Scientific American Supplement, No. 401, September 8, 1883
by
Various
Part 2 out of 3
To prove the incorrectness of Helmholtz's statement that beats do not
colesce into musical sounds, but that the ear will distinguish them as a
rumbling noise, even when their number rises as high as 132 vibrations
per second, Rudolph Koenig has constructed a series of tuning forks,
recently presented by President Morton to the Stevens Institute of
Technology. The following table exhibits the number of vibrations per
second of these forks, the ratios of their vibrations when two are
sounded together, the number of beats produced, and the resultant sound:
Vibrations per second. Ratio. Beats. Sounds.
3840 :4096 15:16 128 Ut_{2}
3904 : " 61:64 96 Sol_{1}
3936 : " 123:128 80 Mi_{1}
3968 : " 31:32 64 Ut_{1}
3976 : " 497:512 60 Si_{-1}
3989.3 : " 187:192 53.3 La_{-1}
4000 : " 125:128 48 Sol_{1}
4010.7 : " 47:48 42.7 Fa_{-1}
4016 : " 251:256 40 Mi_{-1}
4024 : " 503:512 36 Re_{-1}
7936 : 8192 31:32 128 Ut_{2}
8064 : " 63:64 64 Ut_{1}
8096 : " 253:256 48 Sol_{-1}
8106.7 : " 95:96 42.7 Fa_{-1}
8112 : " 507:512 40 Mi_{-1}
8120 : " 1015:1024 36 Re_{-4}
8128 : " 127:128 32 Ut_{-4}
On sounding two forks nearly in unison, the sound heard corresponds to
a number of vibrations equal to the difference of the numbers of
vibrations of the forks.
On sounding two forks, one of which is nearly the octave of the other,
the ear perceives a sound, which is that given by vibrations whose
number equals the difference in the number of vibrations of the higher
fork and the upper octave of the lower fork.
Koenig has also found out the laws of the resultant sounds produced
by other intervals than the octave, and has extended his researces to
intervals differing by any number of vibrations, as may be seen from the
above table.
His conclusion is that beats and resultant sounds are one and the same
phenomenon.
Thus, for example, the lowest number of vibrations capable of producing
a musical sound is 32 per second; in like manner, a clear musical sound
is produced by two simple notes of sufficient intensity which produce 32
beats per second.
Koenig also made a very ingenious modification of the siren for the
purpose of enabling Seebeck to sound simultaneously notes whose
vibrations had any given ratio. It is furnished for this purpose with
eight disks, each of which contains a given number of circles of
holes arranged at different angular distances. A description of this
instrument, which is also the property of the Stevens Institute, and of
Seebeck's experiments is thus given in a letter by Koenig himself.
I.
_Effects produced when the isochronism of the shocks is not perfect_.
A.
In order to produce a note, the succession of shocks must not deviate
much from isochronism.
If the isochronism is but little impaired, we obtain a note
corresponding to the mean interval of the shocks.
If the intervals between the shocks are alternately t and t', and if the
difference between t and t' is slight, we obtain the two notes t+t' and
(t+t')/2. If the intervals between the shocks are alternately t, t', and
t'', we obtain the two notes t+t'+t'' and (t+t'+t")/3.
Disk No. 1 has--
On circle No. 1 12 holes, angular distances t=30 deg.
" " 2 24 " " " 15 deg.
" " 3 36 " " " 10 deg.
" " 4 36 " at irregular distances.
" " 5 36 " distances t= 101/2 deg., t'=l0 deg.,t''=91/2 deg.
" " 6 36 " " 11 deg. 10 deg. 9 deg.
" " 7 36 " " 16 deg. 14 deg.
" " 8 36 " " 161/2 deg. 131/2 deg.
Circle No. 8 produces the two notes of circles 1 and 2; circle No. 7 the
same, but the low note is stronger than in 8.
Circle 6 produces the notes of circles 1 and 3, and so does circle 5,
but in the latter the low note is stronger than in 6.
Circle 4 produces a noise approximating only to the note of circle 3.
By pulling out one of the buttons of the wind chest, we admit the air
through eleven holes at a time, having an angular distance of 30 deg. and
directing it against the corresponding circle of holes on the turning
disk. If the arrangement of holes is not repeated identically twelve
times on the same circle, we cannot, of course, make use of the above
arrangements of holes of the wind tube, and we must then employ one of
the movable brass tubes, which communicate with the interior of the wind
chest by means of rubber tubes and stopcocks. The experiment with disk
1, circle 4, for example, requires the use of one of these two tubes,
while the perforated wind tube of the wind chest may be used with all
the other circles of the same disk.
B.
If t is much less than t', while t' is a multiple of t, the note
(t+t')/2 disappears, and the notes t+t' and t are heard.
Disk No. 2 has--
On circle No. 1 12 holes, distances 30 deg.
" " 2 36 " " 10 deg.
" " 3 48 " " 71/2 deg.
" " 4 60 " " 6 deg.
" " 5 24 " " t= 5 deg., t'=25 deg.
" " 6 24 " 6 deg. 24 deg.
" " 7 24 " 71/2 deg. 221/2 deg.
" " 8 24 " 10 deg. 20 deg.
Circle 8 produces the notes of circles 1 and 2; circle 7, those of 1 and
3; circle 6, those of 1 and 4; and circle 5, the note of circle 1 and of
its sixth harmonic.
C.
If the same circular arc is divided into m and n equal parts; that is to
say, if mt=nt', we obtain the notes m and n.
Disk No. 3 has--
Distances.
On circle No. 1 24 holes, distances 15 deg.
" " 2 24 " " 15 deg. & 27 holes, 13-1/3 deg.
" " 3 24 " " 15 deg. " 30 " 12 deg.
" " 4 24 " " 15 deg. " 32 " 11-1/4 deg.
" " 5 24 " " 15 deg. " 36 " 10 deg.
" " 6 24 " " 15 deg. " 40 " 9 deg.
" " 7 24 " " 15 deg. " 45 " 8 deg.
" " 8 24 " " 15 deg. " 30, 36, & 48 holes
Circle 1 produces a single note, circle 2 a second, circle 3 a third,
circle 4 a fourth, 5 a fifth, 6 a sixth, 7 a seventh, and 8 a perfect
chord.
II.
_Experiments to prove that the shocks may proceed from two or several
different places to conspire in the formation of a note, provided that
the isochronism of the shocks is sufficiently exact, and that the shocks
are produced in the same direction_.
Disk No. 4 has--
On circle 1 24 holes.
" " 2 36 "
" " 3 23 "
" " 4 12 at an angular distance of 10 deg. from the holes
of circle 3.
" " 5 12 holes at an ang. dist. of 20 deg. from those of circle 3
" " 6 12 " " " 0 deg. "
" " 7 12 " " " 15 deg. "
" " 8 12 " " " 15 deg. "
1. If from the same side two currents of air at an angular distance of
15 deg. are directed against circle No. 8 of 12 holes, we obtain the octave
of the note produced by the same circle if only one current is used.
The wind-chest is provided with a special arrangement for this
experiment. By pulling out button 8, we give vent to 12 currents of air
spaced like the twelve holes of the disk; on pulling out button 9 we
also produce 12 currents, but they are situated just between the first.
Each of these two buttons pulled out alone will produce the same note
corresponding to 12 holes, but drawn together they produce the octave,
or the note of circle 1.
2. If two currents of air are directed against two similar circles whose
holes are situated on the same radii, we obtain the same result.
In this experiment, circles 7 and 8 are sounded by pulling out buttons 7
and 9.
3. When two currents of air are directed on the same radius against two
circles of similar holes arranged alternately, these circles sounded
simultaneously will produce the octave of the note which one of them
would give alone.
This experiment is performed by sounding circles 6 and 7 and pulling out
buttons 6 and 7.
4. If we direct three currents of air on the same radius against three
similar circles having holes alternating by a third of the distance
between two holes of the same circle, the three circles together produce
the fifth of the octave (Note 3) of a single circle.
Circles 3, 4, and 5 sounded together emit the note of circle 2.
(By sounding only two circles, 3 and 4, or 4 and 5, we make the same
experiment with two circles as disk No. 2 enabled us to make with
circle 8 alone; also, by sounding circle 3 alone, we obtain the note
corresponding to 12 holes; then pulling out button 4, the notes
corresponding to 12 and 36 holes are heard suddenly and very strongly;
but as soon as circle 5 is sounded also, the note of 12 disappears
completely, and we have left only that corresponding to 36 holes.)
III.
_Effects of interference produced by shocks in opposite directions_.
1. If we direct against a circle of holes two currents of air in
opposite directions, the note obtained with a single current is very
much weakened, if the two currents reach the holes simultaneously.
If the impulses are not isochronous, the intensity of the note is
increased.
2. If the two currents are directed against two circles of the same
number of holes, the effect is the same as for the two preceding cases.
3. If two currents of air are directed against two circles, one of which
has twice as many holes as the other, we obtain only the low note if
every shock of one is isochronous with every shock of the other.
We obtain the notes of both circles, one of which is the octave of the
other, if there is no isochronism between the shocks.
Disk No. 5 has three circles of 36, 36, and 72 holes. The air currents
are directed against the circles of holes through the movable tubes,
made so that they can be detached at pleasure. All these experiments
require great precision in the arrangement of these wind tubes. To make
sure that the tubes are simultaneously before two holes of the disk, it
is well to put little rods through the holes, reaching into the wind
tubes, and to remove them only when the tubes are firmly attached. The
experimenter should be careful also to place the two tubes exactly
at the same distance from the turning disk. It is clear that
notwithstanding all these precautions we never obtain perfect
interference, but only the weakening of notes that ought to disappear
entirely if all the arrangements were made with mathematical exactness,
and also if the ear could have absolutely the same position with regard
to impulses produced in opposite directions.
