Chapter II: Part 2

The day passed like most others on guard; but, owing to the weather, the passers-by were fewer, and our after-mess visitors didn’t stay so late as usual; by eleven or half-past, all had taken their departure for their respective quarters; and about midnight we proceeded to go round the sentries. There was a bright moon, with a clear star-studded sky. It was not unpleasant walking over the hard frozen snow, and we were not long reaching the farthest-off and last of the sentries, who was posted at the hospital gate. Besides the usual orders, he had special directions to look after the dead-house, a small building situated close inside the hospital gate, to which the bodies of deceased men were conveyed until interment, and to allow no one to enter it unless passed in by the hospital-sergeant. The sentry, when giving up his orders, added that a man had died in the hospital late that evening, and that his corpse was now lying on the table in the dead-house. Accompanied by the corporal of the escort, we walked over to the window, and by the bright moonlight could see something extended on the table, as the man had said, covered with a sheet. After this, we came back across the square to the guardroom, and lighting a pipe, were soon deeply interested in a book that we were reading. Gradually we began to nod, and the book to slip from our hand, and the grand-rounds having already visited the guard, and there being but little danger of having to turn it out again before the morning’s reveille, we were about to go to sleep in earnest on the guardroom sofa, when we were startled from our semi-somnolent condition by hearing the loud challenge, ‘Who goes there?’ from the sentry who had been pacing up and down in front of the veranda. We could hear the rattle of his arms as he threw his firelock to the ‘port,’ and the rapid tread of some one running towards the guardroom and crunching the frozen snow. Presently the challenge was repeated in a quick peremptory tone, but, as in the former case, without obtaining any response; and then there came a kind of half-articulate gurgling cry, followed by the sound of a heavy fall, and the crash of arms and accoutrements, and the shout of, ‘Sergeant of the Guard!’

Fearing that something bad had happened, we jumped up and dashed out of the guardroom, and saw lying on the snow, close to the sentry, who was standing at the ‘charge,’ the figure of a soldier clad in his greatcoat and fully accoutred, and a little way from him his firelock with fixed bayonet lying on the snow, as it had escaped from his grasp in falling. The sergeant and all the men of the guard had rushed out at the same time as we had, and were now engaged lifting the prostrate figure, who at the moment we feared had been run through by the sentry for not replying to the challenge, and trying to run past him. Such, however, happily was not the case; the sentry hadn’t touched him, and said that the man had come rushing towards him from the far angle of the square, and instead of answering the challenge, had continued to approach, making the queer gurgling sound which we had heard, and falling as if shot when he came to where he now lay.

The sergeant of the guard now reported to me that the man was alive, though quite insensible and making a moaning noise, as if in a fit. He further stated that he was the sentry who had been posted at the gate of the hospital. We at once sent a man of the guard for one of the assistant-surgeons of the regiment whose quarters were close at hand, and had the insensible man carried into the guardroom and laid on the guard-bed, his stiff leather stock removed, coat, &c. unbuttoned, and water sprinkled on his face; but all, seemingly, to no purpose: he remained unconscious, and kept up the moaning noise, while now and then struggling hard with those about him. At last the doctor arrived; and having administered some restoratives, after a while the poor fellow became sensible, and sufficiently calm to inform us why he had committed the serious offence of deserting his post. He stated that he had continued to walk about on his beat at the hospital gate for some time after we had visited him, and that all was quiet, when suddenly sounds as if of chairs being upset and knocked about appeared to come from the dead-house; that he had gone up to the window, as we had a short time before, and looked in, and that he saw the corpse off the table, and standing up close inside the window, and that it, as he said, ‘jeered’ at him; that this fearful sight had so unmanned him, that without more ado he had taken to his heels, and had no recollection of anything else that happened until he returned to consciousness on the guard-bed. He was evidently suffering from a terrible shock to his nervous system; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that, mingled with heavy sobs and shudderings, we could manage to get the poor fellow to speak: he was driven nearly demented by the ghastly sight which he was persuaded that he had witnessed.

As soon as he could be left with safety to the care of the guard, who were directed not to pester him with questions, the surgeon and I with a corporal and file of men set off for the hospital; and as we crossed the square, strange noises began to reach us, the growling, snarling, and other sounds of canine conflict mingling with the unmistakable howls with which Doubleworks interlarded his performance.

‘Hillo!’ we said to the doctor; ‘do you hear that? What an hour for Doubleworks to be hunting the badger; we thought he was never allowed in barracks after tattoo.’

