Page:Scientific American - Series 1 - Volume 001 - Issue 02.pdf/3



At Home: Sweet Home.

—An unlucky 'Knight of the Quill,' at the west, thus closes for the present his editorial career: "Dear readers—With this paper ceases the existence of the "Olio." Our number is full and complete, and we are a 'busted establishment.'  We shall gather up our coat and boots, shave off our whiskers, dun a few interesting specimens of 'patrons that will pay—in promises, and then we're going for to go to some other field of operation.  This may be the same chap that had become so editorially hollow, that he offered to sell himself for a stove pipe''.

—An European correspondent of one of the Philadelphia papers writes that the danseuse Taglioni will not come to New-York, because she cannot be insured the payment of six hundred dollars per night! and adds—"I think the public permit themselves to be too much humbugged by singers, fiddlers, players, mountebanks and buffoons—from Taglioni and Macready down to Tom Thumb." We believe there are many others of the same opinion.

—The laws of Florida forbid the marrying of persons without a license from the Clerk of the County Court; and these Courts have lately been abolished by an act of the legislature, thus virtually abolishing marriages altogether for the present.

—The Picayune of the 13th says there is no sickness, no excitement, and little of any thing moving;—even the town clock and the doctors' gigs are at a stand-still. It appears from more recent dates, however, that there is no want of excitement,—on the Texas war-subject at least.

—We have on hand a variety of interesting and gratifying intelligence, which we must defer for a future number.

—The west mine of the Delaware Coal Company is worked three hundred feet below the water level. For some time past the air in this part of the mine had become vitiated and the miners had declined to work in it. Some of the overseers imprudently went down to examine the pit a few days since, when the inflammable gas, or compound of gases known as the fire-damp, and which had accumulated, in that part of the pit, being ignited by the flame of the lamp, which they carried, exploded with great violence, seriously injuring several persons, besides doing much damage to the works. We are glad there were no lives lost; but we do think the overseers deserved some little punishment for their gross negligence. When the means of effectual ventilation are so conveniently accessible and easily prepared, it appears no less than reprehensible, that the laborers in mines should be deprived of the privilege of breathing pure atmospheric air, to say nothing of the danger of explosions. Both money and applause have been awarded to Sir Humphrey Davy, for his invention of what is called a safety-lamp, to prevent explosion of the fire damp; but it would have appeared much more important in our opinion, if he had proposed a plan for ventilation which should have superseded the necessity of the safety lamp, and furnished a supply of breathing air to the laborers at the same time. Nothing more is wanting for this purpose than a large simple hose made of the cheapest kind of plain cotton cloth, extending from the top to the bottom of the pit, with a bell muzzle, or tunnel shaped tube at the top to be turned by a vane so as to face the breeze. Or, if there be not a breeze sufficient to force a constant current down to the bottom, a spirit lamp, being placed under the lower extremity of the hose—which should extend to within one or two feet of the bottom,—a current will be readily produced upward, and consequently a corresponding quantity of fresh air must be drawn down through the open avenues. But even admitting that mechanical power was required to maintain a wholesome ventilation, it would be but light work for a man or boy, by turning a crank connected with a blow-wheel or large bellows when there was not a sufficient current of wind to effect it. We hope those of our readers who have any friends employed in the mining business, will suggest to them the impropriety of exposing their lives by working in damp mines without proper ventilation.

There has never been a time since the days of Noah, in which great and important improvements, in all branches, were pressed forward with so much energy as at the present time. There is no branch of industry but has received important facilities within the last ten years, especially in the United States. The pressure of the times has not retarded the march of genius, nor of well-aimed enterprise. There is at present more building and constructing of railroads, steamboats, houses, factories, bridges, machinery, carriages, &c., than ever before; and yet a close observer of these things sees stronger indications of the "progress of improvement," in the style of construction, than in the quantity and extent of them. And yet, strange as it may appear, while there are so many thousands of newspapers in the country, devoted to every other subject, there is not one—not one—which purports to be devoted to improvement, nor to the cause of that class of people by whom this great feature of national prosperity is produced or effected. Will any scientific, mechanic, or enterprising manufacturer refuse or neglect to patronize such a paper? We shall see.

—A desperate fellow by the name of John Randall, has lately shown a rare specimen of industry, in Coos County, N. H. He escaped from the Lancaster jail on the 11th instant, stole a horse the same night, rode it to the top of Cherry mountain, and left it—was seen on Tuesday morning, near E. A. Crawford's—on Wednesday night was seen and chased in Bethlehem—on Thursday night broke into a house there, which his pursuers had occupied a portion of the preceding day, stole provisions for a hearty meal, then broke into a second stable and stole a second horse, since which he has not been heard from.

