Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

JANUARY 12, 1878.

PHYSIOLOGY.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, No. 106.

1689

3. It has occurred to me, following out a suggestion of Mr. Seymour Haden's, in his excellent letters entitled "Earth to Earth," relating to the best mode of disposing of the dead, to clean bones by burying them in a basket of charcoal, and ON THE PREPARATION OF SKELETONS FOR though the experiments are not quite complete they promise excellent results, especially as all the disagreeable odor of maceration is entirely obviated, and the process may even be carried on in inhabited rooms without any inconvenience.

MUSEUM PURPOSES.*

MILK AS FOOD.

the smell noticed after any of the usual intoxicating bever may be seen in most of those that have been cooked for the On the Effect of Varnishing the Skin in Man.-When an ages is really due to essential oils and ethers; it is not ob- table. served after a mixture of pure alcohol with distilled water 2. Burying in the ground may be resorted to when there animal, such as a dog or rabbit, is coated with an imperme- has been taken. Attempts were then made to detect alco- are no conveniences for maceration, but it is even a slower able varnish, the temperature of its body falls, serious symp. hol in the expired air, by passing it for many hours through process. The effect upon the bones is the same, but they toms ensue and terminate in death. Suppression of the excretory functions of the skin is usually stated to be the but in no single case was positive evidence of its presence the soil, and the small ones are apt to get lost. a series of Woulfe's bottles, containing cold distilled water; are nearly always stained brown by the coloring matter in cause, or at any rate one of the causes, of the phenomena obtained. Binz concludes, accordingly, that almost all the in question. It is often assumed that similar results would alcohol absorbed undergoes oxidation in the system.-Acafoliow varnishing in the human subject; and the assumption is supported by the old story of the boy who lost his demy. life in consequence of being coated with gold leaf to represent an angel in a religious ceremony. Senator has put the question to the test of experiment (Virchow's Archiv, lxx., 182). Two healthy men allowed their limbs to be coated By PROFESSOR W. H. FLOWER, F.R.S. with impermeable plasters, while the trunk was varnished with several layers of flexible collodion. Nearly a week familiar with the mode of preparing skeletons. I can only EVERYONE Who has a museum, however small, should be was allowed to elapse before these applications were re-indicate the outlines of the process, for in this, as in every moved. None of the evil consequences invariably observed other part of the work of making anatomical preparations, The economic value of milk as an article of food is apin animals made their appearance; there was no fall of tem- a few practical lessons from a person already an adept, and preciated neither by the producer nor the consumer. It is perature, no albuminuria, no exhaustion, no dyspnoea, convulsion, or paralysis. Senator concludes that the gilded description. When the principles are known, the details for the use of man, since it contains all the elements of nua little experience and observation, will do more than any one of the most important foods which nature has supplied boy was probably poisoned by some ingredient in the mate- can be carried out with such modifications and improve-trition within itself, and in the most digestible form. Probrial applied to his skin. ments for each individual case as the skill and ingenuity of ably no article on the farm is produced and sold at so small the operator can suggest. With regard to museum speci. a margin of profit as in the case of milk, and yet in its various mens generally, the question is frequently asked how such forms of milk, butter, cheese and cream, it constitutes one or such a preparation is made, and an answer is expected, in of the most indispensable requisites of the human race. a few words, which will enable the questioner to do the same The ingredients of milk consist of nitrogenous or fleshhimself. This is much as if a novice who had never han- forming matter, fatty or heat giving and respiratory food, dled a brush were to ask an artist how he had painted his pic-sugar, mineral matter or ash and water. The butter and the ture, and expect that a few simple directions would put him sugar of milk are employed in the production of fat, and on a level with the master. Preparation-making is an art are what have been styled by physiologists heat-producers which can only be acquired by labor and perseverance, su- and fat-formers. The casein or cheesy portion resembles peradded to some natural qualifications not possessed in an the gluten of wheat in composition, and belongs to the class equal degree by all. of food substances termed flesh-formers. The ash, or mineral part of the milk, is chiefly employed in forming the bones of the young it is destined to nourish.

On the Coloring-matter of the Retina in its Relation to Vision-The discovery of the so-called "retina-red" or "retina-purple," by Boll has led to the adoption, by some authors, of the hypothesis that the chemical products resulting from the decomposition of the retinal pigment by light stimulate the terminations of the optic nerve, and that this photo-chemical process is an essential factor in ordinary vision. Kühne has set himself to show that this hypothesis is, to say the least, premature (Untersuch. aus dem physiolog. Institut in Heidelberg, Band I., Heft 2). He points out that the retina of many birds and reptiles, whose faculty of seeing is beyond question, contain no purple, aud this is likewise true of the most sensitive portion of the human retina -the fovea centralis and its immediate neighborhood. The large retinal rods of the river cray-fish contain a great deal of pigment; but this is singularly indifferent to the action of light, exposure to the sun's rays for several hours failing to bleach it. From these considerations it is clear that the retinal pigment cannot be essential to vision in all animals; while, from its indifference to light in some of the invertebrata, it would almost seem to be analogous to the other varieties of coloring-muter so often present in different parts of the eye-e. g., the yellow of the macula lutea, the colored oil drops in birds and reptiles, the yellow of the lens in many fishes, the orange protoplasm recently discovered by Dr. Ewald in the anterior layers of the cornea of the perch. The following experiments show that in the frog, whose retinal rods contain a very sensitive kind of purple, the power of distinct vision, and the faculty of distinguishing colors, survive complete bleaching of the retina by direct sun-light. Frogs exposed to the sun for more than an hour (the retina is quite discolorised by exposure for fifteen minutes) were found to be able, not merely to elude all attempts made to lay hold of them, but also to capture flies; blind frogs, of course, being unable to do either the one or the other. Again, if a number of frogs are confined in a shallow dish, one half of which is roofed with green, the other half with blue glass, they will in a short time be found huddled together under the green portion of the roof. This preference for green over blue is exhibited by a vast majority, both of Rana esculenta and R. temporaria. Possible fallacies which might arise from the unequal diathermancy of the two kinds of glass, unequal intensity of illumination, etc., were carefully eliminated. It was conclusively ascertained that the preference was connected with the color, and not with any other property of the glass. Having settled this point, Kuhne introduced a number of blind frogs into a vessel of this sort, and found that they showed no preference for one part of it rather than another; while frogs that had been exposed to the sun for hours, and whose rods no longer contained any trace of purple, speedily took refuge in the green half of their prison-house.

To return to the bones, as in many respects the simplest kind of preparations. There is a popular notion that skeletons are made by putting animals into ant-hills. So I have been told over and over again ever since I was a child. must, however, say that I have never actually seen, or even heard of, a skeleton really made in this way, though ants, doubtless, especially in hot countries, will make short work of the flesh of an animal's body, leaving at least all the larger bones untouched. But we must adopt some safer and more universal applicable method of proceeding. Another common idea is that some "chemical" substance is necessary to steep them in for dissolving the soft parts, and I am often asked, "What acid do you use for this purpose ?" when a little reflection would have shown that the bones would be the first parts to disappear under the influence of such a menstruum. No, water-pure water-is the only thing required in preparing bones and skeletons in the great majority of cases, and in the proper use of water the art of "macerating, as it is called, chiefly consists.

