientific man, was re- 

 quested, by Dr. Lyon Playfair, to analyse a mineral oil, which ex- 

 uded in a coal pit at Riddings, near Alfreton, in Derbyshire of a very 

 remarkable character, and which then excited attention. On the 

 analysis, he was unable to procure naptha from it in sufficient quan- 

 tity ; but, by a further process, he was enabled to purify the oil, so as 

 to obtain from it considerable illuminating power, and he found that 

 it had the remarkable quality of being unaff'ected by the action of the 

 atmosphere. After a while, the oil could not be procured, and Mr. 

 Young turned his attention to the discovery of some means of artifici- 

 ally producing this particular fluid : and he subsequently succeeded, 

 by distilling highly bituminous coal at a low red heat, in obtaining 

 this same oil. He found that it consisted of a substance, in a liquid 

 state, known under the name of "parafiine," so called from the words 

 parum and affinis, having little affinity to any other; that it was 

 compounded of hydrcgen and carbon in almost equal parts ; and that 

 it is not decomposed by the action of the oxygen in the atmosphere. 

 Paraffine oil is procured by distillation, but, when afterwards condensed 

 by cold, it assumes a peculiarly fine, waxy appearance, called " par- 

 affine," which, on the application of heat, again becomes dissolved. 

 The oil possesses this peculiarity — that it will keep for an indefinite 

 time ; and, as it is said to be the most oleaginous or slippery oil that 

 has been discovered, it was found useful as a lubricant for machinery. 

 The defendants, in January, 1853, as the Hydro-Carbon Gas Company, 

 jManchester, advertised paraffine oil, which was found of the same de- 

 scription and quality as that which Mr. Youkg was selling under his 

 patent ; and on a representation to them, they acknowledged that 

 what they were making was paraffine oil, but stated that they obtained 

 it by a different process. The defendants had two patents for making 

 illuminating gas : in their process by the first patent, they used two 

 retorts, in one of which water is dropped on coal, and partially decom- 

 posed, steam, hydi'ogen gas and carbonic oxide arising from it. In the 

 other retort is an apparatus of iron, upon which oil or tar is dropped, 

 which produces a highly carburetted hydrogen gas, emitting so much 

 smoke, when subjected to the action of fire, that it is necessary to 

 dilute it. This is done by applying a mixture of hydrogen gas and car- 

 bonic oxide, the products of the first retort, and the mixture produces 

 a gas, not only very inflammable, but possessing high illuminating 

 powers. As paraffine oil could only be procured from bituminous coal, 

 or waxy petroleum, it was insisted, on the part of the plaintiffs as clear, 

 that the oil could not be obtained from any form of the process speci- 

 fied in the defendants' first patent. Their second patent proposed to 

 use coal, for the purpose of generating this illuminating gas at a white 

 heat; while the subject of the plaintiff's' patent, paraffine oil, was 

 evolved from coal only at a low red heat. It was observed that if the 

 heat was raised above the low red heat at which paraffine was obtained 

 from the same bituminous coal, not paraffine oil, but a totally different 

 liquid, was produced, possessing wholly distinct chemical qualities — 

 namely, naphthaline, with a visible trace of paraffine, which is justly 

 considered a curious and striking phenomenon. It was alleged, that 

 since the second patent was obtained, the object of which was to im- 

 prove the mode of procuring illuminating gas, the defendants had been 

 using their retorts at a low red heat, thereby obtaining parafiine oil, 

 instead of illuminating gas. The plaintiffs further asserted, that if 

 the defendants should attempt to show that they still used a white 

 heat, it would be proved that they had recourse to the action of water, 

 internally applied, for the pui'pose of relucing the temperature within; 

 while, in order to keep up appearances, they maintained the white heat 

 without. The plaintiffs claimed for Mr. YonsG the merit of the dis- 

 covery ; the production of paraffine oil from coal was not known be- 

 fore his invention ; that it was an article of gi'eat practical value 

 could not be controverted by the defendants, who piofessed to sell it 

 themselves ; and it was insisted that they produced it by a process which 

 if not identical with, was at all events equivalent to that employed 

 by him. 



On the part of the plaintiffs, a number of eminent professors of 

 chemistry, and manufacturing chemists, were examined, whose evidence 



