208
THE WEST SHOEE.
July.
A NEW THANSANIHNK RAILWAY.
A revival seems to be approaching the South
American railway building industry; Wo notice
that our Kriglish exchanges are writing articles
on the enterprise anil industry of Harry Mciggs,
and he may lc an object of renewed interest
to Kuglish capitalist. Mure than thin, we
read of a new road ICTOU the A ml en, which will
complete the connection between Valparaiso
and ItiienoM Ayreit. The section between Santa
Uonaile In Andes, the present terminal of the
Valparaiso railway, and the town of Mendoa,
at the other side of the A mien, comprises the
most difficult part of the road. Starting at
Santa Uoea, situated at the entrance of the
L'spallata pans, on the Chilean side, at 3,704
feet above the level of the sea, the; line follows
the con rue of the river Aconcagua for a distance
of XI miles, until it reaohes the font of the pasH
at 78tfi fact alsive tint level of the IM In
Llns point w Here the Aconcagua river receives
the, finical the line follows the course of this
river, turning to the south, and after 1 1 1 miles
turns .1. mi to the cast until reaching the west
ern Mirtal of the large tunnel at the summit,
situated at a bight of 1 1,484 f set The differ
ence hutwecu Junes! and the mouth of the
tunnel isjf miles, a grade of 31 percent The
length of the ( ii ii iii'l is estimated to he iD.o'll,
fcut. The top of the mountain is HJliU feet
higher. Crossing the tunnel the line descends
to the CueroM valley, with a uradc ol ocr cent.
for eight miles to the bridge over the river
COB rot. The altitude of Cueros valley is
10,957 feet. From this point to I'ncnte del
I nca, a distance of 1'J miles, the grade is 'J per
OOllt, ainl continues softening tiliit reaches the
town ol MendOSa, ItrJ miles from I'licnte del
Ima, and 3,000 fat nhiivu the level of the sea.
An Italian engineer, Mr. Olhieri, has recently
made a new survey of this route, comprising
only the mountain region between Junoal and
the Cueros river, and has jiropused to shorten the
line n kilometer!, avoiding all the ilifHoult
part, and thus reducing tint cost of construct ion
considerably, Mis plan is to start at Junoal
river, 8,840 meters high, with an inclined plane,
an inveliteil by the celebrated engineer, Mr.
Agudio, and recommended by the several
engineers commissioned by the Italian ami
French government, as Well as by the dele
gales of various railway companies who at
tended the series of practical experiment that
took place in I he nioiith of August, 1875, at
lAnilebourgi SuVOV, The inclined plane
would have a length of nearly li.iHHi meters,
with only one curve of 400 meters radius, ami
of various grades, tin- heaviest being one in live.
An altitude of I.1HHI meters being filled in
this manner, the line would tinue 3,000
meters further with a grade of 1 in !M, to the
entrance ol a tunnel which Would have a length
of about ;t,7.Mt meters, and emerging a! the side
of the Cueros river at 8,180 meters high. This
shows that the valley at the eastern sids of
the mountain is about I. turn meters high,
which is, to a certain point, mi advantage)
requiring only grading on one side, iioih the
Junoal and Uuoros riven would at all times
fuiUllll ample Mater power to work the turbine
water wheels, with which po WOT the ,ai Would
be lifted. There is also a small lake at the
untmlt of the incline, the water of which can
with facility DO applied to the same purpose.
