Page:Scientific American - Series 1 - Volume 001 - Issue 02.pdf/2



Whereas, Mr. has commenced the publication of a scientific weekly paper, entitled the "Scientific American," and under apparently favourable circumstances; and whereas, the confidence of the public in new papers has become in some measure impaired, by the discontinuance of certain newspapers before the subscribers therefor had received the full value of the money advanced: now, therefore,

Be it known to all whom it may concern, that we, the undersigned, do hereby guaranty the continuance of the publication of the "Scientific American" for the term of at least one year from its commencement.

Certificate.—We are personally acquainted with the persons whose signatures are affixed to the foregoing guarantee, and believe them to be gentlemen of respectable standing and responsibility.

In our last number we introduced a pendant ball by way of illustrating the action, reaction, and counteraction of gravity and inertia. And in consideration of the vast importance of a thorough knowledge of these principles we have procured for this number a cut representation of the pendant ball, which we have introduced, and shall endeavour to be more explicit in our theoretic explanation.

If the ball is suspended by a cord or wire from the hook A, the ball will in consequence of the force of gravity, assume a position directly under the hook, and hold the cord by which it is suspended, in a position at right angles with the horizon.

The reason of this is that the ball by its weight, or the force of gravity, tends towards the centre of the earth, and the present position is precisely in a direct line between the hook and the earth's centre; and at the point nearest to the centre, that the ball can possibly approach while thus suspended. Now if this ball is moved horizontally or rather curvilinearly to C, and then let go, being restrained by the cord from descending according to its inclination, directly towards the earth, it naturally seeks the lowest possible point, and thus returns rapidly to its first position. In this instance, gravity in moving the ball from C to L, has overpowered inertia, and in consequence of this motion, inertia has become momentum; and now that the ball has approached the lowest point, and the influence of gravity with regard to the motion of the ball, being diminished in consequence of its direction being at this point nearly horizontal, the momentum, which the ball has acquired in its descent thus far, now carries it past this point L, and before the increasing resistance of gravity shall have been sufficient to stop the ball by reversing this momentum, the ball will have approached to D. Then again gravity predominates and returns the ball to L., and again momentum drives it forward to E, a little short of its starting point.—Again gravity returns the ball to L, and momentum pushes it forward to F. In this manner gravity and momentum continue the strife of alternate ascendancy, till the ball has vibrated to the points G, H, I, J, and K, and finally rests at L. In the vibration of the ball, as above described, the alternate influence of gravity and momentum, are so uniform and equally balanced, that were it not for the resistance of the atmospheric air, and some little friction in the play of the cord, the motion would be perpetual. It is the uniformity of action which gives regularity to the movement of the pendulum of a clock, by which the other movements of a clock are also regulated. But the velocity of the ball, in its vibrations, depends much on the length of the cord or wire by which it is suspended. If this cord be but one foot in length, the ball will perform twice as many vibrations in a given time, as it will with a rope two feet long. The reason of this difference is, that when the cord is longer, the inclination of the curve at the extremity of the vibrations is less, and consequently the force of gravity in the direction of the motion is less; and of course requires more force to overcome the inertia of the ball, in putting it in motion and momentum in stopping it. If the distance from the hook, or point of suspension to the centre of the ball, be 39 1-7 inches, the vibration will be 60 per minute. The time required for each vibration of the ball does not much depend on the extent of its motion—the space over which it passes in either direction—whether it be one foot or two feet, more or less; for if the extent of its motion be greater, the inclination of its direction at the extremities of its vibration, is also greater, and consequently the direct force of gravity being greater, the velocity of the ball from point to point is also greater, and nearly if not precisely in proportion to the distance over which it moves. Hence may be seen the peculiar adaptability of the pendulum for measuring time.


 * supposed to be situated about 95 degrees East of the North Pole. The streets of this City are so arranged that it is difficult for a stranger to find his way from one part of the city to another, especially from the front gate to the Capitol, near the centre. This plan will be found exceedingly useful in illustrating the danger of trusting to appearances, and those who may attempt to trace this principal route, will not fail of finding an interesting amusement, or of being subject to sundry pleasant jokes, in the course of their progress, by frequent references to the following

—A, Capitol. B B, Banks. C C, Gardens. D D, Churches. E E, Post Offices. F F Hotels. G G, State Prisons. H H, Watch Houses. I I, Livery Stables. J J, Markets. K K, Theatres. L L, Batteries. M M, Parks. N N, Public Baths. O O, Circusses. P P, Refectories. Q Q, Colleges. R R, Soda Rooms. S S, Oyster Rooms. T T T T, Wells.