As we neared the hospital, the badger hunt, which had ceased for a few moments, broke out afresh, this time mingled with shouts of wild unearthly laughter, and proceeding unmistakably from the dead-house, in which the corpse of the dead soldier had been deposited. We roused up the hospital sergeant, who, good quiet man, snored serenely through it all, and got from him the key and a lantern, and opening the door, found that with the dead man the wretched Doubleworks had been locked up. How he got there unnoticed, no one could tell; he had not been observed by any one about the place; and the only conclusion that we could arrive at was, that he had slipped in when the body was being placed on the table, and had ensconced himself behind the door until it was pulled to and locked upon him.

However true this theory might have been, there was no means of verifying now, for, from whatever cause arising, it was but too evident that poor Doubleworks had become quite insane. He had removed the sheet from the body of the dead man, which lay there in its solemn stiffness before us, in strange contrast to the mad pranks of the lunatic, who, having, no doubt, wrapped himself in the sheet, had presented himself so disguised to the sentry, when he looked in at the window, thereby almost driving him as mad as he was himself.

Why he didn’t favour us with a similar exhibition when we went to look in at the window, we can’t imagine; perhaps he may have objected to the presence of more than one spectator, for he must have heard the steps of the corporal and file of men who were with us when going our rounds. At anyrate, he made no objection to leaving the dead-house now, though he seemed in no way in dread of the other occupant of it. He was next day made over to the civil authorities, and was afterwards transferred, we heard, to the district lunatic asylum; and what was his subsequent fate, we do not know. The sentry he had so horribly frightened, after several weeks in hospital, returned to his duty; but we don’t think he ever quite got over the shock, and he was discharged from the service within a twelvemonth after. Perhaps he may be still alive, and if so, we will bet a trifle he has not forgotten Doubleworks.

RUSSIAN PETROLEUM.

Mr Charles Marvin, who has already done much to familiarise English readers with the Russian petroleum industry and the extraordinarily prolific nature of the oil-wells at Baku, on the Caspian, has again returned to the subject in a pamphlet entitled _The Coming Deluge of Russian Petroleum_ (Anderson & Co., Cockspur Street, London). As these wells, when transport facilities are more perfect, may seriously affect the home and American oil-trade, the facts brought out in Mr Marvin’s pamphlet are worthy of attention.

We learn that of the five hundred petroleum wells at Baku, the majority are situated on the Balakhani Plateau, eight or nine miles to the north of the town. The latest ‘spouter’ of Tagieff’s is, however, in a different locality, being situated on a promontory three miles to the south of Baku. Here Gospodin Tagieff began boring about three years ago. At first, the oil was slow to come, and at its best had never yielded more than sixteen thousand gallons a day. On the 27th September last, having touched oil at seven hundred and fourteen feet, the well began to spout oil with extraordinary force. ‘From the town, the fountain had the appearance of a colossal pillar of smoke, from the crest of which clouds of oil-sand detached themselves and floated away a great distance without touching the ground. Owing to the prevalence of southerly winds, the oil was blown in the direction of Bailoff Point, covering hill and dale with sand and petroleum, and drenching the houses of Bailoff, a mile and a half away. Nothing could be done to stop the outflow.’ It seems that the whole district was covered with oil, the outflow being at the rate of thousands of tuns a day, which filled up cavities, formed a lake, and on the fifth day began to escape into the sea. The square in front of the town-hall of Baku was drenched with petroleum. On the eighth day, the outflow reached the highest ever known—a rate of eleven thousand tuns, or two and three-quarter million gallons a day. ‘Thus,’ says Mr Marvin, ‘from a single orifice ten inches wide there spouted daily more oil than was being produced throughout the whole world, including therein the twenty-five thousand wells of America, the thousands of wells in Galicia, Roumania, Burmah, and other countries, and the shale-oil distilleries of Scotland and New South Wales.’ By the fifteenth day, those in charge had got the outflow so far under control as to restrict it to one quarter million gallons a day. It was certainly a misfortune that of the ten million gallons of oil ejected from Tagieff’s well, most of it was at first lost for want of storage accommodation.

The yield of oil at Baku is thus much ahead of the greatest product of the American wells. Nobel Brothers’ No. 18 Well has yielded, from a depth of seventeen hundred and twenty-one feet, nearly thirty million gallons of oil; and their No. 9 Well, from a depth of six hundred and forty-two feet, forty million gallons. Some of these wells are kept closed while oil is being sold at so cheap a rate. Against the assertion that the product of these wells may dry up and will not last very long, Mr Marvin says that there is ample historical evidence that petroleum has been flowing from the Apsheron peninsula for two thousand five hundred years, and that there seems more likelihood of the American wells drying up than those of Baku. Besides, the petroleum region of the Black Sea has scarcely been touched, and there the oil seems as plentiful as in America.