',

This process is nothing more or less than placing bones in water and leaving them undisturbed until putrefaction of all the flesh and blood remaining on and around them and within the hollows and small cavities of their interior takes place, and these soft parts entirely lose their form and structure and become converted into liquids and gases mingled with the water or escaped from its surface; so that when the bones are removed and well washed, nothing remains but the comparatively indestructible true osseous tissue, which, when dried, is hard, clean, and without smell.

In point of nitrogen or flesh-forming food alone, one galIlon of milk, costing at retail twenty-eight cents, is equal to one pound of lean meat; three quarts of milk is equal to one pound of fat meat; two quarts is equal to one pound of bread, while it takes eight pounds of potatoes to yield the equivalent of four pounds of milk. In estimating the nutritive equivalents, calculated according to the amounts of nitrogen in the dry substances, human milk being at 100, Indian corn stands at 100, wheat 119, beans 320, cows milk 237, cheese 331, oysters 305, mutton 773, fish 850, beef 880. In the production of the carbonaceous elements for fattening, heat-giving and respiratory functions new milk is less expensive than becf, while in the flesh-forming constituents it is cheaper than pork, bacon or vegetables, and nearly equal to beef.

Cows' milk is composed of about eighty-six parts water and fourteen parts solid matter; the latter is made up of about 4.1 per cent. casein, 3.9 butter or fat, 5.2 sugar or lactin, 0.8 per cent. of mineral substance. An imperial gallon of milk weighs ten pounds and four and three-quarters ounces, and contains about one pound and seven ounces of solid matter, or 6.4 ounces of butter, 6.7 ounces of casein, 8.5 ounces of sugar, and 1.24 ounces of mineral matter. At first sight the proportion of water seems large, yet eggs have 74 per cent, of water, salmon 77, lean beef and mutton 72, fat beef and mutton 52, potatoes, 75, turnips 91 and parsnips 82 per cent.

As an article of food new milk is more economical than beef. The carcass of a fat calf contains 37.7 per cent of dry substance and 62.3 of water; that of a half-fat ox 46 per cent of dry substance and 54 per cent of water; while the carcass of the fat ox shows 54.4 per cent of dry matter to 45.6 per cent of water. The amount of dry substance in the carcass of the average ox is fifty pounds out of the hundred total weight. Basing the calculations on a retail selling price for beef of twenty cents per pound, the one hundred pounds of carcass would cost twenty dollars, or at the rate of forty cents per pound for each pound of dry substance. other hand one hundred pounds of milk, containing fourteen pounds of dry substance, would cost, at a retail price of eight cents per quart, $3.60, or only about twenty-six cents per pound for each pound of dry substance.

On the

Maceration consists, then, essentially in the destruction of the soft tissues by putrefaction, and certain circumstances are essential or favorable to the success of the process. In the first place, the water should not be too abundant in proportion to the amount of animal matter to be destroyed. Then it should rever be changed or disturbed until the process is completed. The surface should be exposed to the air, and the loss from evaporation supplied from time to time. The temperature should be uniform and elevated. Cold checks the process; freezing arrests it altogether. If the heat is too great the bones are often greasy and discolored, as when they are prepared by boiling. It is to the fact On the Law Regulating the Exhaustion of Nerve-fibres, and that the process varies in rapidity according to so many cirTheir Recovery after Stimulation.-The phenomena of ex- cumstances that the chief practical difficulty, which is to haustion and recovery have been thoroughly studied in tet-know when it is completed, is due. If the bones are taken anised muscles; Prof. J. Bernstein has recently investigat- out too soon, unless they are returned immediately to the In this connection the use and economy of milk has severed the corresponding phenomena in motor and sensory same water, a check takes place in their preparation. To al important advantages over that of beef. In milk there is nerves (Pflügers Archio, xv., 6 and 7). If an interrupted estimate the necessary time is a matter acquired only by no bone, as in meat, nor waste in trimmings. The amount current from a Dubois Reymond's induction apparatus be practice and knowledge of the surrounding circumstances. of bone in meat varies, but is rarely less than eight per cent; sent through a short section of the exposed sciatic nerve in a Much will depend upon the size of the bones, small bones in the neck and brisket of beef it is about ten per cent, frog, the tendo Achillis having previously connected with macerating much more rapidly than large ones; also upon while in the shins and legs it amounts to one-third or even the lever of a myograph, it will be found, after a time, that than if they had been previously dried (as is the case with per pound of a choice cut of beef ready for eating, it is safe their condition. If fresh they macerate far more quickly half the total weight; so that in estimating the actual cost stimulation of the plexus higher up no longer causes the muscles of the leg to contract. The conducting power of skeletons sent from abroad in a rough state), or if they have to double or treble the cost per pound of the carcass. Again the stimulated tract of the nerve is abolished. With time been kept in spirits or any other preservative solution. milk needs no cooking, hence is always ready for consumpand rest it may be regained; but its recovery does not take When the bones are to be removed, the water must be tion at a moment's notice, and without being subjected to place at a uniform rate. At first it is very slow and gradual; carefully poured off through a hair-sieve, and all the solid waste and shrinkage. The ordinary percentage of loss in it then goes on very rapidly for a relatively brief period; matter which remains at the bottom of the jar must be boiling beef is twenty per cent, in baking twenty-nine per lastly, it enters on a third phase, during which its progress otherwise be lost. They are then removed to clean water, fully thirty-one per cent. True, this loss arises partly from carefully searched for any of the smaller bones which might cent, while the roasting process shrinks its original weight is once more slow, proceeding at a constantly diminishing rate as the nerve approaches its normal condition. The frequently changed for several days, well washed with a the evaporation of water, as well as the melting down and impairment of conductivity which results from the flow of brush, if necessary, and dried, if possible, in the sun. escape of fat and the destructive action of heat; yet whatever a continued galvanic current through a given section of a The process of maceration is necessarily attended with dis- loss is occasioned has no counterpart in milk. motor nerve has been ascribed to a variety of causes. It is agreeable smells. So long as it continues, the surface of the really a kind of fatigue resembling that produced by inter- water slowly emits gases; but the worst is when the water is rupted currents. The process of recovery is governed by stirred up by pouring it off to remove the bones. Hence it the same law in both cases; hence it may fairly be inferred should be carried on in the open air, or, what is far better, that the fundamental changes in the nerve-fibre are similar in a building isolated for the purpose, and in which the tem- good article, neither does the consumer get what he bargains in both. Bernstein next proceeded to investigate the pheno- perature may be kept uniform. When maceration has to be for. Breed of cattle, nature of the food, care and cleanliness mena of recovery in motor nerves after their conducting ful not to disturb the vessels, and to put some disinfectant, of a quart of milk; yet how many city and village people conducted among dwellings, it is necessary to be very care- in handling are all-important factors in determining the value power had been exhausted by mechanical, chemical (dilute lactic acid), and thermal stimuli. The rate of recovas chloride of lime, into them the day before the contents are know even the county in which their milk supply is proery was bound to obey the same law as before. On extend- taken out. This will obviate most of the usual disagreeable duced, much less any of the important details of its producting the inquiry to sensory nerves the same law was again effects, and if not used in too great a quanti y will not cause ion. On the other hand, how many farmers who take a pride found to hold good. The author then proceeds to discuss any material damage to the bones. But chloride of lime, in producing a first-class article are ever rewarded by one the facts in their theoretical aspect, and points out that the when used too freely, is a dangerous agent; it destroys the cent extra or even a word of encouragement, as their milk law deduced from them is fundamentally similar to that gelatinous portion of the osscous tissue (which of course is goes to market mixed with that of less thrifty or less conwhich regulates the recovery of organisms as a whole from not removed in maceration), and leaves the bones white, scientious neighbors? the exhaustion caused by fatigue or disease; it may thus be bleaching is required. Exposure to sunlight or alternate sun the important article of milk. While they are particular to chalky and friable. After proper maceration no chemical Apathy seems to prevail among the city people regarding brought into connection with the general principles of or- and rain for some months is generally good, especially for know where their butter is made, what brand of flour they large solid bones, though this may be carried too far, as the consume, the special variety of pickles, preserves or canned intensely white, cracked, porous and fragile condition of fruit for the table, yet little is known as to what quality of osseous fragments, which have been lying long on moors or milk they use, and yet the latter enters into the composition hill-sides, shows. Bones are not naturally of a pure white of every meal their families consume. To obtain the milk color, but have a delicate yellowish or creamy tint like that in good condition, a proper and sufficient diet must be supof ivory. plied, and as far as yet discovered in the care of the cow, no summer food can be considered equal to that which is yielded by the fresh pasture of country fields, the plants of which give a richness, sweetness and agreeable aroma, which cannot be supplied by any other mode of feeding. The milk of cows fed on distillery wash, coarse herbage and inferior food cannot be compared in quality with the product of such cows as receive liberal supplies of grain, roots and good English hay.