IV.
_Beats_.
Disk No. 6 has--
8 circles of holes to the number of 1, 2, 23, 24, 25, 47, 48, 49.
Circles 3 and 4, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, and 7 and 8 ought to produce as many
beats as circle 1 produces simple shocks; and circles 3 and 5, 6 and 8,
as many beats as circle 2 produces simple shocks; but we must content
ourselves in these experiments with a much less perfect result, for the
following reasons: The disk never being rigorously plane, alternately
approaches the single wind pipe and recedes from it. No matter how
slight this deviation is, every sound given by a single circle is heard
with periodical intensities which complicate the phenomenon. This
inconvenience could be avoided by placing several wind-pipes around the
circle; but while we can extend the period of the holes in two circles
(whose difference is 1) around the whole circle by blowing through a
single wind tube, we would be compelled to limit it to the distance
between two wind tubes, and it would become too short; for, when the
disk rotates with a velocity sufficient to produce notes high enough and
intense enough, the beats become too numerous to be easily perceived.
Besides these provisions, which sufficiently illustrate the points to
which we desire to call especial attention, Koenig also furnishes two
more disks.
The seventh contains 8 circles having 48, 54, 60, 64, 72, 80, 90, and
96 holes respectively. The 1st, 3d, 5th, and 8th will produce a perfect
chord when the air is admitted through the 11 holes in the wind chest;
with one wind tube the entire gamut may be obtained.
Finally the eighth disk contains 8 circles of holes, whose numbers are
in the ratio of 1:2:3:4, etc., and which may be used to illustrate
harmonics. C. F. K.
* * * * *
THE MOTIONS OF CAMPHOR UPON THE SURFACE OF WATER.
[Footnote: Continued from SUPPLEMENT No. 391, page 6240.]
To have these movements occur in a constant and invariable manner upon
the surface of water, and especially upon mercury, it is necessary to
take precautions in regard to cleanliness, this being something that
we have purposely neglected to mention to our readers. For we wished,
through this voluntary omission, to stimulate their sagacity by bringing
them face to face with difficulties that they will perhaps have
succeeded in overcoming, with causes of error that they will have
perceived, and the principal one of which is the want of absolute
cleanliness in the water, vessels, and instruments that they may have
used for the experiments.
Thus, very probably, they will have more than once seen the camphor
remain immovable when placed in vessels in which they had hoped to
be able to see it undergo its gyratory and other motions. Their
astonishment will have been no less than our own was when we noticed
the sudden cessation of the camphor's motions under the influence of
vitreous or metallic objects, such as glass rods or tubes, pieces of
gold, silver, or copper coin, table knives, etc., dipped into the liquid
in which such motions were taking place before the immersion of the
objects under consideration.
The instantaneously _sedative_ power of the human fingers, or of a hair,
will have, perhaps, reminded them of some sort of sorcery, or of some
diabolic art worthy of the great Albert.
[Illustration: APPARATUS FOR THE STUDY OF THE MOTIONS OF CAMPHOR.]
As for ourself, we confess that, after repeating the curious experiments
of Mr. Dutrochet day after day, and scrupulously following his
directions, we have, in the presence of our results, that were exactly
identical with his, almost been tempted to believe ourself to be the
victim of some occult power, or at least of some optical illusion,
the true cause of which remained a mystery to us. Finally, after
many fruitless attempts to find a key to the enigma that engaged our
attention, the light finally dawned upon us, and then shone straight in
our eyes.
In comparing the last results of our experiments with those that we had
obtained previously, we saw, for example, that the camphor moved in the
test glasses at a level that was notably higher than that at which its
gyration took place the day before, or the day before that. And yet we
had always used the same vessels, the same water, and particles detached
from the same lump of camphor.
To what, then, could be due the difference observed between the two
levels at which we had, in the first and last place, seen the
camphor execute its movements? In the absence of any answer that was
satisfactory, we finally suspected that the difference that we had
noticed was ascribable to the fact that, after the numerous washings
that the apparatus had been submitted to in having water poured into
them to repeat the experiments, they had gradually been freed from
impurities of whatever nature they might have been, and which, unbeknown
to us, might have soiled their sides.
Starting with this idea, which was as yet a hyphothetical one, we began
to wash our hands, glasses, etc., at first with very dilute sulphuric
acid, and then with ammonia. Afterward we rinsed them with quantities of
water and dried them carefully with white linen rags that had been used
for no other purpose; and finally we plunged them again into very clean
water. We thus cut the Gordian knot, and were on the right track.
In fact, on again repeating Mr. Dutrochet's experiments, with that
minute care as to cleanliness that we had observed to be absolutely
necessary, we saw crumble away, one after another, all the pieces of
the scaffolding that this master had with so much trouble built up. The
camphor moved in all our vessels, of glass or metal, and of every form,
at all heights. The immersed bodies, such as glass tubes, table knives,
pieces of money, etc., had lost their pretended "sedative effect" on a
pretended "activity of the water," and on the vessels that contained
it. The so-called phenomenon of habit "transported from physiology into
physics," no longer existed.
The likening of the apparatus employed to obtain motions of camphor
upon water, with the entirely physiological apparatus by means of which
nature effects a circulation of the liquid contained in the internodes
of _Chara vulgaris_, had proved a grave error that was to be erased from
the science into which it had been introduced by its author with entire
good faith. The true cause of _life_ had not then been unveiled, and the
new agent designated as _diluo-electricity_ vanished before the very
simple and authentic fact that camphor moves rapidly upon the surface
of very pure mercury, in which no one would assuredly suppose that that
volatile substance could dissolve.
Mr. Dutrochet attaches great importance to the manner in which the water
is poured (with or without agitation) into the vessel with which
the experiment is performed. The matter is in fact of little or no
importance, and to prove this, it is only necessary to employ a test
glass (see figure) provided with a lateral tube, A, that terminates in a
lower tubulure, B, above which there is a contraction, C. Upon pouring
water into the lateral tube until the level reaches D, and placing
a particle of camphor on its surface, the camphor will be seen to
continually move about, even when the liquid has reached the upper
edge of the vessel. To reduce the level to various heights, it is only
necessary to revolve the tube in the cork through which it is fitted to
the tubulure. In proceeding thus, agitation or _collision_ of the water
is avoided; and yet if the test glass is very clean, the camphor will
continue to move at every level of the water.
But, some one will doubtless say, how do you explain the stoppage in the
motions of the camphor on the surface of water contained in vessels that
are not perfectly clean? Before answering this question, let us say in
the first place that the cause of the motions under consideration is due
to nothing else but the evaporation of this concrete oil--to effluvia
that escape from all parts and that exert upon the body whence they
emanate a recoiling action exactly like that which manifests itself in
an aelopile mounted upon a brasier, or, better yet, in the explosion of
a sky-rocket. A portion of these camphory vapors, as well as a small
portion of the camphor itself, dissolves in the water and forms upon its
surface an oily layer which is at first very slight, but the thickness
of which may increase in time until it becomes (especially if the vessel
is narrow) a mechanical obstacle to the gyration of the small fragments
of camphor that it imprisons, and whose evaporation it prevents. Now,
as this layer of volatile oil may and does evaporate, in fact, after a
certain length of time, the camphor then resumes its gyratory motions;
but there is not the least reason in the world for saying on that
account that it "has _habituated_ itself to the cause which had at first
influenced it, and that, too, in modifying itself in such a way as to
render null the influence of a cause that has not ceased to be present"
(Dutrochet, _l.c._., p. 50).
We have been enabled to convince ourself of the existence of this oily
layer of camphor when it was of a certain thickness by introducing under
the water on which it, had formed, a few drops of sulphuric ether whose
sudden evaporation produced sufficient cold to instantaneously congeal
the layer in question and thus render it perfectly visible to the eye.
The slight layer of greasy matter that habitually lines the sides of
vessels from whence no effort has been made to remove it, produces
effects exactly like those of the oil of camphor, that is to say, that
in measure as it becomes thicker it likewise arrests the motions of the
concrete volatile essence.
This is precisely what happens in a test-glass in which we see the
camphor in motion become immovable if the level of the water be raised a
few centimeters, and, more especially, if it be raised to the upper edge
of the apparatus. In its slow ascent the liquid _licks_ up, so to speak,
the oily layer that lines the inner surface of the vessel, and this
material spreads over the surface of the water and forms thereupon a
layer which, in spreading over the bit of camphor itself, prevents its
evaporation, and, consequently, its motions. The existence of the layer
under consideration cannot be doubted, since it is made to disappear by
causing the water to-overflow from the edges of the vessel, and, more
easily still, by spreading a piece of filtering paper over the liquid in
which the camphor is in a state of rest. As soon as the paper is
removed (without the water being touched by the fingers, it should be
understood), the camphor resumes its motions and afterward continues
them at all levels.
The fingers themselves, provided they are very clean, have no power to
stop the gyration. The following experiment, which is easy to repeat, is
an unquestionable proof of this.
Wash carefully the middle finger with aqua ammonia, and afterward with
plenty of water, and then dip it into a drinking glass in which a
fragment of camphor is rapidly moving, and the gyration will not be
stopped. But it will be made to stop instantly if the finger in
its natural state (that is, covered with the fatty substances that
ordinarily soil the fingers, especially in summer) be dipped into this
same glass.
_Movements of Camphor upon Mercury_.--In order to study the motions of
camphor, mercury possesses, as compared with water, a great advantage,
and that is that we can easily assure ourselves of the degree of
cleanliness of this metal by means of the condensed breath. The
vapory-deposits thereon in a uniform manner if the mercury is perfectly
clean, but forms variously shaded and more persistent spots if it is
soiled by foreign bodies But it is extremely difficult to clean mercury
completely. To do so Mr. Boisgiraud and I take distilled mercury and
leave it for a long time in contact with concentrated sulphuric acid,
taking care to often shake the mixture. Then, after removing the greater
part of the acid, we throw the metal into a vessel containing quick lime
in powder, and finally pass it through a filter containing a few holes
in its lower part.