With this system the cost of construction
would be reduced s 14,000,000, ami, accord
log to the report of the joint committee of engi
neers, the working expenses of aline of this
chins, taklllg into consideration th' correspond-
iug development required in the other lystem,
an in proportion very muob less.
m:v ItlllDOKS AT ItOTTKHDAM.
hutch engineering skill and enterprise have
just oomdeted an undertaking of a magnitude
second to none of the many great works
achieved bj the Dutch before, It is well
known that for centuries the Dtttoll people have
w Rgfd constant m ar against the em iroai hmcnts
of the sea am) the rivers by which their country
ii intersected. The hydraulic works tit the
first in the world: their bridges at Kutpheu,
Kuylonbun and Macsdijk rival those of Amor-
ica The Bnikltr says: Another, the new mil
way bridge which crosses the Maas at llntter
dam, has pit bten added, which was formally
opened on April '-".Hh. and the Importunes of
which for Holland need hardh be pointed out
The work, after an expenditure of '.'.tnnt.tKiti
Hortna (100,000), of which rather more than
half has been expended on the superstructure,
ami less than hall for the substructure, ban
been completed within eight yean, about the
same time required for the construction of the
similar bridge at Hamburg, and that between
Venice and the continent. Five gigantic
wrought-iron arched girder, resting on granite
piers, and ol spin- ranging from 818 foot si
inches to SOB feet four inches, and a bight of
nearly 80 fast above ordinary bin water level,
connect lbs city with an IsUndin the middle
of the stream, two other arches uniting this
(laud wfth the Opposite shore. Another great
work at Rotterdam is now 111 course of comple
tion, which has attracted general attention on
the contient. A few p , - Mow therailwav
bridge, another bridge, the so called Willmw
brug. ' to serve for the ordinary carnage t rathe
of the city and fboVpeSSSngSfl, Is In OOUrSS of
construction. The foundation t of this
bridge was Ian) three years ago bj the king of
Holland in peeenn. Tale, Rks ths reuway
bridge, it maided with two pivot arrant"
menu, ol which one l within the cil and the
other in the canal sailed the King's Harbor
iKeeung's Haveui. un fwt wide, Utwoenthe
oppite shore and the Island ahoVS mentioned,
to imit the )wagv of the largest dnp.
I nk .Uiiio From the latest rv-rt. from
I 'apt Mb it IMMMn that in 00 dan a ship
drawing feet of water can ih from New
Orleans to the ao. Th addition of another
foot or two to the depth of the channel will
only Iw a matter of tun
HOVINa CLKUl'ATKA'S NEEDLE,
Engineers of the present are about to attempt
a problem wliich Cleopatra's workmen success
fully solved, A correspondent writing from
Alexandria, Egypt, gives the following account
of the arrangements prepared for transporting
Cleopatra's needle to England The '"needle"
is a monolith Hit feet long and eight feet si pi are
-not uniformly, but at the base. It weighs
alsiut I.'!) tons, and lies in tin; i-and l." feet
ebovs high-water line. To get this muss safely
into the sea and across the sea. it is intended to
build up around it on shore a cylindrical iron
case or slop, ami tuen to roll the entire mass,
nearly 800 tons, into the Mediterranean, and
.when the necessary ballasting am) additions
I have been made to the ship in dry-dock, to have
I her towed to England. The iron vessel is now
lieing made at the Thames Iron Works, and
when ready will Is- sent out here in pieces, to
be built around the obelisk, under the supeiin-
Itendenceof Mr. VYavnman Dixon, broth n,
Mr. John Dixon, the enterprising designer and
contractor. The vessel must be considerably
longer than the obelisk, beoaUSS of the shape of
the stone. It will be 98 feet long and 18 feet
ill diameter, with plates three-eighths of an
inch thick. It will be divided into nine water
tight compartments by eight bulkheads; tidal
w eight of iron, 78 tons. To lift the end of the
obelisk jacks of immense power w ill have to he
sent from England, and after the cylinder is
built tremendous tackles will be required to
roll it into the sea. It will llout in nine feet
w ater, and to reach this depth it must lie rolled
400 feet. Once utlnat ami in dock itwilllie
litted with bilge keels, rudder ami steering
genr. It will he cutter-rigged, with one mast
and two sails, and will have a deckhouse for
Mr. Carter, who will have charge of it on the
voyage; for, although it will lie in tow of a
steamer, it will be in every resect a ship, and
able to take care of itself for a lime in case of
accident or breaking away of the low lines,
w hich are to lie of steel wire. If the undertak
ing is a success, the entire excuse w ill be borne
by Mr. I'rasinus Wilson, the eminent surgeon.
