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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1877)
THE WEST SHORE December 52 THK ELEOTBIO LIGHT AND ITS COST. Nature announced that a special division of the I'aria International Kxhibition will le de voted to electricity, so that all the systems of electric lighting may he tented comparatively. Tlie electric light continues to create the great eat interest in I'aris. The experiments which we men tii 'iied Home time ago have been con ducted during 40 consecutive days at the Lyons railway btatioii. A force of nliout (0 horse-pow er in sufficient to keep going '2H electric lamp, each of which gives a light equal to BO gM lamps, and works with regularity lor 104 hours. The effect is splendid, the whole ol the station, eioept the waiting room, being lighted a iorno. The iueHtion of economy, however, is not yet nettled. It id not known whether the company will agree to pay a somewhat higher price in order to multiply the power of its illumination. These experiment have been tried on UmttuVl system, u iniMlitieation of Wilde s and Siemens' principle. M. tamtam has contrived to Mild the current generated by an ordinary Wilde's machine into an electromagnetic engine called a distributor. The central pert being strongly magnetized by the current from a Wilde's machine, a number of electro-mag nets are in lluenced liy it - rapid rotation, and in each of these an induction-current is generated. These induction-currents are powerful enough to feed three electric lamps, and SS there are two series of 12 magnets a single machine could, theoreti cally, feed 78 lamps. Actually, however, Itfeedi only 38. Lontalu uses a now regulator, which works very well hy tlie dilatation of a small silver wire, liy its dilatation this part of the apparatus works a lever system, and brings the carhon electrodes into contact. The French Northern railway has purchased a number of Gramme magneto-electric machines. They in tend to use them at their terminus goods and teres. The New York Tribunt, looking toward the application of the electric light in this country, says: It appeals to be diilicult to arrive at the cost of using the electric light, figures of esti mate in dillercut experiments varying consid erably. In many manufacturing establishments the cost of the power to drive a magneto-electric machine would m nicely be felt, as only two or three horse-power, at the most, would lie re quired. The cost of the carbom is sold to he less than live cents per hour pel lamp, on the Jablnchotl' plan another estimate is about tw ice as much, but perhaps refers to two lamps Mislead of one. An electric light which does not, ac cording to accounts, appear to be constructed 0D the Jabloohoff plan, tested in practical ser vice at Lai 'habelle, France, ant, including motive power for the machine, about 12 cents per lamp per hour. UachUlSS capable of run ning three lamps, cost lesi than fAOO, and pcr Imps that sum oould be made to cover all tin lirst outlay. The wear and tear of the machine is not estimated. A careful study of the Hguree thus far furnished, leads to the belied that light can Ihi furnished by electricity, in Franco, at boUt tWO fifths the cost of gas; and as the price of Kan ni most American cities exceeds the pri. e in Europe, it Memi probable thai a similar esti mate of the comparative cost of electric illumin ation for this OOUntfy would hUrl apply. THK WATER SUPPLY OF LONDON. Now that we are talking freely of expending millions of dollars for water rights, etc., for our city, it will be in order to contrast our amounts with those required to supply Loudon: One or thj best papers read at a late meeting of the the Hritish Scientific Association, was that on the London water supply, by Messrs. Bremwell and Baston who have made n special study of the subject In June of this year tin- popuhv tioa Supplied by the eight London water com panies was nearly 4,000,000, living iu over half a million houses, and tin at a grOM expense of over iti.OOO.tWO, yielding a net profit at a little over ii on the capital of ?."SI,lHn.tNH and over. The mere value ot the property in bunion pro tected by water supply tr lire is roughly cull- mated at s,(MM,iMH,oiH, and about a fourth of tlui only is covered bv insurance. Small iu im portance as this is as compared to the other re quirements of a good water supply, even the modest demands of the Loudon tire department arc not met. Although, on an average, the liresof a whole year do not consume the ordi nary SUpply of one day for other purposes, still there should he the means of concent rating at any given polnl alsmt 8.000,000 gallons in the M hours, or one f ortieth of the entire London apply. Manchester mid Liverpool have learned by hard SXperiSOOe the necessity of securing not only abundant supply of water lor lire pur nih, but BUoh pressure ox will give head enough to apply the water directly to lire with out engine; in