Owing to this prodigious outflow without a ready market, oil was selling there, in the beginning of October last, at _one penny per sixteen gallons_. The best refined petroleum or lamp-oil is sold at three-farthings a gallon. The production of crude petroleum last year exceeded four hundred and twenty million gallons; there are now one hundred and twenty firms with oil-refineries at Baku, which last year turned out one hundred and twenty million gallons of refined petroleum. The production in 1878 was only one and a quarter million gallons. The bulk-system of transport, as distinguished from carrying in barrels, first adopted in 1879, has had a tendency to revolutionise the trade, and now there are one hundred oil steamers on the Caspian. Some of these steamers have a capacity of carrying eight hundred tuns of oil each trip.

After extracting thirty per cent. of lamp-oil, and allowing ten per cent. for waste and dregs, the remaining sixty per cent., out of every hundred gallons, is used for lubricating and other purposes. Large quantities are imported by certain firms in London, for the manufacture of lubricating oils. Although thus exported, the supply of this waste or residue is so great that it has become the principal fuel in South-east Russia. Steamers purchase it at Baku at fourpence a tun, to be used as fuel. When sent by rail to Batoum, the price rises as high as one pound per tun, which is still cheaper than English coal. More than two hundred and fifty tank and many passenger steamers and locomotives now use this waste oil as fuel in place of coal. A tun of liquid fuel is said to do the work of two or three tons of coal: the chief advantage of its use consists in the fact that it can be turned off and on like gas; it is clean, and takes up very little bunker-space, a matter of great importance to steamers travelling to long distances. The Black Sea Steam Navigation Company, owning seventy-six steamers, intend to commence using this oil-refuse.

The chief outlets for the transport of Baku oil at present are by the Volga and the Transcaucasian Railway. A concession has been granted by the Russian government for laying down a petroleum pipe six hundred miles long for the carrying of the oil from Baku to a point on the Black Sea. The pipe must be large enough to carry one hundred and sixty millions of gallons of oil a year; and it is expected that three years will elapse before it is in working order. Meantime, the North Caucasus Railway will be completed in 1887, and it is expected that it will convey at least one hundred million gallons of oil to the port of Novorossisk, on the Black Sea. Thence it can be shipped in tank steamers to Europe.

We learn that a huge iron reservoir is being built at a remote spot in the outer harbour of Amsterdam for the storage of petroleum. It will be nearly thirty-three feet in diameter, and of the same depth, and is calculated to hold nearly one million seven hundred and forty thousand gallons. The petroleum will be brought direct from Russia in these tank steamers, and will be pumped out at Amsterdam into the tanks, thus saving the expense of filling and emptying casks, besides diminishing the risks of accidents.

Mr Marvin is of opinion that the world is consuming more oil yearly, and he calculates the daily consumption at two million gallons. Along with the cheapening of the oil have also come great improvements in the make of lamps, such as the Defries Safety-lamp, in which the receptacle for the oil is formed of brass. Mr Marvin makes the sensible suggestion, that as Russia is flooding the surrounding countries with oil, our manufacturers might supply the south-east of Europe with lamps, and thousands of cooking and warming stoves. It appears that there is not a country in Europe to which Baku oil is not now shipped, and the figures quoted show that American petroleum is being driven from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Mr Marvin is of opinion that the shale-oil industry of Scotland already shows signs of yielding to the competition of America, ‘and unless special circumstances should arise, must eventually be crushed by the rivalry of Russian petroleum, when imported in bulk.’ And apparently he has written his pamphlet in order to rouse British ship-owners, manufacturers, and capitalists to secure a share in the expansion and development of the Baku oil-trade.

[We have on more than one occasion advocated the use of oil in calming _broken_ billows at sea, and thus saving a ship or boat which otherwise might succumb to the fury of the storm. Might it not, therefore, be worth while to make further experiments in the abandonment of costly coal, and fit up steamers with this comparatively cheap material, which, while driving the ship, might in a heavy seaway save her, if the oil be allowed to ooze from bags made fast to windward? The use of oil at sea during rough weather _cannot be overestimated_.—ED.]

TOBACCO-CULTURE IN SCOTLAND.

It is quite right for agriculturists to do what is possible in the direction of introducing new kinds of crop that may possibly turn out remunerative; and in this view, some interest is attached to recent experiments in the culture of tobacco. If the North Americans can compete with British farmers in the production of good beef and mutton, Britain may possibly maintain the equilibrium by cultivating the weed of which the New World has long had a monopoly. Potatoes were introduced into this country from America, and have proved to be a rich benefit. It is just possible that tobacco also may turn out to be a not less lucrative gift to the producer. More than a hundred years have elapsed since a trial was made in Scotland, principally, but not exclusively, in the south-eastern counties. It failed at that time, through the combined influences of a bad season, the interference of the government—believed to be at the instance of Glasgow merchants—and ultimately of a rapid fall in the price of imported tobacco, a combination of circumstances not likely to occur again.