ganic nutrition.

Elimination of Alcohol from the Body.-A full account of Prof. Binz's researches on this subject is given in the Archiv fur exper. Path., vi., p. 287. Supposing any considerable portion of the alcohol absorbed into the blood to be eliminated without previous decomposition, it must escape through the kidneys, or the lungs, or through both of these Several substitutes for the process of maceration in water channels at once. The fallacy inherent in the bichromate are occasionally adopted under special circumstances: test having long since been generally recognized, Binz em 1. Boiling. This process has the advantage of rapidity, ployed Geissler's vaporimeter for the detection of minute but is seldom resorted to except when absolutely necessary quantities of alcohol in the urine. A number of experi- (as in the case of the celebrated skeleton of the " Irish giant" ments showed that only a very small proportion of the alco- in the Hunterian Museum), as the fatty matter in the medhol taken (six per cent. at most) passes out through the kid- ullary cavity is melted and pervades the whole osseous tisneys. The breath is often supposed to smell of alcohol; but sue, and generally leaves the bones discolored and greasy, as

The whole sy stem of milk producing and consuming works injustice, both to the well-intentioned farmer and to the city consumer, who wants first-class milk, and is willing to pay for it. The producer does not receive the cost of a

When the public sentiment of our cities and large towns the second process the nitric acid solution of bismuth is ABSOLUTE ELECTROMETER OF THE PHYSICAL is sufficiently aroused, first to understand the value and im- mixed with an excess of sodium acetate, a measured volSOCIETY, LONDON. portance of milk as an article of diet, especially for the ume-excess of standardized sodium phosphate is added, THE President, Prof. G. C. Foster, lately described and young, and next to know and appreciate the wide difference the liquid boiled and filtered, the precipitate is well washed exhibited a very simple form of absolute electrometer, which between good and poor, or between milk as drawn from the with hot water, and the excess of phosphoric acid deter- acts on the same principle as Sir W. Thomson's trap-door cow and ordinary city milkman's milk, that has been sub-mined in the filtrate by titration with a standard solution form of apparatus, but can be constructed at a very moderate jected to the skimming process, even if nothing worse has of uranium acetate. The results are very accurate. This befallen it, then consumers of milk will demand a more in- second method is much to be preferred to the first, and it is cost. To one arm of a balance is suspended, by silk fibres, a zinc, which hangs horizontally in the plane of a sheet of timate acquaintance with the producers and their method of much more satisfactory than the author's dichromate process the same metal, forming a guard-plane; and at a distance of production: a more direct connection with the farmers them- (Chemical Society's Journal I., 1876, 483). about 1 inch below is a flat sheet of zinc, also horizontal. An selves. Then will superior milk command a higher price than the poorer article; then will the army of useless middleelectrical connection is formed between the guard-plate and men have an opportunity to retire, and the milk business of suspended disk by a bridge of very fine wire. The method our large cities be conducted by the associated efforts of of using the apparatus to determine the potential required those who produce the milk, and those alone who are enfor a spark to pass from a Holtz machine through varying tilled to the profit of this important branch of farm econthicknesses of air was explained. When the balance has omy.-Boston Cultivator. been accurately counterpoised an excess of weight, say 1 grm., is introduced into the scale-pan, and the guard-plate and the lower attracting-plate, as well as the two knobs of a spark-measurer, are connected with the conductors of the machine. If this be now set in action, and the knobs of the spark-measurer be gradually separated, a point will be reached at which the attraction upon the suspended disk just overcomes the excess weight in the balance-pan. The length of spark for which this occurs can now be read off. The difference of the potential causing the spark is given by the formula

CHEMICAL SOCIETY, LONDON, NOVEMBER. DR. GLADSTONE, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. a-"On Some Hydrocarbons Obtained from the Homologues of Cinnamic Acid," and b-"On Anethol and its Homologues."

17

"On the Oxidation of Ditolyl," by T. Carnelly, D. Sc.-
Last year in the production of tolyl phenyl, the author ob-
tained a quantity of liquid and solid ditolyl as a by-pro-
duct; by fractionating, solid ditolyl melting at 121 deg. C.
and two liquid ditolyls boiling about 275 and 285 deg. were
obtained. These substances were oxidized with chromic
and glacial acetic acid; solid ditolyl gave, on oxidation, (1)
dipara-tolyl-phenyl carbonic acid

CH,
C12 H18
as a white powder melting with black-
СО. ОН
ening at 244 deg.; and (2)
CO.OH
CO.OH

C12 H18

dipara-diphenyl-dicarbonic acid.

These two liquid ditolyls gave identical results on oxidation; (1) ortho-para-tolyl-phenyl-carbonic acid

C12

H18

CH3
a white powder melting at 176 deg. C.;
CO OH
CO OH
CO OH

{

By W. H. PERKIN, F.R. S. a.-Considerable quantities of cinnenyl-arcylic, crotonic and angelic, and phenyl-crotonic and angelic acids were prepared. The hydrocarbons were at first obtained by decomposing the acids by heat; afterwards the process proposed by F. Binder-viz., treating the hydrobromo acids with bases-was found to yield more satisfactory results. A solution of hydrobromic acid in glacial acetic acid, instead of and (2) orthopara-diphenyl-carbonid acid C12 H18 an aqueous solution, answered very well. The following acids were prepared and examined: Hydrobromocinneny a white powder which sublimes before fuming, and finally lacrylic acid C12HBrO2, fuses 85 deg. to 87 C. Hydro- terephthallic acid: The above experiments show that when bromocinnenyl-crotonic acid C1,H,,Bro, crystallizes in flat, sodium acts on a mixture of para and ortho-brom toluene oblique prisms, fuses at 148-150 deg. C. On further heat- two isomeric ditolyls are produced, and dipara and the ing, HBr is evolved. Hydrobromocinnenyl-angelic acid C., ortho-para compounds. The author gives graphic formulæ HBrO2. All these hydrobromo acids, when treated with showing the constitutional relations of the above bodies, a cold solution of sodium carbonate or potassium hydrate, and concludes by stating that he hopes to be able to prepare decompose, hydrocarbons being produced as follows: iso- the diorthoditolyl, from it obtain, by oxidation, diphenic propylvinyl benzene boils at 203-206 deg. C., sp. gr. at 15 acid, and thus confirm the constitution of phenanthrene. deg. 8902. Heated for a few hour to 150 deg. C., it solidi- "Note 1." fies to a transparent glassy mass. This change also takes place slowly at ordinary temperatures in daylight. The properties and chemical reactions of this substance are given. The dibromide was prepared, fusing at 71 deg. Isopropylallyl-benzene boils at 229 deg. to 230 deg., sp. gr. 15 890; does not solidify at 15 deg. C. Its formation may be represented

thus:

When a solution of a manganous salt in strong nitric "On a New Manganese Reaction," by J. B. Hannay. acid is warmed with the addition of crystals of potassic chlorate, the whole of the manganese is precipitated as manganous manganate. If a salt of iron be present, a double manganate of iron and manganese, 2 Fe, (MnO4)3. Mn O. Mn O, 12 H, O, is precipitated; no other metals seem to be C.H.(C2H)CH, CH'OH,COOH = C2H1(C,H2)CH, CHCH, precipitated with manganese under the same conditions. +CO, The precipitate is insoluble in nitric and sulphuric acids, Cinnenyl-crotonic acid Isopropylallyl-benzene; and unattacked by caustic alkalies. Hydrochloric acid or, C‚H. (C‚Í‚) ·CH2CHBr CH2COOH = C.H. (C,H,) CH, acts on it, and reducing agents rapidly decompose. SulCHCH+HBr+CO, phurous acid first attacks the iron, setting free manganHydrobromocinnenyl-crotonic acid ese dioxide, which rapidly collects into little nodules, havslowly disappears, the final reaction being ing a considerable degree of coherence. The manganese

thus:

CO2

Fe, (Mn 0.)+6.SO2=Fe2 (SO4)3+3 Mn SO..

METABROMOBENZENESULPHONIC ACID.
By ALFRED THOMAS.

a

8F,

where a is the radius of the attracted disk, e its distance from
the attracting-plate, and F the force of attraction in dynes.
In the apparatus exhibited a had the value 5.195 c.m., and e
the value 24 c.m., whence, if w be the excess weight in
grammes so that F = 981 w-the difference of potential be-
The proper action of the apparatus depends
comes 39 √w.
essentially upon the attracted disk being accurately in the
ment each of the silk fibres by which the disk is suspended
same place with the guard-plate. To facilitate this adjust-
is attracted to a screw, by which it can be separately raised
or lowered; and by means of another screw the small brass
plate holding the suspending screws can be raised or lowered
the action of the apparatus: these were taken from a set of
as a whole. A few numerical results were given to illustrate
experiments in which the difference of potential needed to
261 c.m. radius was measured.
produce sparks in air between two equal brass spheres of
The following are the re-
sults of a few of the shortest and longest sparks measured:

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Its dibromide was obtained by shaking the hydrocarbon with bromine. It melts at 59 deg. to a colorless oil, crystallizing beautifully on cooling. Isopropylbutenyl-benzene is a colorless oil, boiling at 242-243 deg.; its sp. g. at 15 deg. is 8875. It resinifies if kept in contact with the air. Its The principal interest in the above reaction is that it furdibromide was prepared melting at 77 deg. Allyl-benzene boils at 174-175 deg.; sp. gr. at 15 deg. 9180. When heated nishes a good method of separating iron from aluminum, between 160-200 deg. for sixty hours, it did not undergo pound appears under the microscope as thin flexible plates of etc., without the use of pure caustic soda. The iron comany visible change. Its dibromide was obtained as a crystalline mass, fusing at 67 deg. Butenyl-benzene, a colorless a purple-brown color. oil boiling at 186 to 187 deg. C.; a dibromide was prepared, crystallizing in needles melting at 57 deg. The two last The mineral is melted in a reverbatory, suddenly chilled, named hydrocarbons have already been obtained-allyl-benand pulverized. It is then treated with an equal weight of zene by L. Rügheimer (Jour. Chem. Soc. 1874, p. 894); it monohydrated sulphuric acid in a vat lined with lead, and has the same constitution as the body prepared by the auheated with a current of steam. The paste produced is thor. The butenyl-benzene, however, prepared by B. Pure benzenesulphonic acid was prepared and neutralized then drawn off before it solidifies, and allowed to stand for Aronheim (Deut. Chem. Ges. Ber. v. 1068) is isomeric with with silver carbonate, and the still warm liquid treated with twenty-four hours. An excess of water is then added, and the one now produced-"b." On gently boiling methyl bromine until no further precipitate of silver bromide was the whole is then boiled, and filtered at a boil in a leaden paroxyphenyl-acrylic acid, an oil gradually distils over, produced; the liquid was then evaporated on the water-bath, filter-press, or else allowed to settle and decanted without having a fennel-like odor. This body, after purification, neutralized with barium carbonate, and further evaporated; growing cold. The liquid is concentrated to 40° B. in leadhad the formula C.H, O, the author proposes to call it viny-crystals of barium metabromobenzenesulphonate separated, en boilers heated by steam, and is then allowed to crystallize. lic anethol; it boils about 201 to 202 deg.; melts at about readily purified by animal charcoal; the mother-liquor con- On cooling all the rubidium and the cæsium are deposited 1 to 2 deg. Its formation may be represented tained some barium benzene-sulphonate. From the barium as an alum along with a very little potassium. The alums salt the free acid was prepared by treatment with dilute sul- of cæsium and rubidium are separated by a series of crysphuric acid; and from this nitrometabromobenzene-sulphonicacid tallizations. The mother-liquors containing the potash alum C.H、 (OCH,). CH, CH COOH=C.H, (OCH,). CH, CH,+ was obtained by the action of nitric acid; the potassium and and an excess of sulphate of alumina and free sulphuric acid ammonium salts are anhydrous, the barium salt is C.H,Br are mixed with a cold concentrated solution of carbonate of An endeavor was made to prepare this substance by lead salt crystalizes with 3H,O, and the silver salt has 14H, The alum is deposited on cooling as a crystalline powder (NO2)(SO2) › Ba. 3H2O: the calcium salt contains 6H.O, the potash (25 parts of dry carbonate to 100 of chilled lepidolite). Binder's reaction, but without success. On heating methylparoxyphenyl-crotonic acid, an oil distils over, carbonic. The chloride of this acid melts at 83°, after crystall- containing mere traces of iron. The mother-liquors of acid being evolved; by fractional distillation, freezing, and ization from ether. By the action of ammonium sulphide the alum, still acid, are diluted with water, treated with an pressing the mass thus obtained between blotting paper, per- this acid forms amidometabromobenzene sulphonic acid, of excess of carbonate of potash to throw down the alumina, fectly pure allylic or ordinary anethol was obtained, identi- which the potassium salt is anhydrous, whilst the barium filtered and evaporated to 35° B. Sulphate of potash and a cal with that obtained from oil of anise. By heating methyl- salt crystallizes with 14H2O, and the lead salt with 2H2O. portion of sulphate of soda crystallise out on cooling. The paroxyphenyl-angelic acid, butenylic anethol is obtained in By treating this acid with hydriodic acid and amorphous mother-liquors are again digested with powdered carbonate an impure state; but by treating the hydrobromo derivative phosphorus at 110°, the bromine is removed, and an amido- of soda to precipitate lithia The small quantities of of that acid with sodium carbonate, etc., perfectly pure but benzenesulphonic acid formed; from the solubility of this sub- this base still remaining in solution are precipitated with enylic anethol is obtained; it is crystalline, fusing at 17 deg. stance it was recognized as the ortho acid, whence the nitro-phosphate of soda. The lithic phosphate thus obtained is C., boiling at 242 to 245 deg.: sp. gr. at 30 deg. 9733; for- acid is orthonitrometabromobenzene-sulphonic acid; moreover, melted with lime, and the lithia thus liberated is extracted mula, CHO. In conclusion, the author discusses the the relative positions of the lateral chains in orthoamido- in boiling water. The crude carbonate of lithia precipitated formation of the hydrocarbons from the hydrobromo acids metabromobenzene-sulphonic acid was found to be:by heating with sodium carbonate; he finds that silver nitrate in aqueous solution, sodium acetate, and in some cases even water, may be substituted for sodium carbonate, and yet the hydrocarbon be formed, and concludes that the bydrocarbons are formed simply by the separation of hydrobromic acid and carbonic anhydride. The author remarks from the circumstance that on conversion into the diazothat only the hydrocarbons and anethol containing vinyl derivatives and treatment with hydrobromic acid, paradibropolimerise when heated, and form compounds corresponding to metacinnamene; also their boiling points differ much mobenzene-sulphonic acid resulted (where the two Br groups more from those of the compounds containing ortho with reference to the sulphonyl-group). are para with respect to one another, one being meta and one allyl than do the latter from those of the butenyl com-jum salt of this dibrominated acid crystallizes with 1H,O, The potassDr. Gladstone said that the Society had rarely listened to whilst the barium salt forms needles containing 14H2O, and a research so productive of new and interesting substances, prisms with 5H20. and pointed out the interesting results which would probably heated to 160 with alcoholic ammonia, the bromine is When orthonitrometabromobenzene-sulphonic acid is be obtained by an examination of the refraction and disper- removed and amidogen substituted for it, forming orthonitrometamidobenzene-sulphonic acid the barium salt of which