Purified by this process, mercury not only permits of the motions of
camphor on its surface, but renders visible the traces of the vapors
that escape from it, and which resemble small tadpoles with a long tail
that are endowed with very great agility. Nothing is more curious than
to see the particle of camphor successively ascend and descend the
strongly pronounced curves presented by the mercury near the sides of
the vessel that contains it. On raising the temperature of the metal
slightly, the motions of the camphor on its surface are accelerated, and
the same effects occur with water that has been slightly heated.
The experiments that we have just called attention to show what
importance slight impurities may have upon certain results. "They
prove," says our learned colleague Mr. Daquin, "that there exists upon
polished substances an imperceptible coating of those fatty matters
which serve to-day to explain Moser's images." We find therein also a
manifest proof and a rational explanation of those grave errors into
which the presence of these fatty matters, that have hitherto been
scarcely suspected, led so clever and so distinguished a scientist as
the illustrious discoverer of endosmosis.--_N. Joly, in La Nature_.
* * * * *
CARBONIC ACID IN BEER.
We present a diagram, on exposition at the last Brewers' Convention in
Detroit, of the racking device, devised by J. E. Siebel in 1872, and
used at that time in the brewery of Messrs. Bartholomae & Roesing, in
Chicago. The object of the apparatus is to retain as much carbonic acid
in the beer as possible while racking the same off into smaller packages
from the storage vats. The importance of this measure is apparent to
every one who knows what pains are taken to preserve the presence of
this constituent in all the former stages of the brewing process. In the
method of racking off which is in present use in most breweries, the
beer is forced through a rubber hose from the cask in the store vault to
the barrels, kegs, and smaller packages in the fill room. Owing to the
excess of pressure in the beer as it enters the keg, it is evident that
a large amount of the carbonic acid gas must escape. The escape of
carbonic acid during the process of racking off is indeed so large that
even a small difference in the pressure of the atmosphere causes a
remarkable difference in this respect. It is, therefore, evident that if
a larger pressure can be maintained while racking off, a larger amount
of carbonic acid gas will remain in the beer. It is true that the
racking off will take a little longer time if done under pressure, but
this inconvenience is certainly insignificantly small, when compared
with the other labors and troubles daily undergone in a brewery, for the
sole purpose to preserve in the beer the carbonic acid in that form in
which it has been formed during the fermentation, and in which form it
has far more refreshing and other valuable properties than in any
other form in which it may be subsequently introduced into the beer by
artificial means. The apparatus designed in the accompanying cut is
calculated to artificially produce a higher pressure of the atmosphere,
at least within the keg which is to be filled with beer. For this
purpose, the beer from the store cask running through the pipe, B,
enters the keg through a hollow copper bung, fitting light into the bung
hole by means of a rubber washer. The air contained in the keg, being
replaced by the beer, is forced out by means of the hollow copper bung,
taking its course through the pipe, inscribed "Glass Gauge," until it is
allowed to escape in the standpipe, C, containing a column of water,
the height of which designates the pressure within the keg, and a
consequently increased retention of carbonic acid gas. If the keg or
barrel is filled with beer, the same becomes apparent from the beer
showing itself in the glass gauge; then the faucet, B, is closed, the
copper bung is lifted out of the bung hole, and the beer contained in
the pipe is just sufficient to completely fill the keg, which is then
bunged up, while the apparatus is transferred to the next keg. Should
the attendant carelessly neglect to close the faucet in proper time, the
surplus beer will not necessarily be wasted, but will be collected in
the vessel, D, whence it can be drawn off through e.--_Chemical Review_.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
ON THE DIFFERENT MODIFICATIONS OF SILVER BROMIDE AND SILVER CHLORIDE.
Hermann W. Vogel has made a comparative study of the properties of
silver bromide, obtained by precipitation in an aqueous solution of
gelatin, and those of the same compound prepared by precipitation in an
alcoholic solution of collodion. In 1874 Stas called attention to six
modifications of silver bromide. One of these, granular bromide of
silver, obtained by boiling the flocculent precipitate for several days
with water, he stated, was the most sensitive to light of all substances
known; exposure for two or three seconds to the pale blue flame of a
Bunsen burner being sufficient to blacken it. Important as this fact was
for photographers it was not applied for years, and it was only in
1878, when, it having been found that silver bromide precipitated in
a gelatine solution and boiled for several hours becomes much more
sensitive to light, that the remarks of Stas was recalled. Today these
observations have become of the greatest importance to practical
photography. They have led to the preparation of the silver bromide
gelatin emulsion and the silver bromide gelatin plates, which are twenty
times more sensitive than the silver iodide collodion plates, and have
become indispensable when impressions are to be taken in a dim light.
The extraordinary sensitiveness of silver bromide in gelatin seemed the
more remarkable since it was known that silver bromide in collodion is
only moderately sensitive. The explanation was sought for in various
directions, but as the result of numerous investigations it appears
that the chief cause of the difference is the presence of different
modifications of silver bromide. From a consideration of the work
already done on the subject, Vogel suspected that silver bromide
precipitated in an aqueous colloidal liquid would have notably different
properties from silver bromide precipitated in an alcoholic colloidal
solution. Silver bromide was prepared in many different ways. Emulsions
were made in bromide solutions containing gelatin or collodion (the
former aqueous, the latter alcoholic), some with the aid of heat, others
without. Part of the emulsion was then poured upon plates kept at a
moderate temperature and dried. The remainder was boiled or treated with
ammonia before being applied to the plates. He also precipitated silver
bromide in dilute gelatin or collodion solutions, allowed it to settle
completely, washed the precipitate, and mixed it with a new portion
of gelatin or collodion before applying it to the plates. Finally he
precipitated pure silver bromide, in the absence of all colloids, by
means of pure aqueous or alcoholic solutions of bromides and attempted
to bring this upon plates, using gelatin or collodion as a cement.
The result of all these experiments is that there are essentially two
modifications of silver bromide, the one being obtained by precipitation
in aqueous, the other in alcoholic solutions. The first, on account of
the position of the maximum of sensitiveness for the solar spectrum, he
calls blue sensitive, the other, for the same reason, indigo sensitive.
It is of no consequence whether the aqueous or alcoholic solution in
which the silver bromide is formed contains gelatin or collodion, or
whether the precipitation is effected with excess of bromide or of
silver nitrate. It makes no difference whether the solution is hot or
cold, or whether the silver bromide is treated with ammonia or
whether it is boiled or not. The only necessary condition is that in
precipitating indigo sensitive silver bromide the solutions must contain
at least 96 per cent of alcohol. From aqueous alcoholic solutions blue
sensitive silver bromide is precipitated.
Besides the difference of sensitiveness toward the solar spectrum, these
modifications of silver bromide exhibit other characteristic differences
in properties which indicate beyond a doubt that they are two
essentially different modifications of the same substance. Among these
are, 1st. Their unequal divisibility in gelatin or collodion solutions.
The indigo sensitive silver bromide cannot be distributed through a
gelatin solution, while the blue sensitive modification does so very
readily. 2d. Their unequal reducibility; the blue sensitive silver
bromide being reduced with much greater difficulty than the indigo
sensitive variety. 3d. Their different action toward chemical and
physical sensitizers. 4th. Their different action toward photographic
developers. 5th. Their different action under the influence of heat.
The blue sensitive variety if heated under water has its sensitiveness
perceptibly increased, while the other is not changed by such treatment.
A direct transformation of one modification into the other has not yet
been accomplished. The effect of the light upon these substances is
incipient reduction, and we might hence suppose that the more reducible
indigo sensitive variety would be the more sensitive to light. But
this is not the case, because it is not chemical reducibility, but the
absorption power for light that is of the greatest importance. Now the
blue sensitive silver bromide has a greater absorption power than the
indigo sensitive variety, and hence its greater sensitiveness. Silver
chloride prepared by methods similar to those used in making the two
forms of bromides was also found to exist in two modifications. One is
designated as ultra violet sensitive, the other as violet sensitive
silver chloride.--_Amer. Chem. Jour_.
* * * * *
ANALYSIS OF A SAMPLE OF NEW ZEALAND COAL.
[Footnote: Read before the Society of Public Analysts on the 28th June,
1883.]
By OTTO HEHNER
Some discussion having recently taken place as to the value of New
Zealand coal as a fuel, the following results of a somewhat full
analysis may be worthy of being placed on record.
The sample to which the results refer consisted of large brownish
black lumps, many of which showed woody structure; the fractures were
conchyloid, the surface shiny and highly reflecting. It was interspersed
with a considerable amount of an amber colored resin. When powdered it
appeared chocolate brown. It burned readily, the flame being bright and
very smoky. Its ash was light and reddish brown.
It consisted of--
Water (loss at 212 deg. F.) 20.09
Organic and volatile matter 75.19
Ash 4.72
------
100.00
The organic and volatile constituents had the following percentage
composition--
Carbon 71.26
Hydrogen 5.62
Oxygen 21.58
Nitrogen 1.06
Sulphur 0.48
------
100.00
The ash was composed of--
Silica 27.26
Alumina 26.48
Oxide of iron 12.98
Lime 20.19
Magnesia 3.42
Sulphuric acid 9.47
Alkalies and loss 0.20
------
100.00
From these figures the composition of the coal itself calculates as
under--
Water 20.09
Carbon 53.58
Hydrogen 4.23
Oxygen 16.23
Nitrogen 0.80
Sulphur 0.36
Silica 1.29
Alumina 1.25
Oxide of iron 0.61
Lime 0.95
Magnesia 0.16
Sulphuric acid 0.44
Alkalies 0.01
------
100.00
One ton furnished 8,458 cubic feet of gas and 8 cwt. of coke.