Immense care and nicety will have to he exer
cised in obtaining the necessary strength and
rigidity; the obelisk must lie SO (Mieked, form
ing with the iron cylinder one solid mass, as to
avoid any strain from the rolling Into the water,
or from the heavy working of the ship after
ward. I presume the most anxious part of the
work will l- to oct the vessel and her nreeioiis
cargo into the sea. Once afloat other difficul
ties will lie mastered. I luce thousand live
hundred years ago this obelisk formed one of
the pillars in front of the great Temple of Tum
(the setting sun), at Heliopolls (near Cairo),
and was brought to Alexandria during the
reign of Cleopatra. No accounts exist of the
appliances used; but if this and larger monU
Riente could be safely moved about some l.liOO
years n. ct it la not possible to doubt our abil
ity to do likew ise in the 19th century , n.
M'UTTINt; WIUK8P0H BHI1XJE CAHI.Ks.
Work is progressing rapidly on thu Brooklyn
bridge, The wire, as it comes from the factory,
is in coils, containing nbout I.IHHI feet. As each
coil is oiled it is drawn to the top of the anchor-
age and placed on a Hat drum which moves
horizontally. Prom this drum the coil is wound
w ith grcut care over a wheel four feet In diam
eter, moving abotlt a horizontal axis. This
w heel and its carriage are placed in position be
fore one of the drums. It is then ncccssarv to
fasten the end of the wire to that already on
the drum. K workman steps up with a dou
ble vise, in which he puts tile two ends of wire
llieb have been nreviouslv threaded, ami ioins
them by a hollow nut of crucible steel two
inches long and an eighth of an inch thick. The
inside of tna nut fa threaded in opposite direc
tions, to conform to the threads on the ends of
the wire. The nut is thin fastened in a baud
vise, by which it is screwed Up so its to bring
the two ends of the wire al st together llv
aid of this contrivance the joint is given !Hi per
cent of the strength of the wire. When the
fastener steps to another drum, a man, with a
box of chemicals and sottls, cleans the joint.
Then another, with a sit of melted line, gives
the joint a bath, in which some chloride of am
moma has been thrown to destroy the dross.
Another man, with a tool, runs the line well on
to the win- to galvanise it thoroughly. Next n
man. with a pan of linseed oil and a piece of
sheep's skin rug dripping with oil, seizes the
win- where it has been joined and holds it fast
in his oily grasp, w hile the other w orkmen care
fully wind it trom the small reel to the large
drum.
Although the jmpular impression is that the
cable is to bsof twisted brands of wire, the
contrary is true The wires are kent naralUL
and as soon as 1X1 w ires are sent across the
river they will W tied with temporary wrap
luuir. theSS will make one of the 10 strands
of which one cable is made. There are siisiK-nd-
lag peodulum nds from one of the w ires to pre
vent the etitaucliin: of the wires as thev ias to
and fro and are fanned by the wind.
I Iiere are imw lour wires in isisition on each
of the down stream cables. These are the lirst
w ires that have leen put up that w ill enter
into the lug bridge's ultimate ntnicture. It
will take about two vears to carry aoroSS the
84,000 wires.
Aaf aSUOCT I'trKH. A nun of science,
writing to the ipV. explain what i the prin
cqiat nee to which the bundles ..! white amka
ol asaragus. Iron which the UpS aaVS Uvu
bitten, may bS pt The) may U-made into pa -l
i . and that not ordinary brow n napcr, or even
fooUcaii, hut letter paper of the (meat descrip
tion. It appear that in a few favored places
there are manufactories: where the Mwragus
cuds are tiied in this way, and where the care
ful hotiiekcepvr hoards up the scraw w ith a dil
bg'lic unknown elsewhere. Hut the work of
collecting them is an up loll taak as yet, and it
will be years More, in the natural" order of
thing, the practice of saving them and packing
them off to nsh facUvie for aak is at all gn
nJI) adopted
CODD STUKAtiK OF DAIRY PRODUCE.
