Recent Proceedings of Societies. 



Engineers' club, Philadelphia. 



March 20. — Mr. Charles G. Darrach said that the 

 reason of the leakage from intermittent siphons, as 

 usually constructed, is due to two principal causes. 

 The first is, that the vertical dimension of the orifice 

 connecting: the two legs of the siphon is made too 

 great, and the head of water in the sealing-trap at 

 the end of the long leg- is overcome before the entire 

 area of the orifice is filled with water. Second, the 

 partial vacuum produced in the siphon, when the 

 water drops out of it (after the siphonic action is 

 stopped) is not entirely destroyed, and the water 

 rises in the short leg above that in the tank, and 

 leaks out through the communicating orifice, at the 

 upper bend of the siphon, whereas the air-pressure in 

 the siphon should be greater than the pressure on 

 the water in the tank. He described a siphon de- 

 signed by Mr. J. M. Wilson, in which these principles 

 were recognized. The short leg of the siphon is 

 formed into an air-chamber of sufficient size to allow 

 for the compression of air produced by the head of 

 water in the sealing-trap, and for the loss of air dis- 

 charged from the long leg: before the siphonic action 

 is induced. A small hole (protected by a pipe, car- 

 ried above the highest water-level in the tank, when 

 the siphon is used for grease or sewage) is made in 

 the short leg or air-vessel at such a height that it is 

 exposed when the water level in the flush tank is 

 raised by the back flow from the short leg into the 

 tank. After siphonic action ceases, this bole and 

 pipe continue to admit air to the siphon, and destroy 

 the partial vacuum produced by the water dropping 

 out of both legs of the siphon. By this arrangement 

 the siphon is always recharged with a full supply 



of air. Mr. Frederick H. Lewis, in a paper on 



the steel-rail discussion, said that the strength or 

 cohesion of steel depended directly upon the amount 

 of work put into it. The strength of rails of hard 

 chemical constitution was quoted, to show that in 

 rail-making but a moderate degree of strength is 

 developed. Consequently, while there were good 

 reasons for believing that soft steel would suffer the 

 least from wear or attrition, yet it was probable that 

 the ordinary manufacture of rails would not give it 

 sufficient strength to resist crushing under heavy 

 traffic ; nor was it likely that the process of manu- 

 facture could be materially improved. The conclu- 

 sion was that harder steel would afford the best 

 remedy for the trouble from crushed rails. 



Royal meteorological society, London. 



March 17. — The president, Mr. W. Ellis, gave an 

 historical sketch of the barometer. After remarking 

 on the accidental nature of the discovery of the 

 instrument, in the year 1643, in its best form, in 

 ignorance for some time of its value for purposes of 

 meteorological inquiry, he gave a brief account of 

 many early kinds of barometers ; the first endeavor 

 being, in consequence of difficulties experienced with 

 the ordinary mercurial form, to enlarge the scale of 

 variation, — attempts which, in general, introduced 

 other errors and inconveniences. The desire to ex- 

 periment on elevated positions induced the construc- 

 tion of an early form of portable barometer ; one 

 such with cistern completly closed, leaving the air to 

 communicate through the pores of the wood, having 



been made above two hundred years ago. The presi- 

 dent further described various points in the arrange- 

 ment of the Ramsden, Gay-Lussac, and other 

 barometers, including, also, mention of some modern 

 patterns of long-range barometers, standard barome- 

 ters, and such barometers as are more commonly 

 used. The practice of driving out air from the mer- 

 cury by heating or boiling appears to have been in 

 use early in the last century. Engraved plates in- 

 dicating the weather to be expected with different 

 heights of the mercury have been longer used ; at 

 least, as early as 1688. As regards correction for 

 temperature, De Luc, in the last century, adopted a 

 temperature corresponding to 54°. 5 F. as that to 

 which to make reduction, because corresponding 

 nearly to the average of observations, such reduction 

 being now made to the natural zero, 32° F. Refer- 

 ence was made to the employment of water (as in 

 the well-known Royal society barometer) and other 

 liquids instead of mercury ; also to various kinds of 

 floating and other barometers not at all or not en- 

 tirely mercurial, and to metallic barometers. The 

 president concluded his account with a sketch of the 

 history of recording barometers or barographs, in- 

 cluding a notice of the application of photography 

 and electricity to recording purposes. 