The very high proportion of water contained in the sample is very
remarkable. It was so loosely combined, that even at ordinary
temperature it gradually escaped, the coal crumbling to small pieces.
The large amount as well as the high percentage of oxygen characterize
the so called coal as a _lignite_, with which conclusion the physical
characters of the sample are in perfect harmony.
The resin to which I have referred has not been further analyzed. It was
found to be insoluble in all ordinary menstrua, such as alcohol, ether,
carbon disulphide, benzene, or chloroform, and neither attacked by
boiling alcoholic potash nor by fusing alkali. On heating it swells up
considerably and undergoes decomposition, but does not fuse.
The coal may be valuable as a gas coal and for local consumption, but
the large proportions of water and of oxygen militate against its use as
a steam producer, only 58 per cent. of it being really combustible.
* * * * *
DETERMINING MANGANESE IN STEEL, CAST IRON, FERRO-MANGANESE, ETC.
By E. RAYMOND.
The method in question is recommended as easy, expeditious, and
accurate. It consists in precipitating all the manganese in the state of
peroxide, dissolving it in a ferrous solution so as to bring back the
manganese to the manganous slate, and determining volumetrically, by
means of potassium permanganate, the quantity of ferrous salt which
has been converted into ferric. The method of rapidly precipitating
manganese peroxide is peculiar. If we act upon cast-iron or steel with
nitric acid and potassium chlorate in certain proportions, and boil
the mixture, the manganese is completely precipitated in the state of
peroxide insoluble in nitric acid, but retaining a small quantity of
ferric oxide. Suppose that we have a sample of steel or manganiferous
cast-iron containing less than 7 per cent of manganese. Three grammes
are treated in a small flask with 40 c. c. of nitric acid, of sp. gr.
1.20, added little by little. The liquid is stirred, and ultimately
heated to complete solution. It is withdrawn from the fire, and 15
grammes potassium chlorate are added, and then 20 c. c. of nitric acid
at sp. gr. 1.40. It is boiled for about fifteen minutes, until the
escape of chlorine ceases; all the manganese is found thrown down
as peroxide; hot water is added, the mixture is filtered, and the
precipitate washed with boiling water. To dissolve the manganese
peroxide thus obtained we measure exactly 50 c. c. of an acid solution
of ferrous sulphate, made up with 40 grammes ferrous sulphate to 750 c.
c. water and 230 c. c. sulphuric acid (full strength). The 50 c. c. are
poured into the flask in which the sample has been dissolved, and
to which a little peroxide adheres, and it is then poured upon the
precipitate and the filter in a Berlin-ware capsule. The manganese
peroxide dissolves very readily, transforming its equivalent of ferrous
sulphate into ferric sulphate. The liquid is then diluted to 100 or 150
c. c. for the next operation. We then take a solution of permanganate
formed by the same proportions as are used in determining iron by the
process of Margueritte (5.65 grammes of the crystalline salt per liter
of water), and determine its standard exactly. By means of this liquid
we determine volumetrically the quantity of ferrous sulphate remaining
in the solution of manganese. We take then 50 c. c. of the original
solution of ferrous sulphate diluted as above, and determine the total
ferrous salt.
The difference between the two determinations corresponds to the ferrous
salt which has been peroxidized by the manganese peroxide. The quantity
of iron thus peroxidized multiplied by 0.491 gives the quantity of
manganese contained in the portion operated upon. In the case of a
steel or cast iron containing but little manganese it is convenient to
dissolve the peroxide in 25 c. c. only of the ferrous solution. Small
Gay-Lussac burettes may then be used in the titration of only 0.010
meter internal diameter, and graduated into one-twentieth c. c., which
allows of great exactitude in the determination. For a spiegeleisen
not more than 1 gramme of the sample should be taken, and for a
ferro-manganese 0.3 gramme.
* * * * *
MANGANESE AND ITS USES.
Manganese is one of the heavy metals of which iron may he taken as the
representative. It is of a grayish white color, presents a metallic
brilliancy, and is capable of a high degree of polish, is so hard as to
scratch glass and steel, is non-magnetic, and is only fused at a white
heat. As it oxidizes rapidly on exposure to the atmosphere, it should be
preserved under naphtha.
It occurs in small quantity in association with iron in meteoric stones;
with this exception it is not found native. The metal may be obtained by
the reduction of its sesquioxide by carbon at an extreme heat.
Manganese forms no less than six different oxides--viz., protoxide,
sesquioxide the red oxide, the binoxide or peroxide, manganic acid, and
permanganic acid. The protoxide occurs as olive-green powder, and is
obtained by igniting carbonate of manganese in a current of hydrogen.
Its salts are colorless, or of a pale rose color, and have a strong
tendency to form double salts with the salts of ammonia. The carbonate
forms the mineral known as manganese spar. The sulphate is obtained by
heating the peroxide with sulphuric acid till there is faint ignition,
dissolving the residue in water and crystallizing. It is employed
largely in calico printing. The silicate occurs in various minerals.
The sesquioxide is found crystallized in an anhydrous form in braunite,
and hydrated in manganite. It is obtained artificially as a black powder
by exposing the peroxide to a prolonged heat. When ignited it loses
oxygen, and is converted into red oxide. Its salts are isomorphous with
those of alumina and sesquioxide of iron. It imparts a violet color to
glass, and gives the amethyst its characteristic tint. Its sulphate is a
powerful oxidizing agent.
The red oxide corresponds to the black oxide of iron. It occurs native
in hausmannite, and may be obtained artificially by igniting the
sesquioxide or peroxide in the open air. It is a compound of the two
preceding oxides.
The binoxide, or peroxide, is the black manganese of commerce, and the
pyrolusite of mineralogists, and is by far the most abundant of the
manganese ores. It occurs in a hydrated form in varvicite and wad. Its
commercial value depends upon the proportion of chlorine which a given
weight of it will liberate when it is heated with hydrochloric acid, the
quantity of chlorine being proportional to the excess of oxygen which
this oxide contains over that contained in the same weight of protoxide.
When mixed with chloride of sodium and sulphuric acid it causes an
evolution of chlorine, the other resulting products being sulphate of
soda and sulphate of protoxide of manganese. When mixed with acids, it
is a valuable oxidizing agent. It is much used for the preparation of
oxygen, either by simply heating it, when it yields 12 per cent. of
gas, or by heating it with sulphuric acid, when it yields 18 per
cent. Besides its many uses in the laboratory, it is employed in the
manufacture of glass, porcelain, and kindred wares.
Manganic acid is not known in a free state. Manganate of potash is
formed by fusing together hydrated potash and binoxide of manganese. The
black mass which results from this operation is soluble in water,
to which it communicates a green color, due to the presence of the
manganate. From this water the salt is obtained _in vacuo_ in beautiful
green crystals. On allowing the solution to stand exposed to the air, it
rapidly becomes blue, violet, purple, and finally red, by the gradual
conversion of the manganate into the permanganate of potash; and on
account of these changes of color the black mass has received the name
of mineral chameleon.
Permanganic acid is only known in solution or in a state of combination.
Its solution is of a splendid red color, but appears of a dark violet
tint when seen by transmitted light. It is obtained by treating a
solution of permanganate of baryta with sulphuric acid, when sulphate of
baryta falls, and the permanganic acid remains dissolved in the water.
Permanganate of potash, which crystallizes in reddish purple prisms, is
the most important of its salts. It is largely employed in analytical
chemistry, and is the basis of Condy's Disinfectant Fluid.
Manganese is a constituent of many mineral waters, and is found in small
quantities in the ash of most vegetables and animal substances. It is
always associated with iron.
Various preparations of manganese have been employed in medicine. The
sulphate of the protoxide in doses of one or two drachms produces
purgative effects, and is supposed to increase the excretion of bile;
and in small doses, both this salt and the carbonate have been given
with the intention of improving the condition of the blood in cases of
anaemia. Manganic acid and permanganate of potash are of great use when
applied in lotions (as in Condy's Fluid diluted) to foul and fetid
ulcers. In connection with the medicinal applications of manganese it
may be mentioned that manganic acid is the agent employed in Dr. Angus
Smith's celebrated test for the impurity of the air.
It is the glass maker's soap of glass manufacture, and is used to
correct the green color of glass, which is owing to the presence of
protoxide of iron. This it converts into the comparatively colorless
peroxide.
It is also used in the Bessemer and similar processes, to decompose the
oxide of iron. Spiegeleisen, an iron which contains a natural alloy of
from 10 to 12 per cent. of manganese, is used for this purpose when
conveniently attainable.--_Glassware Reporter_.
* * * * *
OZOKERITE, OR EARTH-WAX.
By WILLIAM L. LAY.
ON THE DEPOSITS OF EARTH WAX (OZOKERITE) IN EUROPE AND AMERICA.
[Footnote: Abstract from a paper read before the New York Academy of
Sciences.]
There exists a large mining and manufacturing industry in Austria, that
of ozokerite, or earth-wax, which has nothing like it in any other part
of the known world, an industry that supplies Europe with a part of its
beeswax, without the aid of the bees. It may not be generally known that
the mining of petroleum was a profitable industry in Austria long before
it was in this country. In 1852, a druggist near Tarnow distilled the
oil and had an exhibit of it in the first World's Fair in London.