—There has been much excitement for a few days past, in the South-Western section of the Union, on account of a report that 10,000 Mexicans were marching upon Texas. Gen. Gaines had called upon Gov. Mouton, of Louisiana, for 1000 troops, which were immediately raised, and the entire body of New Orleans military have offered their services to the Governor. The rumour of the approach of the Mexican army appears hardly credible, but if it be so, they will not have to wait long for business.

—The entire skeleton of another monstrous animal has recently been discovered in Orange County, about six miles from Newburg, and the largest of all that have ever been found. An idea of the size of this monster may be formed from the fact that the skull alone weighs 700 lbs.—the tusks are nearly two feet long, and the breadth across the hip bones is seven feet. We shall probably be able to furnish further particulars in a few days.

—The report of the proceedings of a recent rail-road meeting at Portsmouth, Eng., was communicated to London, a distance of 90 miles, in less than half an hour.

—The first shot fired by the great gun for the Princeton, was with a ball made of tin, of 217 pounds weight, and a range of 30 pounds of powder. This ball was thrown about three miles.

—The Franklin Society announce a display of inventions, manufactures, agricultural products, &c. &c., to commence in Philadelphia on the 21st of October next.

This curious and useful invention, which is not so well known and understood as it should be, was patented in October, '44. It appears to be the ne plus ultra of life preservers, or, more properly speaking, of buoyant belts. The peculiar excellence of this invention—usually called the Nautilus—consists in its capacity of being compressed into a small space, so as to be conveniently carried in the pocket; or of being distended sufficiently to extend round the body of a person, at the same time becoming inflated with atmospheric air, and sufficiently buoyant to sustain the head and breast of the wearer, above water. Its construction consists of two helical, or spiral springs, placed side by side, and connected to each other, and covered with oiled silk, or india-rubber cloth, each end of which is attached to a wooden head: the whole casing and heads being air and water-tight, with the exception of an aperture through one of the heads. To this aperture a stopper is fitted, being connected to the head by a cord as shown in the cut, to prevent its falling or being lost when not inserted: but the Nautilus is more when the aperture is furnished with a valve, which opens inward, so as to admit the air freely, but prevent its escape. When sudden danger occurs on board vessels, the passenger who may have a Nautilus in his pocket, has only to place it at his back, take hold of the two ends with his two hands, draw them forward till they meet on his breast, and tie them together; or, which is better, connected the two ends by a hook and staple. It will readily be understood, that the elastic covering of this belt, being held in its distended form by the wires of the spiral springs, the internal air has no tendency to escape, even should the covering be by any means perforated. We should think it consistent with the interests of ship owners and insurance companies to furnish vessels with these articles, for the use of seamen; as it would evidently tend to prevent consternation in cases of danger by leakage or by fire; and prevent the premature abandonment of vessels, with their cargoes and papers. They are sold at 89 Nassau street.

—Mix together in a phial, one part of nitric acid, with two parts of muriatic acid, and add as much fine fold as the acid will dissolve. For this purpose gold leaf is the most convenient, as it will be the most readily dissolved. (This solution is called the nitro-muriate of gold.) Pour over this solution, cautiously, about half as much sulphuric ether;—shake the mixture; and then allow it to settle. The ether will take the gold from the acid, and will separate itself from it also, and form an upper stratum in the phial. Carefully pour off this auriferous ether into another phial, and cork it close. Wash any piece of steel or iron with this ether, and immediately plunge it in cold water, and it will have acquired a coat of pure gold. With this also, any flowers or letters may be drawn or written, even with a pen, and will appear perfectly gilt. The steel or iron should afterwards be heated as much as it will bear without changing colour, and if the steel be previously polished, the beauty of the gilding may be much increased by burnishing with a cornelian or blood-stone.

—Draw with a pencil on paper, any pattern to which you would have the glass conform; place the pattern under the glass, holding both together in the left hand, (for the glass must not rest on any plane surface;) then take a common spike or some similar piece of iron,—heat the point of it to redness, and apply it to the edge of the glass; draw the iron slowly forward, and the edge of t he glass will immediately crack; continue moving the iron slowly over the glass, tracing the pattern, and the chink in the glass will follow at the distance of about half an inch, in every direction according to the motion of the iron. It may sometimes be found requisite, however, especially in forming corners, to apply a wet finger to the opposite side of the glass. Tumblers and other glasses may be cut or divided very fancifully by similar means. The iron must be reheated as often as the crevice in the glass ceases to follow.