Publications received at Editor's Office, Mar. 29-Apr. 3. 



Abbott, C. C. Upland and meadow : a poaetquissings chroni- 

 cle. New York, Harper, 1886. 10+397+10 p. i2°. 



Arnold, E. L. Coffee: its cultivation and profit. London, 

 Whittingham, 1886. 10+270 p., illustr. 8°. (New York, Scrib- 

 ner & Welford.) 



Berthold, E. Das kiinstliche trommelfell und die verwend- 

 barkeit der schalenhaut des hiihnereies zur myringoplastik. Wies- 

 baden, Btrgmann, 1886. 26 p. 8°. (New York. Stechert.) 



Biologie, archives slaves de. Tome i. fasc. 1. Dirigees par M. 

 Mendelssohn et C. Richet. Paris, 111. Boulevard Saint-Germain, 

 1886. 12-I-306 p. 8°. (New York, Christern.) 



Blochmann. F. Ueber eine neue haematococcusart. Heidel- 

 berg, Winter, 1886. 22 p., 2 pi. 8°. (New York, Stechert.) 



Collectors' science monthly. Vol. i. No. 1. Battle Creek, 

 Mich., C. S. M.pitbl. co., [1886.J 18 p., illustr. 8°. 



Conn, H. W. Evolution of to-day. New York, Putnam* 



l886. IO-|-342 p.. 12°. 



Fernald, C. H. The Sphingidae of New England. Augusta,. 

 State, 1886. 85 p., 6 pi. 8°. 



Flynn, P. J. Flow of water in open channels, pipes, sewers, 

 conduits, etc. (Van Nostrand sc. ser.) New York, Van Nostrand, 

 18F6. 1 18+19 p. 24 . 



Ham, C. H. Manual training the solution of social and in- 

 dustrial problems. New York, Harper, 1886. 24+403 p., illustr. 



12°. 



Heath, F. G. Sylvan winter. London, Kegan Paul, Trench 

 &? Co., 1886. 16+354+34 P-i illustr. 12 . (New York, Scribner 

 & Welford, 14 shillings.) 



International record of charities and correction. Vol. i. No. 

 1. Ed. by F. H. Wines, m. New York and London, Putnam, 

 1886. 8+16 p. 4 . $1 per year. 



Mays, T.J. On the nutritive value of some beef-extracts: 

 an experimental inquiry. Philadelphia, Trans, coll. phys., [18S6.] 

 Liilp. 8°. 



Miller, W. D. Worterbuch der bacterienkunde. Stuttgart, 

 Enke, 1886. 43 p. 8.° ^New York. Stechert.) 



Montreal botanic garden. First annual report, 1885 . Montreal, 

 Gazette printing company, 1886. 31 p. 8°. 



Observatorio, revista do. Vol. 1. No. 2. m. Rio de Janeiro, 

 Lombaerts &* Co-, pr.^ 1886. L r 6] p., Li] pi. 4°. 



Path, the : a magazine devoted to the brotherhood of humani- 

 ty, theosophy in America, etc. Vol. i. No. 1, April, 1886. Ed. 

 by W. Q. Judge, m. New York, Aryan theosophical society, 

 [1886.] 32 p., illustr. 8°. $2 per year, 



Prantl, K. Lehrbuch der botanik fur mittlere und hohere 

 lehranstalten. 6th ed. Leipzig, Engelmann, 1886. 8+339 P-> 

 illustr. 8°. (New York, Stechert.) 



Ranke, J. Allgemeine naturkunde : Der mensch. Vol. iii. 

 lief. 18-24. Leipzig, Bibliographisches institut, 1886. [336] p., 

 10 col. pi., illustr. 8°. (New York, Westermann.) 



Romilly, H. H. The western Pacific and New Guinea: 

 notes on the natives, Christian and cannibal, with some account 

 of the old labour trade. London, Murray, 1886. 8+242+32 p., 

 map. 12 . (New York, Scribner & Welford.) 