In America, the first borings were made in 1859. Indeed, the use of
petroleum as an illuminator was common at a very early age in the
world's history. In Persia at Baku, in India on the Irawada, also in the
Crimea, and on the river Kuban in Russia, petroleum has been used
in lamps for thousands of years. At Baku the fire worshipers have a
never-ceasing flame, which has burned from time immemorial. The mines of
ozokerite are located in Austrian Poland, now known as Galicia. Near the
city of Drohabich, on the railway line running from Cracow to Lemberg,
is a town of six thousand inhabitants, called Borislau, which is
entirely supported by the ozokerite industry. It lies at the foot of
the Carpathian Mountains. About the year 1862, a shaft was sunk for
petroleum at that place. After descending about one hundred and eighty
feet, the miners found all the cracks in the clay or rock filled with
a brown substance, resembling beeswax. At first, the layers were not
thicker than writing paper; but they grew thicker gradually below, until
at a depth of three hundred feet they attained a thickness of three or
four inches. Upon examination, it was found that a yellow wax could be
made of a portion of this substance, and at once a substitute for wax
was manufactured.
The discovery caused an excitement like the oil fever of 1865 in
America. A large number of leases were made. When I saw the wells of
Pennsylvania, in 1879, there were more than two thousand. The owner
of the land received one-fourth of the product, and the miners
three-fourths. In the petroleum region, the leases at first were whole
farms, then they were reduced to 20, then 10, then 5, and at last to 1
acre, which is a square of 209 feet.
But in the ozokerite region of Poland, where everything is done on a
small scale, when compared with like enterprises in this country, the
leases were on tracts thirty-two feet square. These were so small that
the surface was not large enough to contain the earth that had to be
raised to sink the shaft; consequently the earth had to be transported
to a distance, and, when I saw it, there was a mound sixty or seventy
feet high. Its weight had become so great that it caused a sinking
of the earth, and endangered the shafts to such an extent that the
government ordered its removal to a distance and its deposit on ground
that was not undermined. The shafts are four feet square, and the sides
are supported by timbers six inches through, which leaves a shaft three
feet square. The miner digs the well or shaft just as we dig our water
wells, and the dirt and rock are hoisted up in a bucket by a rope and
windlass. But one man can work in the shaft at a time. For many years
no water was found; but, as there is a deposit of petroleum under the
ozokerite, at a depth of six hundred feet from the surface, the miners
were troubled with gas. This is got rid of by blowing a current of fresh
air from a rotary fan through a pipe extending down the shaft as fast as
the curbing of timber is put in place. The ozokerite is embedded in a
very stiff blue clay for a depth of several hundred feet; below, it is
interlaid with rock. [Specimens of crude and manufactured ozokerite were
on exhibition, through the kindness of Dr. J. S. Newberry.]
That part of the earth's surface has more miners' shafts to the acre
than any other part of the globe. As wages are very low in Poland,
averaging not more than forty cents a day for men and ten cents for
children, a very small quantity of ozokerite pays for the working. If
thirty or forty pounds a day is obtained, it remunerates the two men
and one or two children required to work each lease. When the bucket,
containing the earth, rock, and wax, is dumped in the little shed
covering the shaft, it is picked over by the children, who detach the
wax from the clay or rock with knives. The miners use galvanized wire
ropes and wooden buckets. When preparing to descend, they invariably
cross themselves and utter a short prayer. The business is not free from
danger, carelessness on the part of the boy supplying the fresh air, or
the caving in of the unsupported roof, causing a large number of deaths.
One of the government inspectors of the mines informed me that in one
week there had been eight deaths from accidents.
The ozokerite is taken to a crude furnace, and put into a common cast
iron kettle, and melted. This allows the dirt to sink to the bottom, and
the ozokerite, freed from all other solids, is skimmed off with a ladle,
poured into conical moulds, and allowed to cool, in which form it is
sold to the refiners, for about six cents per pound. The quantity
produced is uncertain, as the miners take care to understate it, for
the reason that the government lays a tax upon all incomes, and the
landowner demands his one-fourth of the quantity mined. The best
authority is Leo Strippelman, who states the quantity produced in
fifteen years at from 375,000,000 to 400,000,000 pounds, worth
twenty-four millions of dollars. As the owners of the land get
one-fourth of the sum, they received six millions. This is at the rate
of four hundred thousand a year, a rather valuable crop from some two
hundred acres of land.
The miners do not support the earth by timber or pillars, as they
should; the result is that the whole plot of about two hundred acres is
gradually sinking, and this will eventually ruin the industry in that
part of the deposit. In another part of the same field, a French company
has purchased forty acres, and it is mining the whole tract and hoisting
through one shaft by steam power. In that shaft they have sunk to a
depth of six hundred feet, and are troubled with water and petroleum.
These they pump out very much the same way as in coal and other mines,
worked in a scientific manner. The thickest layer of ozokerite found is
about eighteen inches, and this layer or pocket was a great curiosity.
When first removed at the bottom of the shaft, it was found to be so
soft that it was shoveled out like putty. During the night it oozed
into the space that had been emptied the day before; this continued for
weeks, or until the pressure of the gas had become too weak to force it
out.
I have been occupied in the petroleum region of Pennsylvania since 1860,
have seen all the wonderful development of the oil wells, and was very
much interested in contrasting the Austrian ozokerite and petroleum
industry with the American. It is a good illustration of the difference
between the lower class of Poles and Jews and the Yankee. Borislau,
after twenty years' work, was unimproved, dirty, squalid, and brutal. It
contained one school house, but no church nor printing office. None of
its streets were paved, and, in the main road through the town, the mud
came up to the hubs of the wagon wheels for over a mile of its length.
In places, plank had to be set up on edge to keep the mud out of the
houses, which were lower than the road. It contained numerous shops,
where potato whisky was sold to men, women, and children. It depends on
a dirty, muddy creek for its supply of water. Its houses were generally
one-story, built of logs and mud.
On the other hand, Oil City, a town of the same age and size, contained
eight school houses (one a high school building), twelve churches, and
two printing offices. It has paved streets, which, in 1863, were as deep
with mud as those in Borislau in 1879. It has no whisky shops where
women and children can drink. Many of its houses are of brick, two,
three, four, and five stories high. Its water works cost one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. All this has been done since 1860, when it did
not contain forty houses.
I saw in the market place of Borislau women standing ankle deep in the
mud, selling vegetables. One woman really had to build a platform of
straw, on which to place a bushel of potatoes; if the straw foundation
had not been there, the potatoes would have sunk out of sight. Borislau
is three miles from Drohobich, a city of thirty thousand inhabitants;
between the two places, in wet weather, the road was impassable. For a
third of the way, it was in the bed of the creek; and I had to wait a
day for the water to fall so as to navigate it in a wagon. On inquiring
why they did not improve the road, I found the same difficulty as the
Arkansas settler encountered with his leaky roof; when it rained he
could not repair it, and when it was dry it did not need repair: so with
the road to Borislau.
Ozokerite (from the Greek words, "Ozein," to smell, and "Keros," wax) is
found in Turkistan, east of the Caspian Sea; in the Caucasian Mountains,
in Russia; in the Carpathian Mountains, in Austria; in the Apennines,
in Italy; in Texas, California, and in the Wahsatch Mountains, in the
United States. Commercially, it is not worked anywhere but in Austria;
although, I believe, we have in Utah a larger deposit than in any other
place. I made two journeys to examine the deposits in the Wahsatch
Mountains. For a distance of forty miles, it crops out in many places,
and on the Minnie Maud, a stream emptying into the Colorado, I found
a stratum of sand rock, from ten to twelve feet thick, filled with
ozokerite.
No systematic effort has been made to ascertain the quantity of
ozokerite in Utah. I saw a drift of some fourteen feet at one place, and
a shaft twenty-three feet deep at another. In this shaft, the vein was
about ten inches wide; and it could be traced along the slope of the
hill, for several hundred feet. The largest vein of pure ozokerite is
seen on Soldiers' Fork of Spanish Canon, which enters Salt Lake Valley
near the town of Provo. This vein is very much like the ozokerite of
Austria, and contains between thirty and forty per cent. of white
ceresin (which resembles bleached beeswax), about thirty per cent. of
yellow ceresin (which resembles yellow wax), and twenty per cent. of
black petroleum; the residue is dirt. Dr. J. S. Newberry, of Columbia
College, and Prof. S. B. Newberry, of Cornell University, made
examinations of the ozokerite found in Utah; those who are interested
in the subject will find the papers published in the _Engineering and
Mining Journal_ for the year 1879.
A deposit of white ozokerite occurs on the top of the Apennine
Mountains, in Italy, of which a specimen is here exhibited. An
interesting story is told of its discovery. A church at Modena was
robbed; among other articles taken was a quantity of wax candles. A
short time afterward, a woman brought to a druggist a quantity of wax
and offered it for sale. The druggist bought it and afterward suspected
it consisted of the stolen candles melted down. Soon after ward she
brought another lot. He had her arrested. When questioned by the
magistrate, she said she found the wax in the clay on her farm, about
twenty miles from the city. This story confirmed him in the belief that
she had stolen the candles, or was the receiver of the stolen goods; for
such a thing as a deposit of wax in the soil was unheard of. She was
therefore remanded to jail. On three several days, she was brought
before the court, and, when questioned, told the same story. She was a
member of the church, and requested the priest to be sent for. He came,
and, after an interview between them, he said it was easy to disprove
her story, if it was a lie, by sending her home, in company with an
officer, to investigate. The court sent the priest, who was the only one
who believed her. On coming to her house, she took her pick and shovel,
and going to the place at the top of the hill, she dug out of the clay
a quantity of while ozokerite, proved her case, and was at once set at
liberty. She performed the same service for me, and I saw her dig the
specimen and heard her tell the story as I have told it to you. The hill
was composed of loose clay and stones. It appeared as if it had been
forced up by gas or some power from below the surface. The quantity that
could be gathered, by one person, laboring constantly for a week, was
only twenty-five or thirty pounds. An attempt had been made to sink a
shaft; but, at a depth of fourteen feet, the pressure of the clay was
sufficient to break the boards that held up the sides. The earth caved
in, and the shaft was abandoned.
