506 



SCIENCE, 



[YoL. VI., No. 148. 



Still more startling things are reported by MM. 

 Bourreau and Burot of Rochefort, being nothing 

 less than ' stigmatization ' by suggestion, in a 

 certain patient, i.e., the bleeding of spots of the 

 skiQ at word of command. They have also seen, 

 and convinced others, that this patient and one 

 other, were iafluenced by medicines in closed vials 

 held near them, sahvated and sweated by Jabor- 

 andi, vomited by ipecac, pm-ged by scammony, 

 put to sleep by opium, etc. In these experiments 

 the subjects were not hypnotized. They remind 

 one of observations pubMhed long ago by 

 Dr. J. R. Buchanan, and republished last year 

 in his work, ' Psychometry.' Thus miracles 

 expelled by ' scientific good sense ' clamor again 

 for admission. In particular the hmits of sugges- 

 tion have not to be re-tested. The new results 

 seem to poiut towards some effects that may be 

 direct and physical, and not due to suggestion or 

 expectation. We are as yet but on the threshold of 

 the subject. 



If one wishes to see what hopes for success 

 the method may inspire, one should read the 

 brilliant article of Mr. F. W. H. Myers, entitled 

 * The human personality,' in the Fortnightly review 

 for November. As Mr. Myers there says, we 

 hold the wand of Hermes, which we have not 

 learned to wield. 



S. E. 



THE UTILIZATION OF BY-PRODUCTS IN 

 CHARCOAL-B URNING. 



In many processes for the conversion of crude 

 materials there is much waste, which is hkely to 

 be remedied only when such materials become 

 scarcer, and hence more costly. In producing 

 charcoal for use in the iron manufacture, the 

 wood is commonly burned simply for the sake of 

 the charcoal itself ; and brick, dome-shaped ovens 

 are used, from which the smoke and other products 

 driven off by the process of slow combustion pass 

 freely into the air. But in some cases such of 

 the products as are commercially valuable are 

 saved, with results that render it surprising that 

 more care is not usually taken to retrieve what is 

 so often lost. The success which has been met 

 with at Elk Rapids, Michigan, in saving and 

 profitably utilizing the by-products of charcoal- 

 burning, is worthy of imitation. 



At this place is a blast-furnace, turning out 

 some seventy tons of charcoal-iron daily, and con- 

 suming the charcoal from one hundred and 

 twenty-five cords of wood, previously carbonized 

 in thirty-five kilns. The smoke and vapors given 

 off in the latter process are drawn — by means of 

 two exhaust-fans tliree feet iu diameter, and mak- 



ing twelve hundred revolutions per minute — 

 through the bottom of the kilns, and thence 

 through a long wooden pipe forty-two inches in 

 diameter, to the chemical works. Here the vapors 

 are distributed to ten condensers, each containing 

 seventy-five copper tubes two and a fourth inches 

 in diameter, through which cold water is passed. 

 So much of the vapor as is condensed is then 

 drawn off into a large settling-tank : the uncon- 

 densed part is forced under the boilers by steam- 

 injectors and burned, thus helping to furnish the 

 motive power required at the works. In the tank 

 the larger part of the tar settles to the bottom. 

 This tar is now mixed with sawdust, and burned 

 under the boilers ; although formerly, when more 

 in demand, it was drawn off and barrelled for 

 market. 



The remaining hquor is pumped to a second 

 tank, and neutralized with lime. After the im- 

 purities have had time to settle, it is conveyed to 

 a still, where the wood alcohol is distilled from 

 the acetate of lime just produced. The hquor of 

 acetate of lime is next evaporated by steam-heat 

 nearly to the granulating point, then conveyed 

 to grainers, and, by the further apphcation of 

 steam, it is obtained in the solid state. Fiaally it 

 is shovelled out, drained, dried in pans, and put up 

 in bags as the acetate of lime of commerce. The 

 capacity of the works is 10,000 pounds of acetate 

 of lime per day. 



The alcohol, on issuing from the still, has a 

 strength of eight per cent ; but further distillation 

 brings it to eighty-five per cent, when it is bar- 

 relled for shipment. It is, however, again refined 

 by other parties to ninety-five per cent alcohol, 

 and used for various mechanical purposes. The 

 daily production can reach one hundred and 

 seventy gallons. 



An experiment has recently been tried at the 

 London inventions exhibition aquarium, by Mr. W. 

 August Carter, with a view to discovering how far 

 fish are prone to sleep. After close examination, 

 he found that among fresh- water fish the roach, 

 dace, gudgeon, carp, tench, minnow, and catfish 

 sleep periodically in common with terrestrial ani- 

 mals. The same instincts were found to actuate 

 marine fish, of which the following were observed 

 to be equally influenced by somnolence ; viz. , the 

 wrasse, conger eel, dory, dogfish, wrasse bass, and 

 all species of flat fish. Mr. Carter states, that, so 

 far as he can discover, the goldfish, pike, and 

 angler-fish never sleep, but rest periodically. 

 Desire for sleep among fish varies according to 

 meteorological conditions. Fish do not necessarily 

 select night-time for repose. 