London not more than 40 feet can tlui le got, and yet the engineers say that it must doubled to do any real benefit. For 990,000,000 to syti.ooo.two it is estimated that London oould u moulted w ith sncnghnod dunking water to keep the population healthy, and with water under sutlieieiit pressure for ex tingukmlng ares, That in this reapsot London m economical in shown by the following figure: I'o protect the aVi.lHm'.lXMI.IMIO of pnqierty, there is raised ami spent by the Titt Depart meVit a little teas than ISOtOOO, and this ii dis tributed btUWttn tax payers, the insurance onrtpaniea w Inch pay shout for each lo.lsjp.tlllO insured, and tlie government. Now all this asanas an average of 1100 per 1,000 ol iU population, while Tans BpaMI at the rate of WM, and New Vork more than ten tunes the sum iiwiit in Loidon, and Chicago It not very far Ixlund New York. IUdvoum Ait uiMt M. According to ;,. Ur't Journal, m shimst the only factory for the production ol IkfeS metal, m " Salindres. near Alois, the mineral lutuxite is heated with soda hi reverberator) furnace, the resulting almoin ate uf soda is extracted by means of water ainl alumina, precipitated by a stream of carbonic acid; thu i then formed into tolls, w ith nil and coal, and heatcU to a white heat in vertical retorta during the introduction n( chlorine gu. The double chloride of soda and alumitia, which diatllla over, I (uaed With the oddition of X of sodium and 40 of cryolite a a (tut, and the metal which settles ot the bottom of the crucible n poured into molds. THK MKCHANK'AL TKKATMKNT OF Iu a pacr by Prof. K. H. Thurston, iu the Mrt'Ulurfrat li-i'fir, uinUT tlie aliove lli.ao.iiig, the author states that it is perfectly obvious tll.lt lile.an-! Ot ell :i!tlllg great elhlh-e. Ii the better in the qualities of the commercial metals are available, and there is no reason why we should lioL liace vastly noire valuable material than those With which our markets are generally supplied. He gives the following as the proper methods of preparation of metal to secure a maximum value: I. 1' educe the metal to the molten oonditi tlu thoroughly with such a llux as will remove: lirst. all deleterious substances with which the metal may he contaminated; secondly, every particle ot gaseous oxygen ami of oxyde, aud, thirdly all other occluded gas liable to produce "bin wholes." 2, Cast the metal under heavy pressure, in order to secure maximum density ami to close up every pore m perfectly as possible. If the metal is an alloy which to liable to liquation, it should he cast in a chill of sound iron and of considerable thick uesa. X If the metal is either iron or steel, pro duce any considerable change of shape which may be desired by rolling, by the drop press or by hydraulic forging, at a full red heat, and ermit it to remain unused as long as possible, in order that the internal strain, unavoidable to Home extent with any method of treatment, may lie given time to become reduced by that process of How which will ultimately relieve it. If stiffuSSS and a more perfect elasticity are demanded, Bntoh hy the process of cold work ing, taking gieat care not to carry it so far as to seriously injure the continuity of the metal. I. The bronies and other metals of the in elastic and viscous class may lJ given very con siderable modification of form by the process of Working cold. Thu same precaution must be taken to avoid destruction of continuity, and thus by the production of incipient fracture permanently and seriously injuring it. GAUGING WIBE. General dissatisfaction has been expressed M itli the old Style of yvire gauged. The subject was brought up at the last meeting of the American Institute of Civil L'uginoors, and a report from committee was heard. The com mittee call attention to the inaccuracy of most ol the gauges in use. These they divide into two general classe.1, (irst, fixed, and second, movable nances. The lixed gauges consist of a steel plate, either made with slots open at one end, thu sides of which are intended to he parallel, with round holes and sometimes w ith a plug to lit tin holes, or of a V, cither cut into a plate of StOOl or of two bars placed together. These Hied gauges were found to W. only approzl pi itelj correct Not only those made by dill'er ent manufacturers did not agree, hut iu those made by the same manufacturer there were often "very perceptible and annoying differ- snoes, " Two kinds of movable gauges are described, "sliding Callipers with verniers and with or without a micromotor screw for adjustment and the micrometer -crew gauge." The hitter is spoken of as the simplest form and to reoom- ruled for adoption as the standard gauge. The committee recommend the abandonment of the lixed gauges and the practice of desig nating dimension! and sizes by number mean ing number " wiregauge," as it is often writ tin tor commercial use, mid the adoption of the system of expressing signs iu thousandths of an inch or