No man can create, nor anihilate any particle of matter; but can decompose compound bodies, and by some combinations of their ingredients form other bodies or substances, entirely different in their natures, properties, and appearances. All bodies are either simple, or are composed of simple substances; and no simple substances can be decomposed, nor materially changed but by combination with other bodies. Thus iron, in its pure and natural state, is hard, brilliant and very adhesive; but by its combination with caloric, it becomes fluid; combined with sulphur and oxygen, it becomes a transparent crystal; combined with oxygen alone, but in different proportions, it appears in the form of red or yellow ochre; combined with the prussic acid, it becomes deep blue, known as prussian blue; combined with sulphur, oxygen and hydrogen, it becomes transparent liquid; and the addition of a little gallic acid again changes it to black ink. Plumbago, or black lead, is a combination of iron and carbon. Iron also enters into the composition of glass;—gives the red colour to the blood of animals; and has been known to assume all the colours of the rainbow in regular order, by its combination with different proportions of oxygen and carbon, in a single piece of slate stone.

While on this subject, we shall give a few simple experiments, which may be readily performed by any person—will afford amusement as well as instruction to the scientific youth, and will further illustrate the importance of the science of chemistry.

To any small quantity of sulphuric acid, in a phial, add double the quantity of water, and as much of iron filings as the mixture will dissolve. When the iron is added, and ebulition will occur, in consequence of the liberation of hydrogen gas from the water. When the boiling has subsided, the liquid is supposed to be saturated with the iron, and may be poured or strained off from the sediment. With this solution, which is neutral and harmless, wet a piece of paper, and it will remain colourless when dry; but afterward wet the paper with a little solution of pearlash or saleratus, and it will change instantly to a deep and permanent buff yellow. Wet another part of the paper with a dilute solution of prussiate of potash, and it will be changed to blue. Again wet other parts with colourless infusion of out galls, and it will be changed to black or ink colour. Put a small quantity of each of the three last mentioned liquids in three drinking glasses: then drop but a single drop of the solution of iron into each of them, and the liquids will be instantly changed to blue, yellow and black.

.—We have often observed in sectarian papers, a general request that all clergyman of the same denomination, should act as agents for the paper; and by such means, some papers have attained to an immense circulation. Not having and similar available advantage, we would solicit the favour of every honest mechanic who may receive this paper, to use his influence in our favour, and induce as many more as possible to subscribe for it. All favours of this kind will be duly appreciated.

.—Being desirous of embodying in this paper, a great variety of interesting statistical and other items of intelligence, we trust our readers will not be surprised to find in this number, some items, the substance of which they may have seen in other papers some days earlier. Each reader will please to consider, that although he may have read some of these items, yet perhaps his neighbour has not, and they will therefore be new to him. We shall soon fetch up the arrearage of news, and then all will be fresh and fair.

—We should have given a particular description of Davenport & Bridge's improvement in rail-road cars this week; but the engravings not being ready, we have substituted the labyrinthian curiosity, the City of Jungo, the bewilderology of which has no parallel. Our amusement-loving readers will not regret this variation of arrangement.

There has not probably within the memory of man, been a season in which excessive heat has so long prevailed, not in which so many instances of the terrific effects of lightning has occurred, as within a few weeks past. Of the latter we shall record in a brief manner, a few instances which have come to our knowledge. Of buildings which have been struck, and more or less shattered, are the houses of the late J. B. Titcomb, Newburyport; the south church in Andover, Mass.; the house of Mr. William Manning of Ipswich; the house of Mrs. Field in Manchester, Mass.; the barn of Wm. Barker, in Chatham, N. H. and another barn in the same town; a barn in Greenland, N. H.; a dwelling house and two barns in Abiagton; Dr. Beecher's church in Salem St. Boston; also several houses in Fayette St. the house of Capt. H. Taylor in Yarmouth, Mass.; the house of Ezra Hall in North Dennis; the house of Mr. Whildon in South Dennis; also a barn owned by Mr. Kelby Chase; a barn belonging to L. Howes in East Dennis; the house of Capt. I. Lewis at Centreville:—of S. G. Sears at Hyannis Port:—of Eben Scudder at Maston Mills;—a salt mill at Brewster (also two schooners lying at Bass River.) [sic] Six locust trees were struck at about the same time at East Haverhill. Several houses in N. Haven have been struck and several vessels at sea. Several of the buildings above mentioned were burned. We also hear of the loss of several lives. The electric fluid has also been unusually fatal in Europe; a person and his horse were struck dead near Hornfleuer; the town of Weleschien in Bohemia, was struck at five different places at the same moment. Forty-five houses and twenty-five barns had been struck and consumed. Twelve or more persons in various places have been killed.