—It having been ascertained that a mountain near Harrisburg, Pa., consists almost entirely of immense beds of iron ore, and of excellent anthracite coal, the enterprising proprietors, instead of sinking shafts, and raising this mineral wealth in the ordinary way, have extended a level railroad tunnel through the heart of the mountain; thus securing east access to the beds of coal and iron, which are piled up to the height of 1160 feet above the level of the road. It is calculated that this mountain alone contains coal enough to supply the city of New-York for 26,000 years.

—In some parts of Pittsburg the cinders and soot from the many furnaces so pervade the atmosphere that they often hall on the faces and dresses of the ladies as they walk the streets. The only remedy in such cases, is to blow off the flakes of soot, as an attempt to wipe them off would only make matters worse. Hence it is said that the ladies of that city often come to blows.

—Flowers which have been kept in water some hours and begin to droop, may be again revived, by placing the stems in hot water. When the flowers have revived, the stems may be cut off as far as they had been in the hot water, and the flowers being again placed in cold water they will continue fresh some time longer.

—"Boston is said to contain upwards of five hundred gambling houses, and at least 1,000 professed gamblers," says the N. Y. "Mechanic and Farmer." We think our neighbours must have meant Paris or London, instead of our good, sober and honest Yankee Boston.

—A Bavarian dignitary being ordered to report to the king some plan to prevent the extensive emigration to the United States, suggested as the only remedy, "the annexation of the United States to Bavaria."

—A correspondent of the Courier says that while the artillery are practicing with mortars, the infantry are drilling directly in front, so that all the shells pass directly over their head. Very interesting.

—Attach to the wick of a candle, a small piece, or globule of potassium (the metallic base of potass) of the size of a small shot. Apply an icicle or point of ice to the metal, and it will instantly inflame. Note.—This curious substance, which has the peculiar property of being ignited by coming in contact with ice or water, was originally discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy. It is produced by making pure potass a part of the circle of a powerful Voltaic battery. It cannot be preserved but by being kept immersed in naphtha, a kind of oil, of which oxygen is not a constituent.

—Provide a tin chest of about eighteen inches in length, equal in height, and one inch in breadth.—Chalk any design of letters or flowers on the face of this chest, and pierce each line with rows of small holes, which should be about half an inch distant from each other.—Make an aperture at the top, through which pour about a pint of a mixture of rum and spirits of turpentine. Place two or three lamps under the bottom of the chest (which must be raised a little from the floor for that purpose) to warm the spirits, but no so as to cause them to boil. Stop the aperture at the top, and after eight or ten minutes (which time should be allowed for the vapour to expel the atmospheric air, which otherwise would cause an explosion) apply the flame of a lamp to the pierced lines—in an instant, all the lines will be covered with flame, which will continue till the the spirits are exhausted.

—Mr. Henry Smith, well known as "the razor-sharp man," has recently delivered several interesting temperance lectures, from one of which, the following is an extract:

"When the meeting was over, I told my wife I would try it (temperance) for one month. I did; and at the end of the month I found myself more comfortable.  When I was a drunkard, Wife cried, Mother cried, John cried, Ann cried, Mary cried, Ted cried; but I had been a temperance man only a month, before Wife sung, Father sung, Mother sung, John sung, Mary sung, Ted sung, Grandfather sung, and I sung; and I bought a frying pan and I put it on the fire, and put a good stake in it and that sung, and that is the singing for a working man when he is hungry.  Finding myself much better, I went and signed the pledge for life, and I hope I shall hold on."

—The total loss by the late fire in this city, is estimated at $6,000,000, at the least. The duration of the conflagration, was about eight hours. The average loss was of course $750,000 per hour,—$3,125 per minute; and $52, per second. Thus it appears that the average destruction of property for the space of eight hours was equal to what would have been done by four men with shovels at shovelling a heap of silver dollars from one of the piers, or from the deck of a vessel into the sea.

—Gerald Ralston, writing to the Railroad Journal from London, says, he thinks the American companies do not lay themselves out for carrying cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, poultry, &c., as much as they ought. In Great Britain the transportation of animals is a source of very large and increasing profit. The loss by driving live stock to market is greater than the expense of conveying them in quick and comfortable railway trains.