Of the trial made towards the close of last century, a detailed account has been left on record by the Rev. Dr Somerville of Jedburgh. In consequence of the war with America, tobacco had continued to rise in price, till, in 1781, it reached the unprecedented price of two shillings the pound. Dr Jackson, a gentleman who possessed a small estate near Kelso, had for two years previous laid out a few acres in the culture of tobacco, the science of which he had learned from long experience in America. In 1781, his whole crop had been sold at the extraordinary rate of two shillings and sixpence a pound. His example and reputed success led others to follow in the same line. Even the minister of Jedburgh had five acres of his glebe laid out as a tobacco plantation; and his statement is that, in 1782, many thousands of acres in the counties of Roxburgh, Berwick, and Selkirk were planted with tobacco, nearly every farmer in these counties having devoted some considerable part of his arable land to this adventurous speculation. In Berwickshire, complaints were made that many acres of the best land were occupied with tobacco instead of being cropped with grain.

The year 1782 is notable as having been one of the most inclement seasons either in the eighteenth century or the present. Snow, which had fallen plentifully during the winter, remained so long on the ground that the sowing of grain was delayed at least a month after the ordinary time. The summer was uncommonly wet and cold; the harvest was so late that even in early districts corn was not cut down till October, while a great part of it was reaped only in November; and much of it in the higher grounds never ripened at all. Tobacco, like other crops, suffered from the cold rainy season; and its destruction was completed in the month of August by a thunderstorm of unusual violence, accompanied with a great fall of hail. The succulent leaves were riddled; many of the most luxuriant plants were destroyed; and the prospects of speculative farmers were seriously blighted.

The discomfiture of tobacco-planters, begun by the unpropitious season, was completed through the interference of Glasgow merchants. The tobacco trade in that city had gradually grown to large dimensions. It had begun in a small way soon after the union with England in 1707. At first, Glasgow merchants had no ships of their own, but were dependent on English vessels; and not till 1718 did the first Glasgow ship cross the Atlantic. Gradually the tobacco trade of Glasgow increased, till it roused the jealousy of merchants in London, Liverpool, Bristol, and Whitehaven, who made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to crush those enterprising Scottish traders. The traffic continued to flourish till in 1775 there were fifty-seven thousand one hundred and forty-three hogsheads of tobacco imported from Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. At the instance of these Glasgow merchants, the government officials came to understand that the revenue would suffer if tobacco grown in Scotland were carried free of duty into England. Accordingly, an Act was passed in 1782 permitting the use and removal of tobacco, the growth of Scotland, into England for a limited time under certain restrictions; but liable to duties similar to those due and payable on the importation of such tobacco, the growth and produce of the British colonies or plantations in America.

By a subsequent Act, provision was made for granting relief to the proprietors of such tobacco, in consideration of the inferior quality thereof, or any accident or defect that may happen in the growth or culture of the crop so as to render the same not marketable or worth the duties imposed thereupon. For this purpose, it was enacted that the Commissioners of Customs at Edinburgh might allow, and order to be paid to the owner or proprietor of such tobacco, out of any revenue under their management which is applicable to the payment of incidents, at the rate of fourpence for every pound-weight thereof, for which the owner or proprietor thereof shall refuse to pay the full duties imposed by the said recited Act, provided the commodity shall be given up and _burned_, the owners being compensated at the rate of fourpence a pound. Even at that moderate figure, it was said that thirteen acres in the parish of Crailing brought one hundred and four pounds sterling, or about eight pounds an acre. The return would have been three times as much, but for the Act of Parliament which fixed the rate of compensation so low. Altogether, the county of Roxburgh was believed to have lost fifteen hundred pounds by the arrangement. The experiment was not renewed in 1783, one reason for which is doubtless indicated in the announcement made on the 21st of March that year, that ‘tobacco has fallen fourpence a pound this week.’

The more recent experiments of growing tobacco near Kelso were, we understand, quite successful so far as plant-production of a good quality was concerned, but excise difficulties prevented the utilisation of the crop. It only remains for us to assure our readers that a tobacco plant, grown in a pot, is a pretty household ornament.

THE MONTH: SCIENCE AND ARTS.