The BtltUr, Ohm nml Eijij ItrjiortiT in ita
last issue says: .Messrs. .Mackenzie, Aewmun &
Co. leased the entire building, No. ft- Warren
street, from May iBt, and at once fitted on the
three upper lofts with a refrigerator, which is
practically one room, the floors lcing simply
slatted, and the walls being titled up continu
oitsly from the roof to the floor of the first loft.
The interior measurement of the rooms is liox'ii
feet, with ante-rooms on the first ami second
lofts. The top loft is used for the ice, and con
tains layers to tne inghtol lour leettwoiucnes,
covering the entire surface lietweeu walls.
About IfiO tons are now In the room, though it
is constructed with a capacity of ;100 tons. The
side walls from the roof down to the lirst tloor
are eased with matched pine boards, hack of
w hich a space of eight inches to the brick
walls is tilled with sawdust. On the ends
a thickness of 14 inches of sawdust is used.
Tim roof and tirst tloor are ceiled iu the same
manner.
in constructing the refrigerator l.ilUO barrels
of sawdust were used. The two ante rooms
are intended chielly for showing goods, and are
kept at higher temperature than the storage
rooms, in order to make them comfortable to
customers and salesmen, but if necessary, they
can be kept at as low a temperature as the
other rooms, ami used for storage. The capac
ity of the two storage rooms is 10,000 packages.
There is uu abundance of daylight in each room
to admit of the inspection of goods.
The temperature is kept at from -111 to 42,
and there is u tine circulation of dry air in every
part of the rooms. The ice rests on a rack just
above the beams of the top Hour, and free con
tact of the air with the ice, and ut the same
time perfect drainage, is secured by rooting the
floor beams with galvanized Iron projecting into
a gutter of the same material between the
beams. As the ends overlap but do not come
in contact, there is no hindrance to the circula
tion of the air.
Tiie dr ipiugs from the ce fall into the gut
ters, which are slightly inclined toward the cen
ter, and then empty into a conducting pi
which passes down through the building ami
finally leads into the sew er-pipe. There is no
Opening at any point into the open air, The
princijile iihui which the refrigerator works
depends upon the gravity of cold and heated
air, and as the ice covers every inch of surface,
it will Is.' seen that there must necessarily be a
constant and Uniform circulation from the lloor
to the ice, and dow nward. The cost of the re
frigerator is between 0(1,000 and $7,000. A
steam elevator is Is-ing erected to perform the
heavy work, and also to connect w ith the cellar
and sub-cellar of the store, which are used by
Messrs. MeKensie, Newman A Co. for their
II ' and egg trade, and are both well lighted
and w ell ventilated rooms.
OLD AND STICKY BDTTK1L
Prof, 1,. It. Arnold. Secretary of the Ameri
can liairvmeu's Association w rites to the New
York TrMM as foil ows: Of the great mass of
butter which timls iti way to the general mar
ket ami is reckoned as ''good," the tirst and
most obvious defect is an old taste, derived,
probably, from too much or too longexposnre of
the cream to the air before churning. Kvcrv
IhmIj Understands the fact that butter exposed
to the air soon acquires an old and disagreeable
taste) but everybody diss not seem to appreci
ate the fact that cream deteriorates the same ns
butter by standing oien to the air. Itnt it cer
tainly d.H-s so, ami very much more rapidly than
butter, and esjtecially if exposed to air winch is
warm, or which contains any bad odors or va
pors. Owing to the nitrogenous matter mingled
with i ream, it is very susceptible to eluuigd.