—Some evil-minded persons who delight in mischief, continue to commit depredations on this road, removing the rails, &c., but the company have taken prompt measures for securing the safety of passengers by sending a pilot engine some distance ahead of the trains, to see that all is right: also for the detection of the villians. We hope the penalties for this kind of offences will be put on a part with that of firing dwelling houses.

—Every person who looks at this paper, is particularly requested to examine our advertisement at the head of the first column, on the first page.

Under this head, it is difficult to write, unless the building and decorating of churches, ordaining of ministres, or the fashionable movements in certain places amongst some classes of grown up people, who having become tired of dancing, have decided to join the church,—may be received as religious intelligence. The fact is, or appears to be, that a total indifference to the subject, farther than the fashion or the honor of this world requires it, pervades all sects and denominations, beyond any precedent for the last forty years, at least. Our Missionaries appear to have accomplished nothing of importance for some time past, and some appear to have but little hopes that they ever will. Whatever may be the occasion of this apathy, this one thing is abundantly evident; that there never was a time in which the evidences of the truth and divine origin of the sacred Scriptures were more conspicuous or abundant, nor in which there was greater inducement in a rational sense, for people to become truly pious and obedient to the Gospel injunctions, than there is at the present.

—The Old Testament consists principally of historical and prophetic writings, whereby its authenticity is established to the satisfaction of all who duly examine its pages, comparing one part with another. It is also confirmed by the New Testament, which contains all the requisite instruction with regard to the duties of men; presents as history many events which had been described in the prophesies of the Old Testament, and abounds with promises of life and joy to the obedient, but with threatenings of punishments intolerable to all who reject and disobey its divine precepts. This Book does exist, and must have been written by either good men or by evil men. If good men wrote it, is must have been by divine inspiration; for so they tell us; and good men would not lie. But to believe that evil men would write such a book against themselves, would require more marvelous faith, than is required to beleive in the verity of all the miracles therein recorded.

—There can be no perfect happiness without a knowledge of misery. The excellence of righteousness can not be made manifest, without a contrast of sin: and no man can feel the sweet satisfaction of righteousness, unless he has been on probation; and no situation can be properly considered a state of probation, unless there are some failures therein. Therefore, it becomes the holiness of the Divine Being, in order to produce the greatest degree of rational happiness, to place his creatures on probation, although he knows that some of them will sin, and fall under condemnation;—the happiness of the obedient being thereby promoted, not by the misery of those who fall, but by the consciousness of having escaped. God will give to men the praise of righteousness and obedience, while they, with abundant propriety, will give to God all the glory of their salvation.

—It is reported, that in a town containing about 10,000 inhabitants, no less than 3,000 have recently renounced Popery, to attach themselves to the Protestant worship.

—The number of hands engaged in mining and smelting in Iowa, Wisconsin and upper Illinois, is increasing from 30 to 50 per cent. every year; the agricultural population and business of that region are increasing in an equal ratio. A new mine was discovered at Galena two or three weeks ago. There is lead enough in that mineral region to supply the civilized world for a thousand years.

—A man in Washington County, Md., a few days since, returning from Smithburg, took home with him a jug of whiskey. The consequence was, that two of his children gained access to the jug, and, unnoticed by their parents, drank so much of the poison that they soon changed colour, foamed at the mouth, and died in convulsions.

—Cast iron expands by 200 degrees of heat 1-278 of its bulk. Brass expands 1-177. Mercury 1-55, water 1-23. Oils 1-12, Alcohol 1-9.

Cast iron melts at 2786 degrees of heat. Copper melts at 1996. Silver at 1873. Brass—1672. Lead 615. Tin—442. Wax—142. Water boils at 212. Water freezes at 32. Mercury solid at 40 below zero.

—We learn from the Sun, that a patent has been granted to a Troy gentleman, for a process by which a human body may be petrified as hard and solid as marble, in about two weeks.

—Pic-Nic and Banner Presentation.—The Harmony and Jefferson Divisions, Nos. 5 and 7, Sons of Temperance, have selected the grove adjoining the far-framed West Point Iron Works, in the midst of the most romantic scenery of the Hudson, at "Cold Spring," for a pic-nic and banner presentation, on Thursday, Sept. 11th. All that can be required to render the excursion agreeable, will be provided; and those who delight in the magnificent works of nature and art, will find this a choice opportunity. The commodious steamer Mutual Safety will leave the foot of Hammond-street at half past 6; Canal-street at a quarter to 7; Barelay street at 7; Market-street at a quarter past 7; and Delancey-street at half past seven o'clock, precisely. Tickets for the excursion only 37 1-2 cents.