The Japanese sanitarium, Kusatsu, possesses such important remedial properties that it is believed that when its reputation becomes more widely known in Western countries, patients will flock to it from all parts of the globe. Here, in the volcanic soil, are a series of natural baths of different temperatures, the waters of which are charged with sulphur, arsenic, copper, alumina, magnesia, in various proportions. To these baths come the halt, the maim, and even those who are as far blind as that too common disease ophthalmia can make them. They bathe here in waters which are described as caustic and evil-smelling, some of which consist of little else than dilute sulphuric acid. This treatment, owing to the great temperature and searching action of the different chemicals dissolved in the water, is often most agonising to the patients, who can only bear it for several minutes at a time. But its efficacy in various species of disease is said to be most thorough, even incurable maladies being mitigated by these wonderful waters.

The _Builder_ calls attention to the careless construction of flues and party-walls in houses, which constitutes a common cause of houses being burned down. The evil is best described by showing what occurred at a private house in London not many weeks ago. A smell of fire was detected, luckily in the daytime, when people were about and able to seek the cause. Upon examination of a certain flue, it was found that ties of fir covered with lead passed on each side of it. These ties had ignited, and had communicated their fire to a library bookcase. Although the Building Act forbids this mode of construction, there are many houses which were built before it became law, and doubtless a large proportion of them have wood in dangerous proximity to their flues. Although at the time of building, such woodwork may have been partially protected, the modern method of sweeping a chimney is apt to knock off projections and to move bricks out of place, thereby giving a ready means of access to fire.

At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, a paper was read by M. Pasteur on his Treatment of Hydrophobia. As Pasteur’s work has recently been much criticised, sometimes not too kindly, it may be as well briefly to state the results which he has recorded after inoculating nearly 2500 patients. Of these, 80 were English, 52 Austrians, 9 Germans, 107 Spaniards, 10 Greeks, 14 Dutch, 165 Italians, 25 Portuguese, 191 Russians, 1726 French and Algerians, and 54 of other nationalities. Confining his remarks to the French cases, as being, we presume, those only the subsequent history of which could be followed, M. Pasteur said that out of the large number stated, the inoculation had proved ineffectual in ten cases only. Six of these ten were children, and one a woman seventy years old. As a result of studying these failures, M. Pasteur came to the conclusion that for deep wounds his treatment was insufficient. He has now modified it by making the action more rapid and energetic for all cases, and he considers that this alteration has already been productive of very favourable results.

A Russian doctor says that he has successfully treated with cantharides some patients who were bitten by a rabid wolf. Three men were badly bitten by the animal in various parts of the body, and cantharides plasters were applied to the wounds. At the same time, powdered cantharides was administered to each in doses of one grain each day, until certain well-known symptoms were exhibited. These patients have now been in perfect health for eight months since the bites were given, and it is hoped that cantharides has thus proved a successful remedy to the dire disease with which they were threatened.

A petroleum engine has been invented by Herr Siegfried Marcus of Vienna, and adopted by the German government as a motor for torpedo boats. It is said to be far more powerful than a steam-engine of equal bulk, while its fuel takes up much less space than coal. The engine is said to work well and without any risk of explosion.

We are always glad to note anything new in the way of utilising waste products, for such saving represents a distinct gain to the country. The last item of this kind that has been recorded is a method, which has been patented, of making use of spent dye liquors for the manufacture of writing-ink. The spent liquor of bichromate of potash, or soda, such as may have been used for mordanting wool, &c., is boiled with the waste logwood liquor from dyeing-vats. The result, after certain additions have been made, is a non-corrosive and permanent ink.

A successful attempt has recently been made, near Liverpool, to acclimatise a beautiful variety of carp called the ‘Golden Orfe,’ a fish which comes from Bavaria. The ornamental gold-fish which are commonly seen in aquaria in our own country will not, as a rule, breed here, and if they do, their descendants are black rather than golden. But these Bavarian fish, while quite as beautiful, will breed freely, and their young will retain the colour of the parents. The fish is about one foot in length, and is said to attain a weight of six pounds. It will be valued by anglers for the reason that it will rise to a fly in waters which are inclosed, so that by its help fly-fishing may be still further enjoyed in landlocked waters. Some ponds near Liverpool have been stocked with this hopeful fish; and if present anticipations are realised, its culture will no doubt be taken up in other parts of the country.

The experimental crop of tobacco grown at Sydenham, close by the Crystal Palace, by Messrs Carter & Co., has, so far as cultivation and preparation for market are concerned, proved a decided success. The experiment shows that the fragrant weed can be produced and prepared by hands unused to the work, in an uncertain climate such as ours. The total crop raised by Messrs Carter covered only three-quarters of an acre of ground, and its estimated weight is about fifteen hundredweight, having a market value of forty-two pounds, or at the rate of fifty-six pounds per acre. This estimate is of course the value of the raw material free of all duty. The operations involved in tobacco-growing are such as could be undertaken by small cultivators, and it remains to be seen whether the government will allow this new kind of farming to be tried on a more extensive scale. Their decision should come quickly, so that farmers may have time to prepare their ground for the new crop.