[blocks in formation]

is re-dissolved in boiling water, and causticised with lime. The clear solution, concentrated to 40° B., is then treated with pure carbonate of soda. Carbonate of lithia is then precipitated in a state of purity, and is washed with a little water, then with alcohol, and finally dried.-Dingl. Pol. Fourn.

EXPERIMENTS ON PRODUCTION OF PLANTS. PROF. H. HOFFMANN has been for twenty-two years engaged in experiments on the modification of plants by interference in their external vital conditions. He concludes that believes, in outward influences, but in internal organic laws, the cause of the evolution of new species lies, not, as Darwin whose nature is at present concealed.

THE HONEY TRADE.
By ANDREW J. LAWSON.

THE honey trade is a very quiet one, yet there is a good pied comparatively little attention on the part of the statisti cians of the country, who have made a study of the produc tion of the United States a specialty. But it is ascertained that over 150,000 persons in this country are engaged in the keeping of bees. This includes farmers and others, who make the production of honey a part of their occupation; and it is also estimated that these persons have twenty-five apiaries each, a full swarm being estimated at about 20,000 bees. This will give a total of 75,000,000 bees employed in the production of honey for commercial purposes.

"On Two New Methods for Estimating Bismuth Volumetri crystallizes with 14H,O; a little of a body melting at 151-deal of buzz about it. The production of honey has occucally," by M. M. Muir.-Chancel has shown (Jahrber. 1860, 152 was formed, probably an impure paranitrobromobenzene, 612) that bismuth is precipitated in the form of phos- as it seemed to form parabromaniline on reduction with tin phate by the addition of a soluble phosphate to solution of and hydrochloric acid.-Liebig's Annalen. the metal in nitric acid. Both processes are based on this The foregoing is an example of the progress of the outfact. In the first bismuth is thrown down from nitric acid landish terms used by modern chemistry.—[Ed. S. A.] solution after partial neutralization with ammonia, by addition of a standard solution of sodium phosphate; the final point of the reaction is determined by spotting the YELLOW GLASS BETTER THAN BLUE.-According to M. supernatant liquid on a slab with warm ammonium moly- Fano, neurosis of the eye has been successfully treated by bate solution. The results are approximately accurate. In the use of spectacles with yellow glasses

JANUARY 12, 1878.

OF THE PHYSICAL DON.

er, lately described and

lute electrometer, which

V. Thomson's trap-do cted at a very moder spended, by silk fibre he plane of a sheet of e; and at a distance d c, also horizontal. A en the guard-plate and e wire. The methoj the potential required hine through varying hen the balance cess of weight, s and the guard-pla as the two knobs of a he conductors of the and the knobs of the

, a point will be

suspended disk jas ce-pan. The leng v be read off. Th ark is given by the

[blocks in formation]

apparatus depend accurately in the

litate this adjus lisk is suspendal separately rais v the small br raised or lowe

-iven to illustre en from a set d ntial needed a Brass spheres d ving are the re rks measured:

Mean Exctrical

Force

1310

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, No. 106.

THE

[ocr errors]

DEVIL BEANS" OF MEXICO.
[By J. W. A. WRIGHT.]

1691

Twenty years ago, when the movable-comb system was in- honey. At retail a two-pound box of the article costs about Acapulco, and other coast towns, and frequently brought troduced, those who adopted it thought they had reached eighty cents, or forty cents per pound in the comb. There to San Francisco as curiosities by the Panama steamers. perfection. At that time the yield of honey from a single is considerable of the adulterated article in the market, put Before fuller description, and for the better understandhive of bees did not exceed fifty pounds; now, as we have up in bottles or jars, which sells at about the same rate as ing of your readers, let me recall the description and enalready intimated, large apiaries have been made to yield the pure article. The trade in honey, and honey in the graving of the queer little "flea seed," given in both the several hundred pounds of honey per annum from single comb, is confined to a comparatively few firms.-Boston Scientific and Rural Press of February 14th, 1874. No doubt hives, while individual colonies have been known to pro- Cultivator. many of your readers keep files of your instructive papers duce from 500 to 700 pounds. At a meeting of the NorthAmerican Bee-Keepers' Society, held some years ago, one -as it would well repay all to do. But, for the benefit of member offered to sell a large number of hives, to be paid for those who do not, the engravings are here reproduced, that difference between the "flea seed" of California and the only on condition that he should, in the following year, take "jumping beans" of Mexico may be more clearly seen. ten colonies, containing a quart of bees each, and from them secure 10,000 pounds of honey, or at the rate of 1,000 pounds curious than the gall insects. Like all winged insects, they and deposit of eggs on the underside of leaves of the CaliAmong the many odd forms of insect life, none are more size of mustard or alfalfa seed, are found by the puncture As shown by Mr. Kinne, these minute galls, about the per hive. A writer on the subject of bee culture asserts that bees do not possess reasoning powers, notwithstanding the pass through the four stages of (1) the egg, (2) the larva or formia white oak by the insect here represented, Cynips contrary assertion of many eminent naturalists. They are maggot, or grub, or worm, (3) the pupa, or cocoon, or chrysaltatorius-engraving 20 times the different size. As will for them to swerve or deviate. The fact that there is a that, in the larva or worm state, they are found enclosed in governed by immutable laws, from which it is impossible salis, (4) the perfect or winged state. What especially distinguishes them from other insects is be at once seen, this insect belongs the first group above described. "business end" to the bee would seem to justify this con- cells of very various forms and colors, which grow abnormThe odd quality of their small seed-like galls is that they clusion, as many a youth has discovered who had the teme-nally on different kinds of plants-including trees, shrubs and hop or bound about at a wonderful rate whem warmed by rity to bother the bee when it was attending to its work. It herbs. Oaks, hickories, cottonwoods, willows, sumacs, aza- caused by the contraction, sudden straightening, and conthe sun, or hand, was not our intention to discuss the structure, habits, etc., cussion against the sides of its shell, by the minute larva or artificial heat: such motion being of the bees in this gossip, nor the general cause of the production of drones and queens, of the parthenogenesis and of a "skipper." organic production of bees, but only to refer to the comor worm inclosed in each, its antics being not unlike those mercial importance of the insect. Taking the low estimates of fifty pounds of honey to each ing beans, with the insect which causes their odd movements, We are now ready for the description of the curious jumpswarm, it will give a gross production of honey for the market of about 3,750,000 pounds. Allowing that it is and the very accurate engraving in seven figures of natural size-prepared by your artists from nature especially for of San Francisco. The engravings of the perfect insect, or For the beans used by the draughtsman and engraver, we are indebted to Mr. W. H. Richards and Mr. H. D. Pearce, moth, which is the original cause of the motions, and its of Montgomery and Merchant streets, where samples of the gold pen maker's shop of the latter gentleman on the corner

