104 Reviews. 
finement—the triumphs of intellect and the spread of in- 
telligence—are so closely dependent upon the contributions 
of ignorance and poverty. Possibly the sheet upon which 
we are now writing, and the page that will bear to our 
thousands of readers these printed lines, were once the filthy 
rags that but half concealed the nakedness of a Neapolitan 
beggar or an Egyptian fellah. It is tobe hoped that the 
transformation they have undergone is typical of the im- 
provement which education and the arts are yet to work 
upon the meanest of the race-—The ‘ Scientific American,’ 
REVIEWS. 
The Carboniser. London: John Haddon and Co.. 1866. 
THIS invention, of which an account is given in the pam- 
phlet before us, is not a new method, but simply makes 
practical the earliest known means of preserving wood from 
decay, as also of preventing the spread of malaria. Great 
praise is due to the inventor, M. Hugon, inasmuch, as he 
can, by the action of a jet of flame, produce dessiccation in 
a log of wood, by which all the minute living beings which ~ 
are attracted by the air, and therefore penetrate through 
the surfaces of the wood are utterly destroyed. The action 
of the flame also tends to shrink and harden the faces of 
the wood, thus rendering it much less sensible to exterior 
agents. 
There cannot be any doubt that this method of preserv- 
ing will, will, when thoroughly known effect quite a revolu- 
tion in the lasting powers of all wood submitted to its 
processes. 
We give the effects which are produced by the action of 
a jet of flame whose temperature reaches 1,000 to 1,200° 
centigrade, and recommend them to the notice of our 
goverument, railway companies and all those who in any 
way use large quantities of timber. 
‘“‘ rst. To aconsiderable depth the timber is perfectly dessi- 
cated. 
“ond. All the minute but perfect and living beings, monad‘s 
bacteriums, vibrions, &c., which cause fermentation, and which, 
attracted by the air, penetrate and accumulate, and by a system 
of filtration, work through the surfaces of the wood, are utterly 
destroyed. 
“ ard. The flame bath deposes on the surfaces of the wood a 