A new method of preserving polyzoa and other low forms of life has been discovered by Dr A. Fottinger. Crystals of chloral hydrate are dropped into the vessel of water in which polypes have been placed, and in a short time the creatures become insensible, when they can be placed in alcohol. The advantage claimed for this method is that the polypes will remain expanded, and can therefore be preserved when exhibiting all their beauty of structure. The chloral acts, it would seem, in much the same manner as it affects higher organisms—that is, as a narcotic.

The extended use of the electric light in America seems to be by no means an unmixed blessing. It is said that in every town over a certain size the Companies are stringing their wires over the streets to the danger of the inhabitants. But this danger does not arise from the risk of broken wires, so much as from wires which are so imperfectly insulated that the electric energy can escape to neighbouring telephone and telegraph lines. This is especially the case in storms, when the wires are swayed to and fro in the wind, and are often knocked together. The result of this is often a fire at the telephone or telegraph offices, sometimes leading to loss of life. It is said by telephone operators that it is not an uncommon thing to find, upon opening the office in the morning, that a telephone has been burned up during the night, its charred remains having fallen on the floor. It is evident that such accidents are preventable; but special legislation may be necessary to compel the Companies to adopt proper precautions against their occurrence.

Last month, we noticed certain improvements which have been made in the Electric Safety-lamp invented by Mr Swan of Newcastle. Another lamp of the same type has been contrived by Mr Miles Settle of Bolton. Mr Settle’s lamp is an incandescent electric globe which floats in another glass globe of water. Should the glass, from any cause, break, the electric connection is broken too, and the lamp goes out. It is made in two sizes—one for main roads, and one for ordinary use. It gives a brilliant light, and is adapted for use in powder-magazines as well as in mines. Mr Settle is also the inventor of a water-cartridge which can be exploded in a fiery mine, or in one charged with coal-dust, without any fear of the surrounding medium catching fire. Both inventions have lately been subjected to experiments, which clearly prove their efficiency.

In view of the wonderful advances which have been recently made in the field of astronomical photography, it has been proposed by the Paris Academy of Sciences that an International Conference shall be held in the spring for the purpose of making arrangements for obtaining a complete chart of the heavens. This photographic map would be combined from many hundreds of photographs taken at ten or more observations in different parts of the globe. We shall have occasion again to refer to this important and deeply interesting subject.

It has long been admitted that if Britain is to retain her commercial position among the nations of the world, her workmen must have the advantages of technical education. Much has been done in this direction in recent years, but much more remains to be done. It would be as well if the various Institutes throughout the country were to follow the lead of the Finsbury Technical College, London. Here, a course of lectures on Electric Bells has been so well attended that it will shortly be repeated. Another course on Electro Deposition of Metals, with special reference to Nickel Plating, has been commenced. Following this will come the subject of Solders and Soldering. The intelligent working-man comes to these lectures, for he knows that he must learn something more than his father was master of, and that ‘rule of thumb’ must in these days give place to something more definite.

It is to be hoped that the conduct of an official at Bedford in deliberately handing to the public analyst a sample of beer which had been purposely doctored with a poisonous drug, with a view to showing that customary analysis would not discover the addition, will not lead the unthinking to assume that chemical analysis is valueless. In examining a sample of beer, the analyst looks only for such ingredients as are liable to be used for its sophistification, such as sugar, added water, &c. In examining bread in like manner, he would look for alum or potato; in coffee, for chicory; and so on. But it would be quite outside his province to look for a mineral poison, unless he were told beforehand that the presence of such a poison was suspected. If it were the duty of the public analyst to search every sample of food submitted to him for all the poisons known to the world, each analysis would be an affair of many weeks, and his work would practically come to a stand-still.

At the beginning of the year, a certain number of the new Enfield-Martini rifles were issued to our troops, and several adverse reports concerning their efficiency were the result. The weapons were returned to headquarters, and have now been reissued to Portsmouth, Aldershot, and the School of Musketry at Hythe. Those into whose hands they are placed are required to answer several questions as to the efficiency of various parts of the weapon, and general observations upon its merits or demerits are invited. It is thought in many quarters that it is now time that a magazine or repeating rifle should become the arm of the infantry. But it has long become the fashion for Britain not to lead, but to follow the lead of other countries in these matters. The plan has the advantage of benefiting by the experience of others, but it can be carried too far.