fractious of a millimeter. There is probably nothing to prevent any one from lining tlie latter in this country if they choose, but at present the use of doing no is not ap parent. It is to be hoped, however, says the Railroad Qaiette, that the barbarous old wire-gnugos will he condemned to the scrap-heap and that the more accurate and precise micrometer gauges will take their places, ami that instead of des ignating win and plates as such ft number " wire-gauge," which instead of being precise is quite the reverse, the practice of expressing such dimensions in thousandths of an inch will come into universal use. AortOM of' Nirmi-Cni'KH!K. The tempera ture developed on the explbeive combustion of nitroglycerine, says the Kti-iinfi; has not been accurately ascertained, but as the combustion is much more perfect than is the ease with lunpovder. it is nrobeblv much greater. ami lias been assumed to be more than twice as great. One volume of powder gives 100 volumes ot OS at the ordinary tcuiicrature; ill OOtUMQUenoe of the heat developed, this gas . v.. i i ,.,., iiiK ti.i- u mes of gas directly ntter the explosion, due volume of nitro glycerine gives ,:tlHI volume of gas at theontinwy tcniKratnre, and assum ing as pretty nearly correct that the heat devel oped is two and a half times as great, we should have the noses exjiaiuled to 1(1 times their vol ume at ordinary tcuiHTatures, of ".i volumes of hot gas; so that according to volume thu strength of the nitro-nlycerine is 17 tunes that f gunpowder. Hut In onnsoQusnos of the enormous velocity of combustion of nitro glycerine, its impact effect is still more in creased. With nitro glycerine larger mosses of rock con lie operated at one blasting, in conse quence of the severe shattering mwer which its rapid com bust ion confers umhi it. At the slate ipiarnes in north Wale, where nitroglycerine was for sometime used, a single blast with nitro ulyeerme sufficed w here prviously tour or live blasts with gunpowder were required. Similar favorable rvsulto were obtained at Krvi lcrg ami in llelgium. Hahii Bvauau Bbamkoa The Pttyttiknk AViVw savs Hani nibUr ivulcanitei on brass or any other metal w ill, w hen used under water, subject to Inction, Wear a doieii time longer than any two metals under the same usage, and herd mldwr on hard rubber or gloss is almost indestructiblv. Tn Will... .-t- ..I.... ..4 thief wanted." is it possible that they eon' du thou own stealuiif there TREATY ABOUT TKADE MARKS. A treaty has just lieeu signed, says the Iron Age. by Mr. I'ierrepont, our Minister to Eng land, and the Earl of Derby, giving mutual pro tection to citizens iu both countries against the pirating of trade marks. Each nation has its own stringent low applicable to its own people, hut these statutes have done little to stop the mischief so long as they have no effect on tor eigu offenders. Our trade mark law, of Con gress lost year, makes punishable the imitation of trade marks, or dealing iu trade mark goods, or selling or keeping empty packages bearing trade marks with intent to defraud. This law nuts a atop to this vilest of the tricks in trade. The treaty just signed gives the same security iu England, Under this convention it w ill only lie necessary for Americans and Englishmen to register their trade marks in each other's coun try, paying the small fees required, and they WtU nave ail the protection which any law can give them. The operation of the treaty will be doubly beneticial to Americans, guarding con sumers lierc ae.nnt impositions iroiu me saieoi spurious products with counterfeited British trade marks, and preventing the sale of bogus American ooods in British markets, by which the reputation of our manufactures and our ex port business are damaged. The adoption of this treaty should lead to similar agreements between the United States and other countries where these commercial villiauies are tolerated. A New Sanrrv Dynamite. An improved iiitro-glycerine compound, says Seward's Jour nal, has been invented hy Mr. Gustaf Fahueli jelm, of Stockholm, the chief modification being that tlie second mam Ingndtent is charcoal pro- luced from a sneoial wood, and selected and ore Dared in such manner as to be able to absorb and solidify the greatest possible quantity of uitro-glycerine. In order to render the combus tion moru complete, anil to augment the rapul itv of t.ho fcvnlnsion. a onall iiuantitv of nitrate of iwttash or other suitable salt, is added to the mixture ot the (WO ingredients aoove iiameit. The composition of the new sebnstiu depends upon the objects for which it is to be USOO, and the effects intended to Ih3 produced. The strongest compound, and even in this there is stated to be no risk of the separation of the iiitro-glycerine, is composed of 7S parts by weight of nitro-glycerine, 14 of wood charcoal, nod eight of nitrate of potass; and when less pOWOr is required the proportions are varied, tlie second quality consisting of lis . by weight of nitroglycerine, 80 of charcoal, ami I J of ni trate llf pOUSH. Thi Nkuvki.kss Mortal, A perfectly impas sive, emotionless man or woman is a rarity; still, such do exist, and we hardly knmv whether to regard them as objects of envy or pity. Those without emotion, those who do not sutler at times from over-sensitiveness or excitement, are like rocks or trees; the yvimls of adversity may blow, a deluge of affliction may cover them; they remain calm and happy, the sleep is sound, the appetite unimpaired. Such are certainly euvia- nif communis, nut tin- law nt compensation is not annulled for the benefit of these favored ones. Wherever we liud them, we may be sine that yvc meet those devoid of the liner and more del icate instinct of human nature, -those who are inclinable ni enjoyim' the beautiful thinj's iu the natural world or in art. TheV suiter less iu the journey of life, hut they also enjoy less. I,iku animated statues tliey live, without strong friendship or affections, without pity, without generosity; and nerveless they die, with scarcely a pang. The world regards them with suspicion during life, and refuses to weep when they pass away. It is for wise reasons that hut few of this class are permitted tomako their advent into the world. Tu.VNsroN tin kxtai. Si uvKY. - The ILiL-ers- town (Md.l Jo,7 says that Mr. Edwin Smith, of the United States eoast-survey service, de tailed to make n survey of levels from the Atlantic to MS racihe, has commenced opera lions, making the court-house, llagcrstown, the initial point of his survey. It yvas the original design to follow up the National turnpike in this survey, and it wag with this view that Hagerstow n was selected as the liase of opera tions; but owing to the hilly character of the country this route Was changed, ami Mr. Smith has determined to run his line to Williamspurt, and thence along the toW'path of the canal to Cumberland. This division of his work he xpi'cts to limsh this winter, and then lie will arry it 00 to Uiucinnati. St. Uniis. and west ward by the Kansas PadHo railway. On its completion to San Francisco it is licsigned to return to the initial Hiut and then to the Atlantic, either by the way of Marrishurg ami Philadelphia to tide-wator, or by the way of Harper's Kerry to Washington. 'The work 'will involve several years lalsr. Ei.ixik EUCALYPTI'S, The following formula has Ihi'h recommended, for which we ore in debtcd to New llrmttli, ; Kiicslt etui leave. 4 trot sm Akuhol. OV, J Oil oruitfs Silrwhms. llitdmiaiHHiHt'eyloiil 2 .trsehm ur t ounces. Rod 000 the eucalyptus leaves to a coarse pow der, wld the oils to 1 pints of alcohol, moisten the leaves with a portion Of this menstruum, and pock it 111 a percolating funnel. Pour on the remainder of the alcohol and iereolate 1) pints of tiueture, using, if neeoasarv, an addi tional quantity of BS alcohol. Add the sugar to the mixture and make the product measure two pints by adding more alcohol. Ohmriui Cake. For 1 Christmas coke that will ke.-p. the following is very nice, from "Mra Urotherhna Reoips Hook" One pound of raisins, one of currants, one-fourth of eitron, one-half of butter, one teacup nf sour cream, eight vgtt two eoffeeeups of white sugar, one of hfOWn sugar, one molasses, one teaspoon of soda, two of cream tartar, one of cinnamon, one of cloves, one nutmeg; mix butter, sugar, and yolks of eggs together, put soda in cream and add, then add sugar ami molasses, then cnarn. tartar in dry Hour, add spice, ,tir together. Seed the raisins if desired, and dredge the raisins, currants, and citron with tlour: two tablespoons of rosewater or brandy. THE PERPETUAL FORCES OF NATURE Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson, in a paper con. tributed to the North A meriean Sevktf, talks as follows about the perpetual forces of nature: There is no jwrter like gravitation, who will bring down any weight yon cannot carry, and if he wants aid knows how to Hud his fellow-laborers. Water works in uiasses, sets his irresist ible shoulder to your mill or to your ships, or transports vast bowlders of rock neatly packed in his iceberg 1,000 miles. Rut its far greater power depends on its talent of becoming little ami entering the smallest holes and pores. By this agency, carrying in solution elements needful to every point, the vegetable world ex ists. Who are the farmers' servants? Who but geology, chemistry, the quarry of the air the water of the brook, the liiilitniinj of th cloud, the plow ol the forest I iietore he was born into the Held, the suu of ages soaked it with light and heat, mellowed his land, decooi IMised tlie rocks, covered it w ith vegetable tilm then with forests, and accumulated cubic acres of sphagnum whose decays ninka the peat of his meadow. The rocks crack like glass by ineqsj. ity of contraction iu heat and cold, and Hakes fall constantly into tho soil. The tree can draw on the whole air, the whole earth, on all the rolling