SCIENTIEIC SUMMAliY. 
385 
of the lathe the shuttle is received within a small square box or tube, which 
it fits loosely. The end of this tube coniinunicates with a valve-chest by an 
aperture covered by a pupj^et valve kept closed by the pressure of the air. 
A species of trigger gear, similar to that employed in an air-gun, raises 
the valve from its seat for an instant at every alternate stroke of the lathe, 
and the small cpiantity of air thus admitted blows the shuttle through the shed. 
The air is compressed to about 30 lb. per square inch, and is brought to the 
loom in pipes beneath the floor. The results thus far obtained have been in 
the highest degree satisfactory. 
Fluid Bearings. — We once before alluded to the fluid bearings of M. L. D. 
Girard. He has now communicated to the Academy of Sciences the results 
of some experiments on the bearings of the fly-wheel shaft of a rolling 
machine. The fly-wheel weighed 34 tons. With the bearing surfaces greased 
only, the coefficient of friction was found to be OT. With water forced in 
between the bearing and axle, so as to escape across the whole bearing 
surface, the coefficient was reduced to O'OOl, and in ordinary circumstances 
did not rise above 0’003. The vrater was forced in under a pressure of ten 
atmospheres. 
Magnetic Driving-wheels. — Sir Charles Fox has made an ingenious sug- 
gestion to apply electricity to increase the adhesion of the driving-wheels of 
locomotives, which at times (especially in some states of the weather) is so 
much reduced that the utmost difficulty is experienced in the propulsion of 
heavy trains. Sir Charles Fox proposes to surround the lower part of the 
driving-wheel with a coil of insulated wire, so that when a current of 
electricity is passed round it from a quantitative battery placed on the 
engine, the wheel becomes a temporary magnet acting on the rails. 
Mont Cenis Bailivay. — Pending the completion of the great Mont Cenis 
tunnel, a temporary railway on inclined planes is to be carried along the 
present road over the mountain. The French Government, on its portion of 
the line, will use locomotives with a peculiar mechanism, to produce adhesion, 
on a middle rail placed between the two ordinary rails. On the Italian side 
a traction carriage will be employed, which will wind the carriages up by 
means of a drum acting on a heavy fixed cable laid along the line. The 
mechanism of the traction waggon will be put in motion by an endless wire 
rope actuated by water-wheels at the base of the incline. 
MEDICAL SCIENCES. 
Preservation of the Dead. — A very curious process for the preservation of 
dead bodies has been discovered by Signor Gorini, which, if easily carried out, 
will prove of much service to teachers of anatomy. The following extract 
from a letter of Signor Matteucci to the French Academy, although it does 
not explain the mode of preparation, gives ample evidence as to its results : — 
The bodies prepared by Gorini’s process preserve for some months the natural 
consistence and plumpness, and have no more smell than that which they 
possessed prior to preparation. In this condition they may always be em- 
ployed for dissection. After a time, instead of putrefying, they sunply 
become dried up, and, as it were, mummified ; but even when in this state 