on which they grow.

leas, rose-bushes, the golden rod and other herbs, and even grasses, abound with them. An odd feature marking all of them, and illustrating the great maxim-"like causes produce like effects"-is that in some way the galls containing the larva partake unmistakably of the nature of the plant These cells or galls-the homes of the various larvagrow in the spring or summer as excrescences, because of the bark by the mother-insect, or by the young grub, boring into the plant in search of its needed food and protection, guided by the promptings of instinct.

necessary to leave about forty pounds of honey in each hive, the irritation produced either by the eggs deposited under your columns, and the first, perhaps, ever made.

for the use of the bees in the winter, the gross product of
the "little busy bees" of the United States cannot be less
than 7,000,000 pounds yearly, that which is sold in the
market being classed as "surplus honey." The census of
1870 gives the amount of bees' honey produced in the United that are in turn to pass through the larva and chrysalis state chrysalis shell, are made from a specimen hatched out at the
The perfect or winged insects which deposit these eggs
States in that year as 14,702,000 pounds, against 23,000,000 into insects like themselves, in due course of nature. are
pounds produced in 1860, and 14,800,000 produced in 1850.

It will be seen from these figures that there has been con-
siderable variation in the production of the article during
the past twenty-five years; and the estimate which we have
made respecting the produetion of honey in 1876 is based
upon recent carefully collected statistics, which seem to be
radically different from those of the census, indicating, as
they do, that there has been a material falling off in the pro-
duction of honey during the past ten years, leaving out the
quantity necessary to leave in the hive for winter use.

Next to California, which ranks first, on account of its
genial climate and the little care necessary for the protec-
tion of bees in the winter, comes the State of New York in
the amount of production, and North Carolina next, which
produced in 1870 over 1,400,000 pounds. Mississippi raises
nearly as much as North Carolina; then Missouri, followed
by Kentucky and Illinois. New York claims to practise
better plans for the preservation of bees throughout the
winter than any of the Northern or Western States. Wis-
consin, which in 1870 produced 300,000 pounds, has now
doubled its quantity. This is owing in part to the bass-wood
forests, for bees are well known to be rovers, and gather the
honey wherever it can be found the best. Most of the
Western States, however, consume almost as much honey
as they produce. An incident of Wisconsin production is
given, as showing what may be done in bee culture. Adam
Grimm, a German, who emigrated to Wisconsin a poor man,
devoted himself to the cultivation of bees and the produc-
tion of honey. He settled at Jefferson in that State, and at
the time of his death he possessed no less than 1,400 swarms,
and his estate was valued at $100,000 which he made entirely
from his bees. He was in the habit of saying that the pro-
duction of honey at five cents per pound paid the farmer
better than the cultivation of hay, and was a far more agree-
able occupation. The last year that he was in business he
produced 22,725 pounds, selling at the average of nineteen
cents per pound, all expenses deducted. Mr. Grimm win-
tered his bees in cellars, and lost not above 1 per cent. In
the same year our farmer readers may remember there was
a great loss of bees in Iowa; at least two-fifths of the whole
number in the State died. But an investigation of the sub-
ject showed that the loss of the bees was attributed more to
the condition in which the severe cold weather found the
stocks, than to the extreme and prolonged cold winter. A
hint may be taken from this statement by those of The Cul-
tivator readers who possess apiaries.

CYNIPS SALTATORIUS AND ITS FLEA SEED.

beans may be seen.

Fig. 1 represents the three so-called beans as they grow together on a small bush in the Mexican mountains, which is said to be somewhat like our hazel bush in size. Unfortunately, no one here, so far as we know, has been able to get specimens of the bush, so that it may be identified; but steps have been taken by which we may hope to obtain it. Hence, its exact nature botanically is not known; but because of the form of this supposed seed-pod, it has been conjectured that it belongs to the order Euphorbiaceae, which includes the spurge, palma-christi, cassava, the box-tree (buaus), the Queen's delight (stillingia), caoutchouc plant (siphonia), and the crotons, both the species producing the noted irritating oil, and that from which cascarilla bark is obtained.

[graphic]

Fig. 2 shows how the three exactly similar parts or pods separate, while Fig. 3 is the single bean in the form in which it is usually seen, when placed on one end. It generally rests, however, on its round surface, or on one of the two flat faces, where the beans were joined. The white spot in Fig. 3 is a thin film, like the eye of a bean. If it is removed by the point or a knife, a thin white web is spun over the opening in a short time by the little yellowish maggot or larva, Fig. 4, which is very much like the worm frequently found in chestnuts. This is the little occupant that gives, by his jerks and varied in form, and belong to five of the seven groups or thumps against the sides of his home, the jumping power in orders into which the true insects are now divided. Some which the truly wonderful feature of these beans consist. of them are: 1. Clear-winged flies (hymenopetra), shaped like Each bean is very light, averaging in weight about two grains, wasps and bees. Members of this group form our common and hence is easily moved by the larva. Place one or more oak balls, and the nutgalls of Asia Minor, such a necessary of these beans in your hand, or near a warm stove, or under ingredient in making ink, and the celebrated Dead Sea apples, the rays of the sun or a gas jet; and though perfectly quiet or apples of Sodom, found on the scrub oaks of southern before, and an entirely inanimate looking object, it will soon Syria; also the pretty colored rose-galls, covered with prickles, begin to turn from side to side; perhaps, with a sudden jump, and the noted joint worm, which often seriously damages turn completely over or stand on one end, and often, by its our growing wheat, rye and barley. 2. Two-winged flies successive jumps, moving quite a distance. After watching (diptera), shaped like mosquitoes, gnats and house flies. the motions of this apparent seed-pod, very much like a fresh They form galls on willows like pine cones; apple galls and grain of coffee in color and shape, only larger and thicker, filbert galls, on grape vine; trumpet galls on grape leaves, and with no semblance to any living form, you do not wonand tube galls on dogwood. The Hessian fly, so destructive der at the name 'devil-bean," given it by our Mexican to grain, is among these. 3. Bugs proper (hemiptera), like neighbors, who are prone to ascribe everything queer in naplant lice. Some of this group make the green, shining ture, which they cannot understand, to the agency of his galls, and the rose-colored swellings on cottonwood trees, Satanic Majesty. and the hollow, reddish galls on sumac leaves. This class includes the phylloxera, both the species which forms at least 16 different kinds of galls on hickory trees alone, and that notorious and dreaded species which has played such havoc in the vineyards of France and so alarmed the vine growers of California for a year or two past. 4. Beetles (coleoptera), consisting of a kind of weevil, which by its punctures and deposit of eggs causes swellings in grapevines and raspberry stems. 5. Scaly-wing insects (lepidoptera) or moths. There are fewer species of this group than in either of the first four mentioned. Their larva form swellings in the stems of the golden-rod, false indigo and perhaps other herbaceous plants.