Kxih.m.1 to warm and damp air, cream will de
cay about as much in one day as butter would
in a Week in the same situation. It is, theie
fore, very easy, and certainly ery common, lor
butter to acquire an old taste by too much ex-
iHMire of the cream before churning. The but-
laoeol cream which is exposed to the atmos
phere, especially to a faulty atmosphere, is all
the tune changing and working toward decay
while stunning for the llower particles to get
up and ready for the skimmer. The longer
tins exposure conti the greater the change
and the more is the flavor ,.t the resulting but
ter allected. It i eof the striking advan
tages of the more modern modes ol raising
cream that they bring it to the surface .piicklv
and Improve the butter hy shortening the
posure of the cream to atmospheric tnttocnoes.
The cleanest flavored butter, that which has the
fullest, freshest ami most delicious taste, and
the Ust keeping ipiality. is now made by heat
ing the nulk to exjsd objectionable islors, mid
then, under an air-tight covering, towering the
temperature to hasten the ascent of the cream.
If cream must he exposed to the air while ris
ing, it wdl do very much toward avoiding the
old taste, so often found m butter, to have the
air in contact with the cream as cool as possible,
t old retards change, and the csder the surface
is kept the less progress toward decay. The
cooler air now sought in imnleni creameries
makes a marked improvement iu their butter
over tboos who have used cold water hut warm
air in their nsuns for setting milk.
,. All;,,,u;r defect is indicated by the word
tii'lty. Tnii is occasioned by over-churning
or over working, and the grain 'Weonies consul
eral.ly injured. Hotter is Domposed principally
Of three fats: ole.u, inarganii and stearin.
lIMna tatsexiit in the milk in very minute glob
ules, one two tlmiisatidtliof ,-ui inch in diame
Jer. not each fat in a separate ajieck by itself,
tut all DOmbinod In one atom of cream.
When the little grams are unuiahlil the hut
ter breaks short and with a distinct fracture;
ut when they have I wen mashed or broken the
butter appears Sticky and handle more like lard
iu Bavor bicossss at onoa ohaaged, and it lose
greatly m keeping quality. Ft it difficult to
work hotter without mashing some of iu grains
of fat. but the lew it is worked the tew of this
there is done. The mode of working, too. has
much to do in producing this objectionable con
dlUon; a sliding or drawing stroke of the lever
or ladle injures the ltih most. In the most
improved pro. , . butter-making the butter
nulk is got out and the salt iiiiiad in without
wording the butter at all. The first step in ac
compUshing this is to cool the butter in the
churn, Just before it is ready to gather, down to
about 55", iid then churn very slowly until it
forms into minute, lumps or grains, as it wilt
soon do at that low degree, and the lumps so
formed will le perfectlv solid butter, with not a
particle of buttermilk inside of them, These
lumps are then wasiieil in cold water or brine
and the Imttermill all washed off of them!
which can readily be done without having the
granules of butter stick together. After taking
the granulated I. utter from the rinsing water it
is laid on an inclined table mid drained and salt
stirred in, which is easily dune with perfect
evenness. Hy leaving it npon the table till it
warms up to about 60 , tie lumps or grains are
pressed together with the lever or ladle, and a
solid mass of butter, evenly salted ami with a
perfect grain is the result, without a particle of
working.
RlioTRIC l.lotu iNii. Or.e of the late English
improvemPiit in the application of electricity
to lighting, promises to enable us to admit the
lightning to our houses. We read that a nov
elty has been introduced which consists in plac
ing the carbons side by side in an insulating
but fusible envelope, the result Iwing that
clockwork regulation can le entirely dispensed
with. The insulating matcrinl used is kaolin,
w hich, iu its solid state, is an insulator, offering
ollering high resistance to the electric current,
but which, under the influence of a powerful
electric current, liecomes heated and liquilies, in
which state in is no longer an insulator, but
conductor, offering a slight resistance to the cur
rent, which, when passed through in this con
dition, adonis a light which is soft, steady and
brilliantly white, although it may be colored
by mixing with the kaolin the color required.
