EDITORIAL. 
87 
unless  mixed  with  resinous  varnishes.  It  is  extremely  flexible,  may  be 
spread  in  very  thin  layers,  and  remains  unaltered  under  the  influence  of  air 
and  light.  It  may  be  employed  to  varnish  geographical  maps  or  prints, 
because  it  does  not  reflect  light  disagreeably  as  resinous  varnishes  do,  and 
is  not  subject  to  crack  or  come  off  in  scales.  It  may  be  used  to  fix  black 
chalk  or  pencil  drawings  ;  and  unsized  paper,  when  covered  with  this 
varnish,  may  be  written  on  with  ink. — Journ.  Applied  Chem.,  Nov.,  1866. 
Bicarbonate  of  Ammonia. — Schrotter  found  a  mass  of  crystals  in  a  cast- 
iron  pipe  through  which  raw  gas  passed,  which  on  analysis  proved  to  have 
the  composition  NIi40,2C02+HO.  Before  the  analysis  was  made  the 
crystals  were  cleaned  from  coal-tar  with  which  they  were  soiled,  and  were 
resublimed.  There  is  no  doubt,  then,  of  the  existence  of  a  true  carbonate 
of  ammonia. — Journ.  Applied  Chem.,  Nov.,  1866,  from  Silxungsrb.  d.  Akad. 
d.  Wissenschaf.  zu  Wien,  Bd.  xliv.  s.  33. 
Cement  to  fasten  Iron  in  Stone. — A  German  Professor  has  found  out  a 
cement  for  fastening  iron  in  stone,  which  in  48  hours  becomes  nearly  as 
hard  as  the  stone  itself.  This  consists  of  six  parts  of  Portland  cement,  one 
part  nicely  powdered  lime,  burnt  but  not  slacked,  two  parts  of  sand,  and 
one  part  of  slacked  lime.  This,  when  well  mixed  and  reduced  to  one  mass 
of  cement  with  the  necessary  quantity  of  water,  is  put  in  the  crevices  or 
openings  of  the  stone  and  the  iron,  both  being  previously  damped,  and 
after  48  hours  the  iron  will  be  found  thoroughly  and  lastingly  fastened  in 
the  stone. — Journ.  Applied  Chem.,  Nov.,  1866. 
editorial  Department. 
Our  Journal. — With  this  number  commences  the  thirty-ninth  volume, 
— the  fifteenth  of  the  Third  Series.  The  period  which  has  elapsed  since 
January,  1861,  has  been  an  eventful  series  of  years  in  journalism,  marked 
with  many  changes,  the  indirect  result  of  the  political  convulsions  which 
have  shaken  our  country  in  all  its  internal  relations.  Very  many  journals 
succumbed  to  the  storm,  discontinued  their  issues,  and  have  not  yet  re- 
vived. The  inflation  of  prices  of  raw  material  and  labor,  due  to  a  paper 
currency,  and  the  immense  taxation  necessary  to  meet  the  interest  on  the 
public  debt,  have  influenced  every  branch  of  business,  and  among  them 
that  of  publishing  books.  As  the  cost  of  a  book  is  influenced  by  the 
number  sold,  so  the  cost  of  a  journal  varies  with  the  number  of  its  subscri- 
bers. As  no  change  in  the  price  of  this  journal  has  been  made,  our  read- 
ers may  easily  see  that  the  College  has  not  found  it  a  profitable  speculation 