It was recently pointed out in an article which appeared in the _Times_ how little we are indebted to native talent for the more deadly and exceptional implements of war. The Gatling, Gardner, Hotchkiss, and Maxim machine guns are due to American ingenuity, and the practical conception of the turret ship comes from the same source. Nordenfelt with his machine gun and his submarine boat is a Norwegian. But what will prove perhaps the most deadly thing of all is the dynamite cruiser, which is about to be built for the American navy. This is a boat two hundred and thirty feet in length, with engines which will insure a speed of twenty knots. She is to be built of steel, and furnished with twin screws. Her armament is to consist of three guns, seventy feet in length, to fire dynamite shells, propelled by compressed air. This form of gun was invented and tried with success some months ago, and at the time we described its construction as being similar to that of a pea-shooter. The cartridge of the gun is a copper drum containing two hundred pounds of dynamite, and its flight of two or three miles through the air is rendered steady by the attachment of a wooden shaft, which acts towards it as a stick does to a rocket. It is certain that no ship afloat could withstand the explosion of such a terrible projectile.

The Germans have found a new use for Professor Hughes’s microphone in the detection of leaks in water-mains. The apparatus required consists of a steel rod, in addition to the microphone, telephone, and battery. The rod is placed upon the stopcock in the neighbourhood of which a leak is suspected; and by listening to the telephone placed in circuit with it and the microphone, the slightest leakage is detected. If the stopcock is a good one and there is no leak, no sound is heard; but the least leakage causes a vibration, which is rendered audible by the microphone. The operation is so simple that it is readily acquired by unskilled hands.

As Mr Watts, the eminent Academician, has announced his intention of bequeathing his valuable paintings to the nation, more than ordinary interest must centre round the nine pictures which he has sent to the Kensington Museum as what he calls ‘samples’ of his work. These include several of his more recent productions. We may mention, too, that the collection of fifty-five pictures by the same hand, which for some months have been exhibited in Birmingham, is now removed to the Museum galleries at Nottingham Castle. Mr Watts’ works will thus be rendered familiar to many thousands of people.

We hear of a very ingenious and valuable improvement upon the construction of the steam-engine, for which various patents have recently been issued. This invention, which hails from the Dunfermline Foundry Company, N.B., consists of a steam-valve of entirely original design, which can be moved with the greatest ease, as there is no steam-pressure on any of its working parts, causing considerable friction, as in the case of the slide-valve at present in use. Apart from the simplification of the steam-engine, where quick stoppage and reversing are important considerations, its great value lies in the certainty of its preventing various kinds of accidents of a mortal character. Thus, where miners are being hoisted to the pit-mouth, there is always a danger that the engineman may lose control of the stopping arrangements, and a case of ‘overwinding’ is the result. The new valve, however, is so easily stopped, that the ‘indicator’ can be adjusted, so that when the cage reaches the platform at the pit-mouth, the steam is instantly cut off and overwinding rendered impossible. At sea, also, this valve will be most valuable, as the most powerful engines can be stopped and reversed with the greatest ease, and this cannot be said of the engines of the present day. The same remarks apply to locomotives. The valve has also been adapted to steam-winches, and here another advantage presents itself, inasmuch as, should the winch be stopped while the load is upon the chain, the load remains suspended without the application of a brake; in other words, the winch does not run away, because the ‘exhaust’ steam does not leave the cylinder, but is inclosed as a steam-brake, keeping the piston immovable.

In the neighbourhood of the mining village of Broxburn, about twelve miles west of Edinburgh, are several large shale-oil works. In making a new bore in connection with one of these works lately, a petroleum spring was struck at one hundred and fifteen fathoms from the surface. In driving a mine at a later date, petroleum was observed coming out of the rocks. In a deep bore made in 1884 the same appearances of petroleum oozing from the rock were observed. It was the discovery of a petroleum spring at Alfreton, Derbyshire, by the late James Young, which set him thinking and experimenting, and led up to his famous discovery of the distillation of oil from shale. In Scotland, this industry has flourished in recent years, the annual output of shale for this having reached the enormous quantity of two million tons.

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

MILK-DIET FOR INFANTS.

In an article on ‘Infant-feeding,’ contributed to the _Lancet_, Dr E. Paget Thurstan, M.D., publishes an interesting discovery that he has recently made. It has been very generally admitted that, inasmuch as salivary and pancreatic secretions are practically absent in newborn children, all farinaceous food should be avoided in their dietary. Dr Thurstan’s discovery entails a departure from the letter, if not the spirit, of this axiom of child-rearing. Mothers are well aware that very young children cannot drink pure cow’s milk, because it curdles in a lump in their stomachs. Certain chemical substances—notably lime-water—must be blended with the liquid to make it digestible. These auxiliaries, however, frequently produce sickness; and it is obviously undesirable to doctor a child with medicine for months together if it be not absolutely necessary. Some persons imagine they solve the problem by using condensed milk as infant-food. But Dr Thurstan points out that, though its curd is undoubtedly more digestible than that of uncondensed milk, the cane-sugar with which it is prepared, itself produces indigestion in a new form, while the condensation robs the liquid of much of its saline constituents, and removes material required for bone-formation. Hence he sought a new method of making cow’s milk digestible to young children; and his final solution of the question is as simple as he declares it to be efficacious. He mixes with the milk a small quantity of farinaceous food, to secure a mechanical as opposed to a nutritive action. The particles of solid intermingle with the curds as they form, and thus prevent their coalescing into one large mass. Dr Thurstan suggests as appropriate agents the crust of bread—when free from alum and large quantities of potato starch—or any one of the many well-known infants’ foods. He points out that they should be added to the milk in such small quantities and in such minute particles that it will easily pass through the tube of a feeding-bottle. Dr Thurstan mentions in detail the case of a weak and ailing child whose life was saved by this method of feeding.