No inechaniHiii is required to regulate this light,
wliich, once set up, continues to bum during
passage of the current until the carlmns are con
sumed, when they are replaced by others. The
electrical arrangement consists of an ordinary
magneto machine, which sends positive and
negative currents alternately. From this ma
chine radiate wires by which the current evolved
is conveyed to the buildings or points at which
it is required for use. The illuminating ar
rangement is nut in circuit with these wires.
and on the current traversing the carlion elec
trodes it fuses the kaolin and produces the light.
Thus, given a means. of producing the necessary
electric current, any number of Tights may be
obtained from the same electro-motor, each de
pendent upon itself, and all entirely indepen
dent of each other. Any one light may be
brought into use at pleasure, and extinguished
when required by merely connecting or discon
necting the wires in connection with them,
whilst a light consumed may be replaced by an
other with equal ease. As many ns BO lights
have been set lip in one circuit with success.
PnoposKD Nabrow Qadqb. The st. louis
Hoard of Trade is urging the project of the con
struction of a narrow gauge railway from St.
Louis to Colorado, through Missouri and Kan
sas. The construction of this proposed railway
through Kansas to Trinidad, iu Colorado, will
give St. Iauiis direct railroad connection with
the entire system of narrow gauge railways in
southern Colorado and open up to their smelt
ing interests tin; w hole range of valuable min
ing country of Colorado, Utah and Arizona.
This mad is but one item of a grand onslaught
which St. luiis proposes to make upon outly
ing regions, uie M. LOUIS Journal oj Com
iiirnr says: "The jetties of South nas's havd
assured ample water for all vessels to cuter the
Euinunppt nyer ami made a direct trade be
tween St. Lonls and all Kuroncan norts man.
ticable, and it becomes the duty of St. Uuis to
seize upon this advantage and develop herself a
commerce w hich shall absolve her from all de
pendence on the Raatern seaboard. Her efforts
in tilts direction will be greatly assisted hy the
building of the proposed narrow gauge railway,
penetrating, r.s it eventually will, by means of
the numerous branches proposed to lie connected
with its main line, the most fertile regions of
Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado."
No Limit TO MlOROflCOFIc Piuumtws. As
we have formerly remarked, Helmholta and
other tunthenrntinsna of the Brat order who have
applied their methods of analysis to the subject,
have alleged that the limit of visibility with the
microscope has been reached. This Iwlief is
baaed on the theory that light itself is too
coarse to permit the subdivision by which yet
smaller objects may lie revealed to our most
isiwerful lenses. The limit of visibility has
Ih cii named as the 180,0U0th of an inch. But
this view is not wholly accepted by mieroscop
isU. The Rev. Wm. II. l)allmgerhns made
experiments which point to a very different con
clusion. He employs a new method of practi
cal observation srjeoially adapted to testing this
question, and has constructed lenses which
carry the limits of distinct visibility far be
yond the boundary announced by the mathe
maticians. Much smaller objects are thus re
vealed than the theory referred to would Indi
cate as capable of lie'ing seen. Furthermore,
Mr. Dallinger does not lielieve that he has yet
reached the limit of division and visibility by
instrumental means.
ThkThai.kin Hutu iLun.-The trade in
nUMO hair continues to increase at Marseilles,
and has now become a staple article of com-
" ' v,fcJ- seen years ago tne
annual quantity imiK.rted did not exceed lti
tons, but It o,. r. ... .1 l IU 1 4.. M : I -
to Nt. and in im to 9i tens. Formerly all the
hair iniH.rted Into Marseilles came from Italy,
but that country has been unable to meet the
increasing demand, ami a brisk trade has been
opened with the extreme Kast Thus, of the
if. tens imported last year, 43 came from Italy,
while ( huu supplied M, Turkey , and Japan
I tons, the remainder Wing made up of imnor
Utioiu from i hgypt, India, Germany. Belgium.
Spain and Algeria. The total unantity of hair
imported into rranee last year is estimated at
l'-.' tons, value H.0U, , that Marseille
with !r- ten. has three-fourths of the trade in
her owu hands.