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