P.S. Since writing the above, the following additional instances have come in hand. In Hingham, Mass., two dwelling houses were struck by lightning last week: also the print works at Bristol; a barn in Fitchburg, and another in Hubbardston were struck and consumed;—a house in Gardner, and a chair shop;—A barn in Templeton, consumed; a meeting house and several houses in Templeton were struck; a barn at Lunenburg consumed. At Fort Richmond, two dwelling houses, a barn, a store and schooner were struck; also two houses near Norristown, and a barn in Easton: the latter was consumed. Several persons in different places were injured, and one was killed by the electric fluid. The Tremont House at Littleton, Mass., was struck and consumed on Saturday week.

.—An Indiana editor has been made to believe, that a Mr. Warren has made an improvement in the art of stereotyping, which puts it in the power of every printer to stereotype whatever he chooses in an almost incredibly short space of time, at little or no expense, and with the utmost precision and accuracy. The composition of which the plate is made is nearly as hard as iron, which it resembles a great deal, and can be melted on a common fire as easily as lead. The gullibles are copying the article extensively.

.—Mr. Bevongen says, in his report to the French government, that the punishment of death has been abolished in Tuscany for twenty-five years; and that it has so improved the character of the people, that the prisons were empty; only five murders had been committed in the kingdom for twenty years after the abolishment of that punishment.

.—A correspondent of the Tribune, writing from Boston, says on this subject, that established prices of fares from the hotels to the several depots, is in all cases 25 cents. We can inform him, however, that the "established price" of fares in the coaches of Cheney, Averill & Co., No. 9 and 11 Elm-street, is only twelve and a half cents, for any distance not exceeding one mile.

will contain the commencement of a series of instructions in the art of Painting: also, a piece of Music, which is excluded this week by press of other matter.

The following extract from a work published in Philadelphia twenty-four years ago, by Oliver Evans, is furnished to us by a paper of that city.

It appears that Mr. Evans, who contributed largely to the present advanced state of improvement in mechanic arts, conceived or entertained the idea of steam waggons and railroads anterior to the year 1773: for shortly after this period we find him applying to the Legislature of Pennsylvania and Maryland for aid to carry into effect his views on these subjects. The first rejected his memorial, or paid no attention to it, deeming its author INSANE! The last granted him a patent for fourteen years; but from the want of public confidence in the practicability of his schemes, and his own want of means, this patent was of no use to him. The Pennsylvanian says he lived and died comparatively poor and neglected, and was compelled to leave all his vast conceptions and designs to be executed by smaller minds and later days, as almost all the benefactors of our race have had to do before him.

"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by steam engines, from one city to another, almost as fast as birds fly, fifteen or twenty miles an hour.

"Passing through the air with such velocity, changing the scene in such rapid succession, will be the most exhilarating, delightful exercise. A carriage will set out from Washington in the morning, the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine at Philadelphia, and sup at New-York the same day.

"To accomplish this, two sets of railways will be laid, so nearly level as not in any place to deviate more than two degrees from a horizontal line, made of wood or iron, or smooth paths of broken stone or glass, with a rail to guide the carriages, so that they may pass each other in different directions, and travel by night as well as by day; and the passengers will sleep in these stages as comfortable as they now do in steamboats."

"A steam engine that will consume from a quarter to half a cord of wood, will drive a carriage on hundred and eighty miles in twelve hours, with twenty or thirty passengers, and will not consume sixty gallons of water. The carriage will not be over-loaded with fuel or water.

"These engines will drive boats ten or twelve miles an hour, and there will be many hundred steamboats running on the Mississippi, and other western waters as prophesied thirty years ago, by one who could predict them better than the poet can now. But the velocity of boats through the water, can never be made to equal the velocity of carriage through the air, because the resistance of water is eight hundred times the resistance of air.

"And it shall come to pass that the memory of these sordid and wicked wretches who oppose such improvements, will be execrated by every good man as they ought to be now."

"Posterity will not be able to discover why the legislature, or congress, did not grant the inventor such protection as might have enabled him to put in operation these great improvements sooner, he having asked neither money, nor a monopoly of any existing thing. The clouds of darkness will be dissipated by time. It will be clearly discovered, that to protect inventors for sufficient terms, is the only way to get the discoveries sooner."

.—Our subscribers who receive their papers by mail, are expected to remit one dollar each, by mail, on the receipt of this number. The money may be sent by mail at our own risk and postage, or may be paid to the Postmaster, (who will receipt for the same,) at the option of subscribers. No money should be paid in advance to any agents but those who have written authority from the publisher to collect or receive the same.