main. The plant, the tree, is all suction pipe, imbibing from tho ground hy iu roots, from the air ly its twigs with all its might Take up a spadeful or a buck load of loam; who can guess what it holds? Huts gardener knows that it is full of poaches, full of oranges, and he drops in a few seeds by way of keys to unlock and combine its virtues lets it lie in suu and rain, and by and by it has lifted into the air its full weight in golden fruit What agencies of electricity, gravity, light, altiuity, combine to make every plant whatitis, and in a manner so quiet that the presence of these tremendous powers is not ordinarily bus peetett Faraday said that "a grain of water is known to havo electric relations equivalent to a very powerful Hash of lightuing." The ripe fruit is dropped at last without violence, bat the lightning fell and the storm raged, and strata were deposited and iiptorn and bent back, aud chaos moved from beneath to create mid flavor the fruit on our table to-day. Go out of doors and get the air. Ah, if you knew what yvas in the air! See what your robust neigblor yvho never feared to live in it, has got from it strength, cheerfulness, power to convince, heartiness and equality to each event As the sea is the receptacle of all rivers, so the air is the receptacle from yvhich all things spring, and into which they all return; an im mense distillery, a sharp solvent, drinking the oxygen from plants, cannm from animals, the essence and spirit of every solid on the globe; a menstruum w hich melts the mountains iuto it All the earths are burnt nietils. One half tho avoirdupois of the nicks yvhich compose the solid crust of the globe consists of oxygen. The adamant is always passing into smoke; nature turns her capital day hy day. All things are Bowing, even those that seem immov able. The. earth hums, tho mountains burn, slower but as incessantly as wood in the Hro. The marble column, the brazen statue burn under tlie daylight, and would soon deenmposo if their molecular structure, disturlied by the raging sunlight, ware not restored by the dark ness of night. Plants and animals hum or perpetually exhale their own Imdies into the air ami earth again. While all thus burns, the uni verse in a blaze, kindled from tho torch of the sun, it needs a perpetual tempering, a phlegm a sleep, atmospheres of nzote, deluges of water, to check the fury of the conflagration; a hoard ing to check the spending, a ccntripctcnce to the centrifugence. And this ia uniformlj supplied. Nature is as subtle as sho is strong, and like a cautious testator ties up her estate so as not to bestow it all on one generation, but has a fore -looking tenderness and equal regard to the next and tlie next and tlie fourth and the fortieth. The winds and the rains come lack s thousand and a thousand times. The coal of your grate gives out in decomposing to-day ex actly tho same amount of light and heat which was taken from the sunshine in its formation in the leaves and Imughs of the antediluvian tree. The earliest hyiiiUH of the world were hymns to these natural forces. The Vedas of India, which have a date older than Homer, are hynmi to the winds, to the clouds and to fire. Distances in thk Soi.ah System. At a recent meeting in New York city. Prof. Stephen Alexander, in a jiaper, entitled "IjiwaOf Ex treme Instances iu the Solar System," showed the relation of various memlssrs of tho solar system ami the curious proportions existing between them, the whole indicating that in their organization they have olwyeil the rule of law . The ratios of the planetary distances for example he pointed out as follows: Neptune to Uranus, two-thirds; Uranus to Saturn, one half; Saturn to Jupiter, one-half; Jupiter to Asteroid, one-half; Asteroid to Mars, two thirds; Mars to earth, two-thinls; earth to Venus, two-thinls; and Venus to Mercury-, one half; and then he showed that the difference between the distances according to law, aud in fact, were small, not exceeding in any of ths preceding instances ,078, Tables of relations lor tho systems of Jupiter and Uranus were given, winch also showed remarkable approxi mations of theory to fact. Fish as Brain Food. Tho Mief thst fish is specially adapted to feed the brain, and that fish-eaters arc therefore more intellectual thea the average, docs not find much favor with Dr. Heard, according to the Pofmlar $eitt Monthly. He says that this "delusion is utterly opimeed to chemistry, to physiology, to history, and to common obeervstion, that it is very naturally almost universally accepted by the American people. It was stated, be adds, "by the late Prof. Agassis, who impul sively, and without previous consideration, apparent ly. u was his wont at times, mode a Statement to that effect before s committee on fisheries of the Massachusetts legislature. The statement was so novel, so one sided, uwl se untrue, that it spread like the blue-glass delfl sion, and has lecome the accepted creed of the