Respecting the production of honey in the several States,
it may be stated incidentally that 100,000 pounds of the arti-
cle are shipped annually from the stations of Herkimer,
Little Falls, Saint Johnsville and Canajoharie, in New York
State. This is generally gathered from an area of about 400
square miles, and is not more than one-tenth the amount
which might be produced in that region. At this rate
5,000,000 pounds might be made in the State, which, at
twenty cents per pound, would amount to $1,000,000. Again,
the experience of Mr. Doolittle of Borodino, New York
State, shows how low the average estimate, given in the first
part of our article, must necessarily be. One of his swarms
is reported to have produced in one year 566 pounds of
honey, although this he regarded as somewhat remarkable.
During the past five years Mr. Doolittle cleared by his bees
$6,000 after paying all expenses, and with only six acres of
land. This gentleman, we are told, makes bee-culture a
special study. From July 21 to July 24 he made sixty-six
pounds of honey from one hive, or an average of twenty-two
pounds per day.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Fig. 7.

Fig. 6.

DEVIL BEANS AND INSECT.

[ocr errors]

Keep one of these greenish, coffee-like beans in a moderately warm place, and, before a great while, the larva will have gone through its allotted changes; the perfect insect, a moth or fly, little more than three eighths of an inch long, with light-brown, satiny wings, of uniform color and brown hairy body, without any stripes or spots, will cut out at one end of his shell a small round piece, as nicely as if with a tiny saw, and crawl out enveloped in his chrysalis skin or sack, Fig. 5, which he soon leaves near the empty pod which has so long been his home. Its appearance then, in a somewhat dormant state, is very accurately shown in Fig. 6. An excellent likeness of this moth is given, with wings extended, in Fig. 7-perhaps a very little larger than its natural size. Now, as regards the relationship of the work of this moth to that of gall-insects.

As is seen above, there are moths among the gall-insects. It has been conjectured that the insect whose larva is found in the "jumping moths" is a gall-moth. Really, we have not as yet sufficient data to decide with perfect certainty whether it is or not. To be a gall-insect, the whole pod in which the insect is found would have to be caused by the juncture and deposit of the egg.

The strong probability is, however, that the so-called "beans" are the seed pod of some plant, and that the moth deposits its egg in the pod when very young-possibly even when in the flower state, as the troublesome apple moth deposits its egg in the apple flower. If so, the larva destroys the germ and cotyledons of the seed totally, leaving the mere shell. The reasons in favor of this view are; 1. The great 2. There regularity in form of the three united "beans." being no perceptible mark on the thin hull of the "beans " of any puncture of an ovipositor.

Honey production pays. One house alone, in New York city, regularly every year buys a part of San Diego, Cal., crop, paying for the same the sum of $18,000, and a Boston firm, buying for the same party, pays $8,000, annually, for honey. Yet there are farmers who say, there is no money in bee-culture." If farmers exercised a little more business tact, and sent their honey to market in good shape, they would have no occasion to complain. Those who have stuck to the honey business have got rich, and there is a disposition in not a few localities, especially in California, among the bee culturists, to "monopolize" the calling. There are now half a dozen monthly journals, published in this country, exclusively devoted to the management of bees, showing an extraordinary interest in this subject withThen besides these five groups, there gall mites (acarina) in a few years. Aside from the value of the bee as a pro- which belong to the spider family, as they have generally ducer of honey, the insect unwittingly assists the farmer or eight legs, rather than to true insects which have but six legs, fruit-raiser in raising a good crop. Gardeners, too, have Yet they come pretty near the dividing line of true insects. always known that bees fertilize squash, melon and cucumber flowers, by conveying the pollen from one plant to as some of them have six legs. These little mites form purse- tainly among the Tortricida, or family of leaf-rollers. Seveanother. A careful and observant bee-keeper writes that like galls on leaves of the wild plum and wild cherry. his trees yield decidedly larger crops since he has established an apiary in his orchard, and the annual crop is now more certain and regular than before, though his trees had always received due attention.

[blocks in formation]

These and similar points are yet open to investigations, which are being made. It is a pleasure to state that Mr. Harry Edwards, so well known in connection with the California theater, and one of the best posted naturalists of this coast, is thoroughly investigating the matter, being in correspondence with the manager of the British Museum, London, and will soon give us a report, which will be looked for The devil-bean moth clearly belongs to the group of Lepi doptera, or scaly-wing insects. Mr. Edwards thinks it is cerral of this family, like the apple worm, or codling moth (Carpocapsa pomonella), described in the Rural of October 27th, instead of rolling their eggs and larva in leaves, deposit

with much interest.

them in the young fruit of the plants to which they are partial, and are hence called bud-moths. Mr. Edwards thinks it quite likely this moth is a new species. On this and other interesting points he hopes soon to give us more information than is at present possessed.-Mining and Scientific Press.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

R. WASH, whose por trait we give this week is favorably known as a rising young amateur, who has already won his spurs by carrying off the honors of the recent Hartford Globe Problem Tourney, in which contest, as has been previously recorded, he received the prize for the best problem of the tournament, and for the second best set of two problems. Although he has but recently made his debut, he is already looked upon as a prolific and talented problemist, in whose compositions we find the true sparkle of genius that gives promise of a high niche in the temple of fame. His positions are pleasing and graceful, belonging to the new school which we predict will be the problems of the future, to supersede the present chaotic style, with tangled variations and nothing but abstract difficulty to recommend them, that awe the minds of the antiquarian critics who dare not pronounce in favor of a superior idea treated with but few pieces.

White to play and mate in 3 moves. BY DR. C. C. MOORE.

We reply to a score of correspondents, and make a somewhat necessary explanation by remarking, en passant, that our brief biographical sketches treat only of what relates to chess, and it would be idle and irrelevant to mention which of our chess magnates were born of rich but honest parents, or the profession they follow; it is pertinent to the occasion, however, to remark that Mr. Wash is a rising young lawyer of St. Louis, who is bound to succeed in whatever he undertakes, because he has shown that he possesses extraordinary talent, and is one of the few we have ever known who had the nerve to withdraw from chess play, and even resign his important position as editor of the spicy chess department of the Globe Democrat, because it interfered with his business hours. We could moralize at considerable length upon this subject, and show that it would be greatly to the advantage of the cause of chess" if our players only allowed this intellectual pastime to encroach upon their idle

moments.