.—The aggregate loss by large fires on this continent the present year is estimated at $21,000,000, as follows: Barbadoes, $2,000,000; Pittsburgh, $3,500,000; London, Canada, $500,000; Fayetteville, $500,000; Quebec, $7,500,000; Matanzas, $1,000,000; New-York, $6,000,000.

The printing apparatus of Cassius M. Clay, who had commenced the publication of an anti-slavery paper in Louisville, Ky., has been packed up by the citizens and sent to Cincinnati.

The Roman Citizen, of Rome, N. Y., speaking of money, says, "It is dew (due) in the morning and mist (miss'd) at night." Very bright.

Somebody,—Green we believe,—once said that he had never learned to sing but two tunes, one of which was Old Hundred and the other wasn't.

Peaches are very abundant. They have been sold in Philadelphia as low as 25 cents a basket, and in Baltimore, for six cents a peck.

The various lines of travel leading to New-York have been much crowded since the arrival of the Great Britain, and the city appears quite lively.

Seventeen steamboats with an aggregate tonage of 3,215 tons, and cost of $243,000, have been built at Cincinnati within the present year.

The population of Washington, D. C. has increased from 23,000 to 40,000 since 1840. Nearly 400 buildings have been erected within the past year.

One of the pipes of the new organ which is being built for the Trinity Church, is large enough to contain thirty men. Mr. Henry Erben is the builder.

The Merrimack Company at Lowell have commenced building a new mill, which is to be the largest ever built at that place, or perhaps in the United States.

A new glass factory is about to go into operation in Buffalo, N. Y. Window and other varieties will be manufactured on a large scale.

During the prevalence of the recent excessive warm weather, the price of fans at Woodworth's (late Bonfanti's) in Broadway, was up to $75 each.

A new musket has been invented at Potsdam, Eng. which is said to carry point blank 1,200 paces, and can be fired 17 times a minute.

The allowance for the French navy for the present year has been raised to the enormous sum of 120,000,000 of francs.

Messrs. Livingston and Wells are about to establish an express line to run from New York to Cincinnati, Ohio.

The cost of transporting a barrel of flour from Cleveland, O., to Boston, is estimated at only 72 cents, via Ogdensburg and Northern Railroad.

A sugar beet has been raised near SavanaSavannah [sic], Geo. which measured 24 inches in circumferancecircumference [sic], 14 in length and weighed 11 lbs. This beet is hard to beat.

The College Libraries of this county number about 600,000 volumes. We think this would be sufficient for any one man to read.

J. H. Overton travelled one hundred and fifty miles in an open skiff, from Landry to Baton Rouge, to represent his parish in the Democratic Convention of Louisiana.

The Essex steam-mill in Newburyport, Mass., has made a dividend of forty-two and a half per cent. from the earnings of the mill the last year.

The fire is still burning in Pittsburg, although near five months have elapsed since the great conflagration.

A duel was lately fought in New Orleans, in which both parties fell. They fought with pistols, at five paces, and obtained mutual satisfaction.

A writer from the White Sulphur Springs, says that the keeper of the Hotel at that place, keeps 129 dogs. He must be fond of music.

A company has been formed at Zanesville, Ohio, with a capital of $50,000, for the purpose of establishing a cotton manufactory at that place.

A man was recently sentenced to imprisonment in Missouri, for being drunk. On his way to prison the sheriff got drunk, and the man escaped.

About a dozen persons have been recently indicted at Albany for vending lottery tickets. We hope the traffic will be suppressed.

A company of traders from Santa Fe, arrived at St. Louis on the 13th ult., on a trading expedition. They have brought $50,000 in specie.

Mr. Andrew Marcey will, it is said, cast $28,000 worth of bells—most of them large—within the present year, at his foundry at West Troy.

The increase of the value of real estate in England and Scotland, within the last thirty years, is stated at £35,146,104.

The receipts on the Long Island rail-road during the first sixteen days of August, were $24,140. This looks encouraging.

There is now on exhibition, in this city, the skeleton of an enormous serpent, which measures 114 feet in length, and ten or twelve feet in circumference. More particulars in our next.

A fish has been taken at New London, in which was found a Prussian coin, about the size and value of a cent. Where the fish found the money, report does not say.

Great music is anticipated from an electro-magnetic instrument, which is being constructed in Philadelphia. We may hear something more about it.

The news by the Cambria reached New Orleans in twenty-two days from Liverpool, via Halifax and Boston. This despatch is unprecedented.