It is not necessary here to describe the various processes of
manufacture; it will be sufficient to enumerate some of the forms of
ozokerite, and the uses to which it is put. At Borislau, there are
several refineries, where candles, tapers, and lubricating oils are
made. In Vienna, there are five factories; in one of these, they make
white wax, wax candles, matches, yellow beeswax, black heel-ball,
colored tapers, and crayon pencils. In Europe, large quantities of the
yellow wax are used to wax the floors of the houses, many of the finer
ones being waxed every day. It is a curious fact that the Catholic
Church does not allow the use of paraffine, sperm, or stearine candles;
at the same time nearly all the candles used in the churches in Europe
are made from ozokerite, which is a natural paraffine, made from
petroleum in nature's laboratory. In the United States, the only
uses made of ozokerite, so far as I know, are chewing gum and the
adulteration of beeswax. In this the Yankee gives another illustration
of the ruling passion strong in money making, which gives us wooden
nutmegs, wooden hams, shoddy cloth, glucose candy, chiccory coffee,
oleomargarine butter, mineral sperm oil made from petroleum, and beeswax
made without bees.
After this paper was written, the following translation from a pamphlet,
published by the First Hungarian Galician Railway Company, in 1879, came
to my notice. The writer's name is not published:
"Mineral wax, in the condition in which it is taken from the shafts,
is not well adapted for exportation, since it occurs with much earthy
matter; and, at any rate, an expensive packing in sacks would be
necessary. It is therefore first freed from all foreign substances by
melting, and cooled in conical cakes of about 25 kilos. weight, and
these cakes are exported. There are now, in Borislau, 25 melting works,
which, in 1877, with 1 steam and 60 fire kettles, produced 95,000 metric
centners (9,500,000 lb.).
"The melted earth wax is sent from Borislau to almost all European
countries, to be further refined. Outside of Austro-Hungary, we may
specially mention Germany, England, Italy, France, Belgium, and Russia
as large purchasers of this article of commerce.
"PRODUCTS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS.
"The products of mineral wax, are:
"(a.) _Ceresine_, also called ozocerotine or refined ozokerite, a
product which possesses a striking resemblance to ordinarily refined
beeswax. It replaces this in almost all its uses, and, by its cheapness,
is employed for many purposes for which beeswax is too dear. It is much
used for wax candles, for waxing floors, and for dressing linen and
colored papers. Wax crayons must be mentioned among these products. The
house of Offenheim & Ziffer, in Elbeteinitz, makes them of many colors.
These crayons are especially adapted to marking wood, stone, and iron;
also, for marking linen and paper, as well as for writing and drawing.
The writings and drawings made with these crayons can be effaced neither
by water, by acids, nor by rubbing.
"Concerning the technical process for the production of ceresine, it
should be said that, when the industry was new (the production of
ceresine has been known only about eight years, since 1874), it was
controlled by patents, which are kept secret. This much is known, that
the color and odor are removed by fuming sulphuric acid.
"From mineral wax of good quality about 70 per cent. of white ceresine
is obtained. The yellow ceresine is tinted by the addition of coloring
matter (annatto).
"(b.) _Paraffine_, a firm, white, translucent substance, without odor.
It is used, chiefly, in the manufacture of candles, and also as a
protection against the action of acids, and to make casks and other
wooden vessels water-tight, for coating corks, etc., for air-tight
wrappings, and, finally, for the preparation of tracing paper. There
are several methods of obtaining paraffine from ozokerite (see the
Encyclopedic Handbook of Chemistry, by Benno Karl and F. Strohmann, vol.
iv., Brunswick, 1877).
"The details of the technical process consists, in every case, in the
distillation of the crude material, pressure of the distillate by
hydraulic presses, melting, and treating by sulphuric acid.
"In the manufacture of paraffine from ozokerite, there are produced from
2 to 8 per cent. of benzine, from 15 to 20 per cent. of naphtha, 36
to 50 per cent. of paraffine, 15 to 20 per cent. of heavy oil for
lubricating, and 10 to 20 per cent. of coke, as a residue.
"(c.) _Mineral oils_, which are obtained at the same time with
paraffine, and are the same as those produced from crude petroleum,
described above. The process consists, as in the natural rock oils,
besides the distillation, in the treatment of the incidental products
with acids and alkalies.
"Of the products of ozokerite, manufactured in Galicia, the greater part
goes to Russia, Roumania, Turkey, Italy, and Upper Hungary. The common
paraffine candles made in Galicia--which are of various sizes, from
28 to 160 per kilo--are used by the Jews in all Galicia, Bukowuina,
Roumania, Upper Hungary, and Southern Russia, and form an important
article of commerce. Ceresine is exported to all the ports of the world.
Of late a considerable quantity is said to have been sent to the East
Indies, where it is used in the printing of cotton."
The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, stated that ozokerite was undoubtedly
a product of petroleum. Little was known by the public concerning its
use and value. He exhibited specimens of natural brown ozokerite, of
yellow ozokerite, sold as beeswax, and of a white purified form, which
had been treated by sulphuric acid. Specimens from Utah had already been
shown before the Academy. There was no mystery as to its genesis in
either region, as it had been shown to be the result of inspissation of
a thick and viscid variety of petroleum. The term "petroleum" includes a
great variety of substances, from a limpid liquid, too light to burn,
to one that is thick and tarry. These differ widely also in chemical
composition: some yielding much asphalt by distillation, resembling a
solution of asphalt in turpentine; some containing so much paraffine
that a considerable quantity can be strained out in cold weather. The
asphalt in its natural form is a solid rock, to which the term "gum
beds" has been applied in Canada. These differences in constitution have
originated in the differences in the bituminous shales from which the
petroleum, ozokerite, etc., have been derived. In Canada, as excavations
are sunk through the asphalt, this becomes softer and softer, and
finally passes into petroleum. This is also the case in Utah.
* * * * *
[Concluded from SUPPLEMENT No. 400, page 6390.]
[KANSAS CITY REVIEW.]
THE SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MAY 6, 1883.
Professor C. S. Hastings, of the Johns Hopkins University, also includes
many interesting details in his account of the trip:
The voyage from New York to Panama was pleasant with the exception of a
few hot days near Aspinwall. Somewhat further south the wind changed,
obliging them to call their overcoats from the bottom of their trunks to
keep out the cold when crossing the equator. During a short stop in
Lima the party had an opportunity of studying South American life. The
products of this country are fruits and photographs of the young women.
The party enjoyed both eating the former and bringing the latter home
for the admiration of their friends. The expedition really began at
Callao, where the party embarked on the United States man-of-war
Hartford. Few circumstances contributed more to the enjoyment of the
trip than the lucky chance which threw this vessel in their way. The
Hartford was fitted out last August as flag ship of the South Pacific
squadron. The admiral had not yet removed his flag to the vessel, but
the extra accommodations provided for him and his train condoned the
dignity lost by his absence. On March 22 they weighed anchor for a sail
of more than four thousand miles over the blue ocean which stretches
between Callao and their destination, Caroline Island. The southeast
trade winds favored them, and from the first day there was actually no
necessity for altering the position of a sail....
The inhabitants--five men, one woman and two children, according to
the eclipse census--are natives of Tahiti. The houses are one story
structures with clapboard sides, probably cut out in California and
brought out in ships, to be erected on this island. The island on which
they are built is about three-fourths of a mile in diameter and nearly
circular in outline. The edge, which rises from five to twenty inches
from the water, according to the tide's phase, goes down under the water
to an even table of coral running out many feet into the sea; and is
impossible to step on it with bare feet. At the end of this table the
reef goes down perpendicularly, a sheer precipice, into the unfathomable
sea. No vessel can anchor here, and to make a landing was an exciting
matter. The island was approached in small boats on the side sheltered
from the wind, and here, with the luck which characterized the trip, was
found the only opening in this barrier of coral. A long cleft, perhaps
eight feet wide, at the outer edge of the reef, ran in, narrowing to a
mere crack near the shore. Watching a favorable chance, the boats were
guided through the surf into a cleft as far as shoal water, when the
men jumped on to the reef and carried baggage and instruments ashore as
quickly as possible. The boats, which were new when they entered the
surf, came out much the worse for wear, and the boat in which Dr.
Hastings landed was stove in. Once on shore, life became a succession of
wonders, rivaling the tales of Gulliver, and needing the conscientious
descriptions of exact scientists to make them credible.
The members of the observing party took up their abode in the larger of
the three houses, sleeping in swinging cots slung from the verandas,
which afforded shade on three sides of the building. The second house
was occupied by the sailors, while the third was left to the natives.
These latter were sufficiently conversant with English to serve as
excellent guides. Each day the party bathed in a lagoon in the center of
the island. This lagoon was bordered by a beach of dazzling white coral
sand, and all through its water extended reefs of living coral of
the more delicate and elaborate kinds. These corals gave the lake a
wonderful variety of colors, forming a picture impossible to paint or
describe, and with the least ripple from a passing breeze the whole
scene changed to new groups of color. The water was very clear, and
in some places deep; in others so filled with coral that a boat could
barely skim over the surface without scraping the keel. After crossing a
long reef, one day, they entered on a sheet of water so deep that their
longest line would not reach the bottom, plainly visible beneath. Fish
swarmed here, and it was characteristic of them that every species, if
not brilliantly colored, was marked in the most peculiar manner. One
variety which frequented the shallow water, where it was heated to the
degree uncomfortable to the touch, was a pure milky white, with black
eyes, fins, and tail.
The French party arrived two days after the Americans. They had steamed
directly from Panama with the hope of anticipating the Americans.
