Recent Proceedings of Societies. 



Engineers' club, Philadelphia. 

 Jan. 16. — Mr. Howard Constable gave an account 

 of the system used in London for the public supply of 

 hydraulic power, which he has recently examined. 

 The company was started in 1882, based upon the 

 success achieved by a similar scheme in Hull. Their 

 plant consists of about 12 miles of cast-iron mains 

 distributed throughout the busiest parts of London, 

 on both sides of the river, and as far west as Victoria 

 Station. The mains and branches are laid so as to 

 avoid any dead-ends, and with stop-valves so that any 

 length of 1,000 feet can be isolated. The water used 

 is taken from the Thames, and filtered into tanks, 

 from which it is received by the pumps and passed 

 into two accumulators, thence on through the mains. 

 The pumps are of the vertical three-cylinder fly- 

 wheel type, compound condensing, single acting 

 plungers, directly connected to piston-rod. The 

 starting and stopping of the pumps is done auto- 

 matically by the accumulators ; and, in connection 

 with this, the arrangement for letting live steam into 

 the low-pressure cylinder is very ingenious. The 

 boilers are of the Lancashire type, fitted out with 

 automatic fuel hoppers, stokers, etc., and fuel 

 plevator. The hydraulic pressure used is between 

 TOO and 800 pounds per square inch. The charges 

 for water power are made upon metre register and a 

 sliding scale of prices. The financial success of the 

 company was almost assured from the first. Mr. 

 Constable also described a novel rubber spring ex- 

 tensively used in England for tram cars, railway 

 draw-bars, buffers, etc. It consists of a cylindrical 

 piece of rubber with a hole through the axis, and 

 capped at both ends with bearing-plates ; the draw- 

 bar or location-bolt, of course, passes through the 

 bearing-plates and rubber spring. The peculiar 

 feature is, that a steel spring encircles the rubber, so 

 that, as the rubber is compressed, it is re-enforced by 

 an increasing resistance on the part of the steel 

 spring, which tends to hug it back to its original 

 form. It presents some excellent features for long 

 range, endurance, uniformity or gradation of re- 

 sistance, freedom from danger in collapse as well as 

 in economy. Prof. L. M. Haupt read an illus- 

 trated paper on harbors, containing data as to 

 depths, etc., and showing that from New York to the 

 Gulf there were only four natural entrances where 

 the depth at mean low water was over 16 feet, while 

 the largest ships draw from 26 to 28-i feet. He com- 

 mented on the unfavorable results obtained by using 

 submerged jetties. A model was shown, exhibiting 

 a portion of the bed of the lower bay of New York 

 entrance, with the peculiar hole at the head of Ged- 

 ney's Channel. He stated that he believed it en- 

 tirely feasible to so modify the forces as to change 

 the direction of the resultant and throw it into Ged- 

 ney's Channel. By such a local treatment an excel- 

 lent entrance could be obtained to the harbor, at a 

 cost very much less than that proposed to be expend- 

 ed for the submerged dikes — five miles long — and 

 other works, estimated at five or six millions. 



Calendar of Societies. 



Engineers' club, St. Louis. 

 Jan. 20. — P. M. Bruner, Use of hydraulic cement. 



American academy of arts and sciences, Boston. 

 Feb. 5. — William M. Davis, Thunder-storms in New 

 England in 1885. 



Society of arts, Boston. 



Feb. 11. — A. H. Cowles, The Cowles electric fur- 

 nace and the production of aluminum and its alloys. 



Feb. 25. — Charles E. Emory, On the distribution 

 of steam. 



Anthropological society, Washington. 

 Feb. 2. — W. H. Babcock, Song-games and myth- 

 dramas at Washington ; J. O. Dorsey, Siouan folk- 

 lore. 



Academy of sciences, Davenport. 

 Jan. 27, election of officers. — President, C. E. Put- 

 nam ; vice-presidents, C. E. Harrison, J. B. Phelps ; 

 recording secretary, Dr. Jennie McCowen ; corre- 

 sponding secretary, Prof. W. II. Pratt ; treasurer, G. 