[ocr errors]

NEW YORK CHESS CLUB TOURNEY, 1861. HAVING taken part in this tournament, we are pleased to correct a statement made by one of our exchanges, and give a correct record of this pleasant little contest, which was inaugurated for the purpose of testing the skill of Mr. Leonard, who was at that time looked upon as one of our most promising young players.

There were eight participants, viz.: Perine, Barnett, Loyd, Schultz, Marache, Horner, Thompson, Leonard, who contested for a beautiful set of chess men, offered by the club. Both Mr. Leonard and ourself fought our way to the last round without losing a game; we each then scored one game, after which Leonard won the match by the following odd little game.

S. LOYD.

WHITE.

1. P to K 4

J. H. LEONARD.

BLACK.

1. P to K 4

2. Kt to K B3

2. Kt to QB 3

3. B. to Q Kt 5

3. P to QR3

4. B to R 4

4. Kt to K B3

5. Q to K 2

5. B to B 4

6. B x Kt

7. Kt x K P

8. Kt to Q3

9. P to K 5

10. P to QB3
11. Q to K B 3
12. Castles.
13. Q to K 4
14. P to KR 3

15. Q to QB 4
16. Px B

17. Q to K 4

18. P to K Kt 3 19. Q to Kt 2

signs the game.

[blocks in formation]

10. Q to KR 5 11. Castles. 12. B to K Kt 5 13. QR to K sq

14. P to K B4

15. K to R sq 16. P x P

17. R to R 3

18. Q x P ch

[subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors]

STEINITZ AND DEVERE, 1865.

suitable prize, under the auspices of the London Chess Club,
AT the close of the year 1865, a match was arranged for a
to test the relative strength of Steinitz and DeVere, Stei-
nitz was to render pawn and move to DeVere, the winner of
the first seven games to be declared the winner, twenty-four
moves to be made every two hours. The result of the match,
De Vere 7, Steinitz 3, drawn 3, proved conclusively that De
Vere was entitled to take rank among the foremost players
of Europe. The following is the concluding game of the
match.

[blocks in formation]

PROBLEM No. 45.

BY SAMUEL LOYD

First Prize.-Albion Tourney. Black.

[graphic]
[ocr errors]
[graphic]

DEATH OF MR. RIMINGTON WILSON.

WE deeply regret to announce the death of Mr. J. W. Rimington Wilson, which occurred at his residence, Broomhead Hall, Sheffield, on the 27th ult. The deceased was a generous supporter of chess, and contributed handsomely to all the tournaments and some of the matches between firstrate players which have been arranged in this country. His splendid collection of chess works is perhaps the largest and rarest of that specialty in the world, and contains unique manuscripts of the earliest dates to which our pastime can be historically traced.

THE enterprising editor of the Hartford Globe enters into the spirit of the Association Problem Tourney with commendable liberality; he not only contributes ten dollars worth of chess works to the Author's prize for the most difficult problem of the tourney, but adds three prizes for the best Association problems published in the Globe, as follows:

1. For the best problem, a collection of twenty-five fine heliotype genre plates, after the works of acknowledged mas ters. These plates are of large folio size, are valued at 60 marks at the place of manufacture, and probably worth twice that amount in this country.

H

2. For the second best, a copy of Dr. C. C. Moore's new

23. Bx Q, and after a few more moves black resigned problem book.

the game and the match.

At the time of his death, which occurred a couple of years

3. For the third best, the Hartford Globe for one year. ago, Mr. DeVere was recognized as the strongest English the greatest number of correct solutions to the published As a further encouragement to solvers, he offers a prize for player, and his premature death is the more to be regretted, as problems.

19. x Kt, and white re- others have predicted that he would ultimately become the dred dollars as a prize, for a consultation match to be played he was unquestionably not yet in his prime. Staunton and A prominent chess patron of this city has offered a hun

leading player of Europe.

between six of the leading players of New York.

[graphic]
[merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

SUPPLEMENT

NEW YORK, JANUARY 19, 1878.

space penetrating power of the telescope, as it is called, de-
pends on the principle that whenever the image formed on
the retina is less than sufficient to appear of an appreciable
size the light is apparently spread out by a purely physiolo-
gical action until the image, say of a star, appears of an ap-

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.
Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

appreciable space on the retina. On increasing the aperture
we must also increase the eye-piece, in order that the more
divergent cones of light from each point of the image shall
enter the pupil, and therefore increase the area on the retina,
over which the increased amount of light, due to greater
aperture, is spread; the brightness, therefore, not in-
creased, unless indeed we were at the first using an unneces-
sary high power. On the other hand, if we lengthen the
focus of the object-glass and increase its aperture, the diver-
gence of the cones of light is not increased, and the eye-piece
need not be altered, but the image at the focus of the object-
glass is increased in size by the increase of focal length, and
the image on the retina also increases as in the last case.
We may therefore conclude that no comet or nebula of ap-
preciable diameter, as seen through a telescope having an
eye-piece of just such a focal length as to admit all the rays
to the eye, can be made brighter by any increase of power,
although it may easily be made to appear larger.
Very beautiful drawings of the nebula of Orion and of
other nebulæ, as seen by Lord Rosse in his 6-foot reflector,
and by the American astronomers with their 26-inch refrac-
tor, have been given to the world.

The magnificent nebula of Orion is scarcely visible to the naked eye; one can just see it glimmering on a fine night; but when a powerful telescope is used, it is by far the most glorious object of its class in the northern hemisphere, and surpassed only by that surrounding the variable star 7 Argûs in the southern. And although, of course, the beauty and vastness of this stupendous and remote object increased with the increased power of the instrument brought to bear upon it, a large aperture is not needed to render it a most impressive and awe-inspiring object to the beholder. In an ordinary 5-foot achromatic many of its details are to be seen under favorable atmospheric conditions.

These who are desirous of studying its appearance, as seen in the most powerful telescopes, are referred to the plate in Sir John Herschel's Results of Astronomical Observations at the Cape of Good Hope," in which all its features are admirably delineated, and the positions of 150 stars which surround in the area occupied by the nebula laid down. In Fig. 4 it is represented in great detail, as seen with the included small stars, all of which have been mapped with reference to their positions and brightness. This, then, comes from that power of the telescope which simply makes it a sort of large eye.

We may readily measure the illuminating power of the telescope by a reference to the size of our own eye. If one takes the pupil of an ordinary eye to be something like the fifth of an inch in diameter, which in some cases is an extreme estimate, we shall find that its area would be roughly about one-thirtieth part of an inch. If we take Lord Rosse's speculum of six feet in diameter the area will be something like 4,000 inches; and if we multiply the two together we shall find, if we lose no light, we should get 120,000 times more light from Lord Rosse's telescope than we do from our unaided eye, everything supposed perfect. Let us consider for a moment what this means; let us take a case in point. Suppose that, owing to imperfections in reflection and other matters, two-thirds of the light is lost, so that the eye receives 40,000 times the amount given by the unaided vision, then a sixth magnitude star, a star just visible to the naked eye-would have 40,000 times, more light, and it might be removed to a distance 200 times as great as it at present is, and still be visible in the field of the telescope just as it at present is to the unaided eye. Can we judge how far off the stars are that are only just visible with Lord Rosse's instrument? Light travels at the rate of 185,000 miles a second, and from the nearest star it takes some 3 years for light to reach us, and we shall be within bounds when we say that it will take light 300 years to reach us from many a sixth magnitude star.

[graphic]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
« FöregåendeFortsätt »