It rained on the morning of the eclipse, but cleared off in good time,
and the definition was particularly good. Photographs occupied the time
of the English and French observers. Professor Holden and Dr. Dickson
searched for intra-mercurial planets; Mr. Preston took the times of
contact; Dr. Hastings and Mr. Rockwell devoted their attention to
spectroscopic observations of the corona. Dr. Hastings' observations
have led to the production of a new theory of the corona. Briefly
stated, the theory is that the light seen around the sun during a total
eclipse is not due to a material substance enveloping the sun, but is a
phenomenon of diffraction.
From his observation during the eclipse of 1878, made at Central City,
Dr. Hastings conceived the first idea of this explanation of the solar
corona. Further study served to convince him of the truth of this
theory, but he had no means of proving it. Before the present eclipse,
however, he devised a crucial test of his theory. This test is based on
the following already known phenomena: When the moon covers the face of
the sun, an envelope of light is seen all round it; the envelope is
not visible when the sun is shining, on account of the sun's greater
brightness; this light is called the corona; it is extremely irregular
in outline. According to the drawing of Mr. J. E. Keeler at the eclipse
of 1878, it enveloped the sun as a hazy glow, extending for a distance
of several minutes of arc from the sun's limb and at two nearly opposite
points is extended out in two long streamers feathering off into space.
The opinion has been that this light was due to an atmosphere extending
millions of miles from the sun. According to Dr. Hastings' view, it must
be light from the sun which has undergone refraction, i.e., which has
been bent from its regular course by the interposition of an opaque body
like the moon.
In order to make this perfectly plain, suppose the front of a surface
of waves of any sort to be striking an object which resists them. If
an organ of sense is placed in the resisting object, it will judge the
direction of the waves or the direction of the object producing them by
a line at right angles with the wave front. Now suppose a body is placed
between the body producing the waves and the sensitive organ. The waves
must go around this body and will produce an eddy behind it, so that the
wave front will have a different direction, and the organ of sense will
conceive the origin of the waves to lie in a direction different from
that before the body was interposed. Now consider the waves to be waves
of light, and their origin the sun. The organ of sense is the retina of
the eye. The moon is the opaque body interposed in the course of the
waves, and they, being bent, make the impression on the eye that the
light comes from beyond the edge of the sun. The moon covers the sun
during the eclipse and a little more, so that it can move for about five
minutes and still cover the sun entirely. This movement is very slight,
and if the corona consists of light from a solar atmosphere, it should
not change at all during this movement of the moon. But if diffraction
is the cause of the light, then the slightest change in the relative
positions of the sun and the moon should change the configuration of the
corona, i.e., the corona should not remain exactly the same during
a total eclipse. The character of the light as shown by a spectrum
analysis should change.
To determine this point Dr. Hastings invented the following instrument:
Two lozenge-shaped prisms of glass were fastened in the form of a letter
V, and so arranged that all the light falling within the aperture of
the V was lost, and that falling on the ends of the glass prisms was
transmitted by a series of reflections to the apex of the V, where the
prisms touched; here was placed a refracting prism, so that the light
could be analyzed. This instrument was attached to the eye piece of the
telescope, and the image of the eclipse reduced to such a size that the
moon just fitted into the aperture of the V, while opposite sides of the
corona were reflected through the prisms to the place where they came
together. In this way both sides of the corona were seen through the
eye-piece at the same time. On looking at the eclipse this is what Dr.
Hastings saw: The light of the corona was divided into its constituents.
Prominent among them was a bright green line, which is designated by the
number 1,474; to this line attention was directed. Its presence in the
spectrum has been an argument in favor of the view that the corona is
a solar atmosphere. If this is the case, the line should remain fixed
during the eclipse; but if the corona is due to diffraction, this line
should change. It should grow shorter in the light from one side of the
corona, and longer on the other. The observation was now reduced to
watching for a change in the relative length of two green lines.
At the beginning of totality the line from the west side was much the
longer, but as the eclipse progressed it shortened notably, while the
line from the east side, shorter by about one-third at the beginning of
the eclipse, grew longer. When the eclipse ended, the proportions of the
lines were exactly reversed. There had been a change equal to two-thirds
the length of the lines, while the sun and moon had only changed their
relative positions by an extremely small amount. The only way in which
this phenomenon can be accounted for is on the diffraction theory. The
material view of the corona will not answer for it. But there are other
discrepancies in the older view which have been known for some time.
The principal ones are: 1. It is known from study of the sun that the
gaseous pressure at the surface must be less than an inch of mercury,
and is probably less than one-tenth of an inch, but an atmosphere
extending to the supposed limits would cause an enormous pressure at the
sun's surface, especially since the force of gravity on the sun is very
much greater than on the earth. 2. The laws of gravitation would require
a solar atmosphere to be distributed symmetrically around the sun, while
the corona is enormously irregular in form. The sun is irregular in
outline, which would make its diffracted phenomena show the observed
irregularity, but it is symmetrical as regards density. 3. The most
interesting discrepancy of the theory of the solar atmosphere is the
fact that while it is supposed to extend for millions of miles from the
sun, the recent comet passed within two hundred thousand miles of the
sun, and yet its orbit was not affected in the least, as it would have
been if it had plowed its way through a material substance. In taking
photographs of the corona it is seen to be larger as the time of
exposure is longer. This shows that the corona extends indefinitely, and
it decreases in brilliancy in exact accordance with the mathematical
laws of diffraction. These laws involve very complicated mathematics,
but by them alone Dr. Hastings has proved that there must be diffraction
where the corona is, and that it must follow the same laws as those
observed. There is a small envelope around the sun, but in the opinion
of Dr. Hastings it does not extend beyond what is known as the
chromosphere.
* * * * *
The question seems to be settled, with considerable certainty, that
nothing exists inside of Mercury large enough to be dignified by
the name of planet. There may be, and there probably are, for the
perturbations of Mercury indicate it, multitudes of small masses
circulating around the sun like the planets, being fragments of comets
or condensations of primitive matter, whose combined luster is seen in
the zodiacal light.
The other results of the work of the Commission, so far as now known,
are connected with the structure of the corona, the solar appendage
which extends out for millions of miles from the sun's disk. In the
photographs of the Egyptian eclipse of last summer these streamers can
be traced back of each other where they cross; no better proof of their
extreme tenuity could be given.
The duration of an eclipse of the sun depends on three things, the
distance of the sun from the earth, the distance of the moon from the
earth, and the distance of the station from the equator. All of these
were favorable to a long eclipse in the case of the recent one, and the
six minutes of totality gave opportunities for deliberate work not often
enjoyed.
* * * * *
A BURIED CITY OF THE EXODUS.
The excavations at Tell-el-Maskhutah, of which illustrations are given,
have resulted in some of the most interesting and important discoveries
that have ever rewarded the labors of archaeologists. The idea of
founding an English society for the purpose of exploring the buried
cities of the Delta originated with Miss A. B. Edwards, the well-known
authoress of "One Thousand Miles up the Nile," and was carried into
effect mainly by her own efforts and the energy and zeal of Mr. Reginald
Stuart Poole, of the British Museum, aided by the substantial support of
Sir Erasmus Wilson, without whose munificent donations the work could
never have been accomplished. The "Egypt Exploration Fund," thus founded
and maintained, was fortunate in securing the co-operation of M.
Naville, the distinguished Swiss Egyptologist, who set out for Egypt
in January of this year with the object of conducting the explorations
contemplated by the society. After a consultation with M. Maspero, the
Director of Archaeology in Egypt, who has throughout acted a friendly
part toward the society's enterprise, M. Naville decided to begin his
campaign by attacking the mounds at Tell-el-Maskhutah, on the Freshwater
Canal, a few miles from Ismailia. The mounds of earth here were known to
cover some ancient city, for some sphinxes and statues had already
been found; but what city it could be, archaeologists were at a loss to
determine; though some, with Professor Lepsius at their head, believed
it to be none other than the Rameses or "Raamses," which the Children of
Israel built for Pharaoh, and whence they started on their final Exodus.
Any identification, however, of the sites of the Biblical cities in
Egypt was so far merely speculative. Practically nothing definite was
known as to the geography of the Israelite sojourn, except that the Land
of Goshen was undoubtedly in the eastern part of the Delta, and that
Zoan was Tanis, whose immense mounds are to form the next subject of
the society's operations. The route of the Exodus was as uncertain as
everything else connected with Israel's sojourn in Egypt. What sea they
crossed, and where, and by what direction they journeyed to it, remained
vexed questions, although Dr. Brugsch had set up a plausible theory, in
which the "Serbonian Bog" played an important part.
[Illustration: THE EXCAVATIONS PITHOM-SUCCOTH]
Six weeks of steady digging at Tell-el-Maskhutah, under M. Naville's
skillful direction, placed all these speculations in quite a new light.
