SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
441 
constructions of furnaces were most imperfect and unreliable, some of them 
requiring renewing once a fortnight. Mr. Siemens had introduced the prin- 
ciple of heating large forges by means of gas, which attained intense 
degrees of heat and saved at least 50 per cent, in fuel. Until, however, the 
author of the paper attempted the experiment at the Mersey Iron Works, 
Mr. Siemens’s principle had not been applied to the heating of large solid 
masses of iron. His application proved completely successful. He had also 
introduced improved facilities for the handling of the hot masses of iron, and 
for affording more working space for the men ; and he had introduced a 
hammer with a clear unfettered fall. 
Rolling Axles. — Mr. Alfred Bowater submitted a paper descriptive of a 
new machine, existing in model, for the shaping of railway axles by rolling 
pressure. Whereas by the steam-hammering process an axle required half 
an hour in shaping, this rolling process would effect it in a superior manner 
in two minutes. The rolled axle was not only superior in quality, but was 
more uniform in size, and could be produced much more cheaply. The 
machine consisted of three rollers, which were regulated so as to gradually 
press closer together, thus reducing the diameter of the bar and extending 
its length until shaped to the size required. Axles of any length could be 
thus rolled, with collars at any part of the tyre. The rollers were geared to 
revolve all in the same direction, and their friction imparted motion to the 
axle. The rolling process would obviate those flaws in axles which occa- 
onally caused appalling disasters on railways. 
MICROSCOPY. 
An Erecting Binocular Microscope. — An instrument of this kind, which 
promises to be the binocular of the future, has been devised by Mr. J. W. 
Stephenson, and described to the Microscopical Society. It would be 
impossible to give a satisfactory explanation of the instrument without a 
cut, so we must refer our readers to the Monthly Microscopical Journal for 
August for further details. 
The Presidentship of the Quekett Club. — The club has done wisely and 
well this time in its selection of a president in choosing Dr. Beale. No one 
could be so well qualified for the task. Dr. Beale is, without any question, 
the first microscopist in England. It is greatly to be regretted that his 
engagement on the evening of which the Royal Microscopical Society meets 
prevented his accepting the presidentship of that institution. 
Photographs of Robert's Lines. — Dr. Woodward, of the United States’ 
Army Medical Department, has just presented to the Royal Microscopical 
Society and to a few private friends, four admirable photographs of the 
above. The first represents the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th bands of the 19 band- 
plate, magnified 1,200 diameters by Powell and Lealaftd’s j 6 -th immersion. 
The second represents the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th bands of the same plate, 
magnified 1,100 diameters with the same objective. The third displays the 
13th, 14th, and 15th bands of the same plate, magnified 1,100 diameters 