WOOD-PULP.

A report comes from Norway of a discovery just made at the Sognedal Pulp Factory, after years of experimenting—that wood-pulp can be used for the manufacture of all kinds of building ornaments which are usually made in plaster of Paris, the pulp readily taking painting or gilding to great advantage. The material also seems to be remarkably tough, and not easily broken, as shown by the fact that a bar a foot long, an inch thick, and five inches wide, was thrown with great violence against a wall and sustained no injury. Pieces have also been dropped from great heights with the same result. The material is lighter than plaster of Paris, is impervious to wet, and therefore admirably adapted for ceilings, ceiling ornaments, friezes, and such-like, both outdoor and indoor. It can easily be fixed either with nails or screws. One more advantage is claimed by the inventor—that ornaments made from this material cost half the price of similar ones made of plaster. If this discovery is really all that it is said to be, it will prove a useful adjunct to all kinds of ornamentation and architectural decoration, and ought therefore to be specially acceptable in the building trade.

M. DEPREZ’ ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS.

A series of interesting experiments have been lately carried on by M. Deprez at Creil, at the sole expense of Messrs Rothschild, with the view to ascertain whether certain results can be obtained from one generator and one receptor. M. Deprez now finds that with these appliances he can transmit to a distance of thirty-five miles a force of fifty-two horse-power, and that the machinery is now working regularly and continuously. The maximum electro-motive force is 6290 volts, which is all the more remarkable; for before the construction of M. Deprez’ apparatus, the maximum force did not exceed 2000. The transmitting wires may be left uncovered on poles, so long as they are high enough to be out of the reach of the hand. The cost of this arrangement to provide a circular line of seventy miles, for a fifty-horse power of transmission, is estimated at five thousand pounds; not a high price, when all the circumstances are considered; and a cost that would be lessened if the machines were to be frequently manufactured or brought into general use, which is much to be desired, as a new and very practicable motor-power will thus be made available for industrial purposes.

SWEET DAY OF DAYS.

On the moss-grown bridge I stand,
Where you gave me once your hand,
Where a story, new, yet old,
Once without a word was told.
Still the daylight slowly dies,
Ebbing from the tender skies;
Still the river creeps along,
Crooning yet its wistful song.
Day of days, sweet day of days,
Years their shadows round us raise;
Happy they who, looking on,
Still remember days agone!

Ah! of all sweet days that day,
Gone from sight and reach away,
Even as this flower I throw
Down the old gray stream will go.
Nay—it lingers—prisoned lies,
Where the swaying willows rise,
Out of reach, love, like sweet days
Lingering yet in memory’s gaze!
Day of days, sweet day of days,
Years their shadows round us raise;
Happy they who, looking on,
Still remember days agone!

G. CLIFTON BINGHAM.

* * * * *

_Volume III. of the Fifth Series of CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL is now completed, price Nine Shillings._

* * * * *

_A Title-page and Index, price One Penny, have been prepared, and may be ordered through any bookseller._

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_An elegant cloth case for binding the whole of the numbers for 1886 is also ready._

* * * * *

_Back numbers to complete sets may at all times be had._

* * * * *

The First Monthly Part of the New Volume will contain the opening Chapters of an
original Novel, entitled:

RICHARD CABLE

THE LIGHTSHIPMAN

BY THE AUTHOR OF ‘MEHALAH,’ ‘JOHN HERRING,’ ‘COURT ROYAL,’ ETC.

* * * * *

Also an interesting Novelette, entitled:

TOLD BY TWO

BY T. W. SPEIGHT

* * * * *

END OF THE THIRD VOLUME.

Printed and Published by W. and R. Chambers, 47 Paternoster Row, London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh.

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_All Rights Reserved._

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[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.

Page 818: guaze to gauze—“wire-gauze”.

Page 831: shale oil-works to shale-oil works—“shale-oil works”.]