 P. McClelland : librarian, H. A. Pilsbry : curator, 

 Prof. W. H. Pratt; trustees, Dr. C. A. Preston, 

 James Thompson, E. P. Lynch, H. C. Fulton. 



Appalachian mountain club, Boston. 

 Feb. 10. — Melancthon M. Hurd, An ascent of the 

 Matterhorn ; W. G. Now^ll, The Carter-Moriah path 

 and camp ; W. H. Peck, An exploration of the Pilot- 

 range. 



Feb. 17. — Jed. Hotchkiss, On Mount Rogers, the 

 highest point of the Appalachians in Virginia. 



Publications received at Editor's Office, Feb. i-6. 



Dahlen, G. Aufzeichnungen iiber die europaische gesell- 

 schaft. Berlin, Lentz, 1885. 4+158 p. 8°. (.New York, Stech- 

 ert, $1.10.) 



Froelich, O. Die dynamoelektrische maschine. Berlin, 

 Springer, 1886. 10-I-230 p., illustr. 8°. (New York, Stechert, 

 $3-) 



Harvey, M. Where are we and whither tending? Three 

 lectures on the reality and worth of human progress. Boston, 

 Doyle &> Whittle, 1886. 134 p. 8°. _ 



Husnik, J. Die zinkatzung. Wien, Hartleben, 1886. 24+ 

 165 p., pi., illustr. 12 . (New V r ork, Stechert, $:.io.) 



Illinois state board of health. Seventh annual report. Spring- 

 field, State, 1885. 66+613 p. 8°. 



Israel-Holtzwart, K. Elemente der theorischen astronomie 

 fiir studierende bearbeitet. Abtheil. ii. Wiesbaden, Berg mann, 

 1885. 8+168 p., illustr. 8°. (New York, Stechert, $2. 10.) 



Knies, K. Das geld. 2d ed. Berlin, IViedmann, 1885. 10+ 

 450 p. 8°. (New York, Stechert, S3. 70.) 



Kolberg, J. Nach Ecuador. 3d ed. Freiburg, Herder, 1885. 

 20+550 p., 15 pi., map. illustr. 8°. New York, Stechert, $3.) 



Loeher, F. von. Beitrage zur geschichte und volkerkunde. 

 Band i- Frankfurt-a-M., Riitten & Loening, 1885. 8+491 p. 

 8°. (New York, Stechert, S3.) 



Meynert, T. Psychiatry, a clinical treatise on diseases of the 

 fore-brain based upon a study of its structure, functions and 

 nutrition. Tr. by B. Sachs, M. D. Part i.: The anatomy, 

 physiology, and chemistry of the brain. New York, Put?iam , 

 1885. 12+285 p., 1 pi., illustr. 8°. 



Mierzinski, S. Die fabnkation des aluminiums und der 

 alkalimetalle. Wien. Hartleben, 1885. 8+1 12 p., illustr. 12 . 

 (New York, Stechert, 80 cents.) 



Penafiel. A. Catalogo alfabetico de los nombres de lugar 

 pertenicientes al idioma ' Nahuatl.' Mexico, Government, 18S5. 

 262 p., 39 pi. 4 . 



Remsen, I. An introduction to the study of chemistry. New 

 York, Holt, 1S86. 12+387 p., illustr. 12 . $1.40. _ 



Richter, V. von. A text-book of inorganic chemistry. 2d ed. 

 Philadelphia, P. Blackiston, son Co., 1885. 432+16 p.. 1 pi., 

 illustr. 12 . $2. 



Rincon, padre Antonio del. Gramaticay vocab ulario mexicanos, 

 1595. Reprint. Ed. by Antonio Penafiel. Mexico, Government, 

 1885. 92 p. 4 . 



Shaw, H. S. H. Mechanical integrators, including the various 

 forms of planimeters. (Van No>trand's sc. ser.) New Yoik, Van 

 Nostrand. 1886. 212 p., illustr. 24 . 



Staehelin, A. Sommer und winter m Siidamerika. Basel, 

 Schwabe, 1885. 8+235 p. 8°. (New York. Stechert, $1.20.) 



