1855.] 



ON SOME STEEOSCOPIC PHENOMENA.— AN EAKTHQUAKE. 



197 



absorbs noxious vapours and putrescent odours, but at the same time 

 oxidizes them, or in other ivords, malJcs them undergo a slow but sure 

 combustion, which must have its end in the conversion of deleterious 

 gasses into compounds wliose pliysical and chymical properties would 

 admit of an easy separation or removal from their bed of formation, 

 and which on evolution would not be the least deleterous. I therefore, 

 previous to its use, heated the charcoal thoroughly in a covered cruci- 

 ble with a small bole in its lid, to allow any oxidized material which it 

 might contain to escape, taking care not to have the hole sufBciently 

 large to allow the charcoal to undergo combustion ; when thoroughly 

 heated it was allowed to cool, so that on exposure to the air it should 

 not oxidize ; in this state it was put into shallow vessels, and placed 

 wherever putrescent odours existed, and in a few minutes the whole 

 of the smell disappeared ; but in a day or two the charcoal lost its 

 power. I then thoroughly heated it again, with the same precautions 

 as before, and placed it to perform its duties a second time, which it 

 did with as much efBcacy as on the first application. Thus, by the 

 repeated cleansing of the charcoal every or every other day, it does not 

 deteriorate, but the same quantity will effectually remove noxious 

 gases for an indefinite period of time. 



With Mr. Holden's permission I was enabled to give it a most perfect 

 trial in the dissecting-rooms of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which at 

 this time of the year must abound in noxious gases and putrescent 

 odours. Thoroughly heating the charcoal, and planting it in shallow 

 vessels about the rooms, it acted so promptly that in ten minutes not 

 the least diffused smell could be detected, So quick and effectual was 

 its action that arrangements are being made for its constant use. It 

 answers just as well as a purifier of water closets, drains, wards of 

 hospit.als, and sick rooms. As a purifier of hospital wards, both civil 

 and military, it might be applied with great advantage, saving patients 

 from the unpleasant smells and effluvia of gangrenous sores, and for 

 this purpose a wire gauze construction, containing the charcoal, might 

 made to surround the afl'ected part at some distance from the dressing, 

 thus the patient himself and those in adjacent beds would not be sub- 

 jected to the influence of the putrescent odours. All these the char- 

 coal would effectually absorb, doubtless with advantage to the patient 

 and neighbors also. Other quantities of charcoal might be placed in 

 shallow vessels about the wards, and purified every morning, as above 

 mentioned. Being at the command of the poor as well as the rich, it 

 admits of universal use; and, though it may be objected to as a purifier 

 of the wards of hospitals and chambers of the sick, under the fallacious 

 notion that it would emit carbonic acid, and also on undergoing its 

 daily cleansing would again give off the absorbed gases, yet this notion 

 can never enter the minds of those who understand its action, seeing 

 that carbonic acid cannot be generated unless the charcoal is heated 

 in free contact with the air. This is prevented by having a covered 

 crucible in which it can be heated to any temperature without under- 

 going combustion ; and the supposition that the absorbed gases are 

 given off again when the charcoal is heated will be removed by the 

 fact that they are all oxidised, and converted into sulphuric, nitric, or 

 carbonic acid, and water, &c., and the heating of the charcoal is for 

 the whole and sole purpose of removing these bodies, which exist in so 

 small a quantity that they could not be the least prejudicial, even if 

 driven oil' in the centre of an inhabited room; but, of course, they all 

 pass up the chimney. Thus charcoal is more efficacious than any other 

 disinfectant when applied as above described, absorbing gases of what- 

 soever kind, not requiring the presence of any other substance to resist 

 its action, but without stint or scruple collecting noxious vapours from 

 every source, not disguising, but condensing and oxidising the most 

 offensive gases and poisonous effluvia, converting them into simple, 

 inert, stable compounds ; it is simple and economical, coming within 

 the reach of the poorest, and can safely be placed in the hands of the 

 most ignorant, thus combining advantages not possessed by any other 

 disinfectant. 



Production and Consiunption of Iron. 



A comparison of the quantities of iron produced in different coun- 

 tries during the twenty years ending with 1850, shows that the pro- 

 duction of 



Great Britain increased 244 per cent. 



United States of jVmerica 171 " 



Franco 141 " 



German Customs Union GO " 



Austria ISO " 



Belgium 217 " 



Eussia 20 per cent. 



Sweden 51 " 



and thus the production has increased more rapidly in every country 



than in Sweden, with the single exception of Kussia. 

 During the year 1850 



In the United States of America the consumption 



was per head 88 lbs. 



Great Britain " 81 



France " 36 



Hanover and Oldenburg " 29 



German Customs Union " 24 



Switzerland " 18 



Sweden " 11 J 



Austria " 11 



Kussia " 8 



Bxports of Britisli Iron, iuclndlng Uu-ii-rouglit StccI, bnt not 

 including ItlHchincry aud Mill>-ivork* 



Where to. 







Years 

 1851. 1852. 





Tons. 



Tons. 



Colonics 



159 709 



141,460 

 501,158 

 ,^93 2fifi 



United States 



464,559 

 295,211 



Other Countries 











Total Tons 



919,479 



RT. 



£ 



1,035,884 

 £ 



Hakdwaee 



AND f 



JUILE 





527,879 

 1,080,487 

 1,218,645 



704,655 



968,493 



1,018,549 



United State* 











Total 



2,827,011 



2,091,697 





cports. 



.Tons 

 £ 



Quantity 



Total Value of Ej 



27,625 

 28,594,961 



25,290 

 Incomplete. 



On Some Stereoscopic Plieuomcna. 



BY JI. DOVE. 



The author was chiefly induced to draw the attention of the Section 

 to this subject in consequence of Sir David Brewster, who he greatly 

 regretted was notat this meeting, having denied at the Belfast Meeting 

 the soundness of the explanation which the author had given of the 

 cause of the appearance of those bodies which exhibited the metallic 

 lustre. This, he considered to arise from the superficial layers of 

 particles being highly, though still imperfectly, transparent and per- 

 mitting the inferior layers to be seen through them. This effect we 

 see produced when many watch-glasses arc laid in a heap, or when a 

 plate of trasparent mica or talc being heated red hot is thus separated 

 into multitudes of thin layers, each of which, of inconceivable thinness, 

 is found to be highly transparent, while the entire plate assumes the 

 lustre of a plate of silver. This explanation receives a very striking 

 confirmation from the stereoscopic phenomena which he now drew 

 attention to. He then presented to the Section and described a very 

 simple .and portable modification of the stereoscope, consisting of two 

 lenticular prisms mounted in a frame like a double eye-glass. Upon 

 examining with this two diagrams drawn one for the right, the other 

 for the left eye, with lines suited to give the idea when viewed together 

 of a pyramid, cube, cone, or other mathematical solid, but the lines 

 on one drawn on a white ground, the other on a dark or coloured 

 ground, on viewing them together the solid appeared with the metallic 

 lustre. The author termed it " Glance." This, he conceived, demon- 

 strated his original idea to be correct. 



An Ii^artliiiiialcc* 



On the morning of the 8th February, 18-J5, about 7 a.m., the shock 

 of an earthquake was felt at St. John's, Frcderickton, and St. Stephens, 

 New Brunswick; at Halifax, Windsor, and Picton, Nova Scotia ; snd 

 at Charlottetown, Prince Edwanl Island. Several shocks have been 

 felt, from the 1st February to the 19th, in many parts of the Union 

 and the British Provincoii. 