The city under the mounds proved to be none other than Pithom, the
"store" or "treasure city" which the Children of Israel "built for
Pharaoh" (Exod. i. 11). Its character as a store place or granary is
seen in its construction; for the greater part of the area is covered
with strongly built chambers, without doors, suitable for the storing of
grain, which would be introduced through trap doors in the floor
above, of which the ends of the beams are still visible. These curious
chambers, unique in their appearance, are constructed of large, well
made bricks, sometimes mixed with straw, sometimes without it, dried in
the sun, and laid with mortar, with great regularity and precision. The
walls are 10 ft. thick, and the thickness of the inclosing wall which
runs round the whole city is more than 20 ft. In one corner was the
temple, dedicated to the god Tum, and hence called Pe-tum or Pithom, the
"Abode of Tum." Only a few statues, groups, and tablets (some of which
have been presented to the British Museum) remained to testify to its
name and purpose; the temple itself was finally destroyed when the
Romans turned Pithom into a camp, as is shown by the position of the
limestone fragments and of the Roman bricks. The statues, however, and
especially a large stele, are extremely valuable, since they tell the
history of the city during eighteen centuries. From a study of these
monuments, M. Naville has learned that Pithom was its sacred, and Thukut
(Succoth) its civil, name; that it was founded by Rameses II., restored
by Shishak and others of the twenty-second dynasty; was an important
place under the Ptolemies, who set up a great stele to commemorate the
founding of the city of Arsinoe in the neighborhood; was called Hero or
Herooepolis by the Greeks (a name derived from the hieroglyphic _ara_,
meaning a "store house"), and Ero Castra by the Romans, who occupied it
at all events as late as A.D. 306. Indications are also found of the
position of Pihahiroth, where the Israelites encamped before the
passage of the "Reedy Sea," and of Clysma. All these data are directly
contradictory to preconceived theories: Pithom, Succoth, Herooepolis,
Pihahiroth, and Clysma had all been hypothetically placed in totally
different positions. The identification of Pithom with Succoth gives us
the first absolutely certain point as yet established in the route of
the Exodus, and completely overthrows Dr. Brugsch's theory. It is now
certain that the Israelites passed along the valley of the Freshwater
Canal and not near the Mediterranean and Lake Serbonis. The first
definite geographical fact in connection with the sojourn in the Land of
Egypt has been established by the excavations at Pithom. The historical
identification of Rameses II. with Pharaoh the oppressor also results
from the monumental evidence. One short exploration has upset a hundred
theories and furnished a wonderful illustration of the historical
character of the Book of Exodus. The finding of Pithom (Succoth)
is, however, only the beginning, we hope, of a series of important
discoveries. When enough money has been collected for the proposed
exploration of Zoan (Tanis), results of the highest interest to students
alike of the Bible and of Egyptian antiquities may, with certainty, be
predicted.
The uppermost view shows a portion of the diggings; a workman is
bringing up a barrow-load of soil from one of the deep store chambers
which the Children of Israel built more than three thousand years ago.
In the foreground lie the fragments of a fallen granite statue, the head
and face of which are intact. The other illustration is taken from the
temple end of the excavations. The sculptured group of Rameses the Great
seated between divinities is one of a pair that adorned the entrance;
its companion and the sphinxes that guarded the pylon are at Ismailia.
Beyond this group, and a little to the left, is seen the great Stele of
Pithom, set up by Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoe, and containing a
mass of important information in its long hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Behind this, and on either side, the massive brick walls of the store
chambers and the inclosing wall of the temple can be traced; while on
the right hand, in the middle distance, is a heap of limestone blocks,
already collected by Rameses II. for the completion or enlargement of
the temple. The excavations were photographed for M. Naville, by Herr
Emil Brugsch, of the Boulak Museum, and our illustrations are taken from
these photographs, supplemented by sketches.--_S.L.P., in Illustrated
London News_.
* * * * *
THE MOABITE MANUSCRIPTS.
The surprises of archaeology are magnificent and apparently
inexhaustible. It is continually bringing forth things new and old, and
often it happens that the newest are the oldest of all. Whether this
or the exact converse is the case in regard to the latest discovery of
Biblical archaeology is a question not to be determined offhand; but the
interest and importance of the question can hardly be overrated. There
are now deposited in the British Museum fifteen leather slips, on the
forty folds of which are written portions of the Book of Deuteronomy
in a recension entirely different from that of the received text. The
character employed in the manuscript is similar to that of the famous
Moabite stone and of the Siloam inscription, and, therefore, the mere
palaeographical indication should give the probable date of the slips as
the ninth century B. C., or sixteen centuries earlier than any other
clearly authenticated manuscript of any portion of the Old Testament.
The sheepskin slips are literally black with age, and are impregnated
with a faint odor as of funeral spices; the folds are from 6 to 7 inches
long and about 31/2 inches wide, containing each about ten lines, written
only on one side.
So far as they have yet been deciphered, they exhibit two distinct
handwritings, though the same archaic character is used throughout.
In some cases the same passages of Deuteronomy occur in duplicate on
distinct slips, as though the fragments belonged to two contemporary
transcriptions made by different scribes from the same original text. At
first sight no writing whatever is perceptible; the surface seems to
be covered with an oily or glutinous substance, which so completely
obscures the writing beneath that a photograph of some of the
slips--which we have had an opportunity of examining side by side with
the slips themselves--exhibits no trace of the text. But when the
leather is moistened with spirits of wine the letters become momentarily
visible beneath the glossy surface.
These extraordinary fragments were brought to England by Mr. Shapira,
of Jerusalem, a well known bookseller and dealer in antiquities.
Mr. Shapira's name will be remembered in connection with certain
archaeological problems which have been solved by some scholars in a
manner not altogether creditable to his sagacity.
The Moabite pottery which reached Europe through Mr. Shapira's agency
and is deposited in the Museum at Berlin is now commonly regarded as a
modern forgery; but of this forgery, if it be one, it is asserted that
Mr. Shapira was the dupe and not the accomplice. The leathern fragments
now produced by Mr. Shapira were, as he alleges, obtained by him from
certain Arabs near Dibon, the neighborhood where the Moabite stone was
discovered. The agent employed by him in their purchase was an Arab
"who would steal his mother-in-law for a few piastres," and who would
probably be even less scrupulous about a few blackened slips of ancient
or modern sheepskin. The value placed by Mr. Shapira on the fragments
is, however, a cool million sterling, and at this price they are offered
to the British Museum, where they have been temporarily deposited for
examination.
Dr. Ginsburg, the well-known Semitic scholar--whose receipt of a grant
of L500 from the Prime Minister toward the production of his important
work on the "Massorah" we announced with much satisfaction yesterday--is
now busily engaged in deciphering the contents of the fragments and
examining their genuineness. On this latter question we refrain from
pronouncing an opinion. When Dr. Ginsburg's report appears, we shall be
able to judge whether these extraordinary fragments are really 2,500
years old, or have been compiled within the last few years.
No complete account of the contents of the fragments can yet be given.
To decipher them is a work of time and of infinite patience and skill,
as will readily be inferred from the account we have given above of the
appearance and condition of the slips. But enough has been deciphered to
show that the text employed in them exhibits discrepancies of the most
remarkable and important character as compared with that of the received
version of the Mosaic books.
In the first verse of the ninth chapter of Deuteronomy, where the
received version reads, "Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in
to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself," the corresponding
passage of the fragments substitutes the plural for the singular, "Ye"
for '"Thou," while for "_g'dolim_," the word translated "greater," it
reads "_rabbim_." But a far more complete idea of the variations of text
and signification may be obtained from a comparison of the text of the
Decalogue as it appears in the received version in the sixth chapter of
Deuteronomy with that contained in the fragments so far as they have yet
been deciphered. The version of the fragments, literally rendered, runs
as follows:
"I am God, thy God, which liberated thee from the land of Egypt, from
the house of bondage. Ye shall have no other gods. Ye shall not make to
yourselves any graven image, nor any likeness that is in heaven above or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth.
Ye shall not bow down to them nor serve them. I am God, your God.
Sanctify ... in six days I have made the heaven and the earth, and all
that is therein, and rested on the seventh day, therefore rest thou
also, thou and thy cattle and all that thou hast: I am God, thy God.
Honor thy father and thy mother ...: I am God, thy God. Thou shall not
kill the person of thy brother: I am God, thy God. Thou shalt not commit
adultery with the wife of thy neighbor: I am God, thy God. Thou shalt
not steal the property of thy brother: I am God, thy God. Thou shalt not
swear by my name falsely, for I visit the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth generation of those who take
my name in vain: I am God, thy God. Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy brother: I am God, thy God. Thou shalt not covet the wife
... or his manservant, or his maidservant, or anything that is his: I am
God, thy God. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: I am God,
thy God. These ten words (or commandments) God spake."
Several points may be noted in this version. The singular refrain "I
am God, thy God"--which does not appear at all in the received
version--occurs ten times, being, as it were, a solemn ratification of
the Divine sanction given at the end of each separate precept. If this
be so, the first two commandments, as they are commonly reckoned, are
here fused into one, and the tenth place is taken by a commandment which
does not appear in the received version of the Decalogue.
It will further be observed that the distinctive Jewish name for the
Almighty, "Jehovah," or "the Lord," does not appear at all, the familiar
phrase of the received version, "the Lord thy God," being replaced
throughout by "God, thy God."
On the many variations in arrangement and detail we need not dwell;
they speak for themselves. But we have quoted enough to show that these
fragments present problems of the utmost importance and interest both to
criticism and exegesis, unless, indeed, they are to be regarded as
the ingenious fabrications of some Oriental Ireland, who, knowing the
interest felt by scholars in variations of the Sacred Text, has set
himself, with infinite pains and skill, to forestall a growing demand.
Until this preliminary question is resolved to the satisfaction of all
competent scholars, no further questions need be raised. In any case
the _prima facie_ presumption must be held to be enormously against
the genuineness of the fragments. Such a presumption rests on the
improbability of finding manuscripts older by at least sixteen centuries
than any extant manuscripts of the same text, on the comparative ease
with which such fragments can be forged, and on the powerful motives
to such forgery attested by the price placed by Mr. Shapira on his
property.
All that we know of the _provenance_ of the fragments is that Mr.
Shapira obtained them from an Arab of doubtful character; and that
Arabs of doubtful character have driven a splendid trade in Moabite
antiquities ever since the discovery of the Moabite stone. On the other
hand, the forger, if forgery there be, is assuredly no clumsy and
ignorant bungler, as the makers of the Moabite pottery were confidently
alleged to be by those who disputed its genuineness. It is, of course,
part of his craft, and not, perhaps, much more than the 'prentice part,
to give to the sheepskins on which the text is inscribed an appearance
of immemorial antiquity. But a good deal more than the skill required to
make a new sheepskin look like an old one has gone to the production of
Mr. Shapira's fragments. If they are forged, the fabricator must have
known what scholars would be likely to expect in genuine fragments,
and have set himself to fulfill their expectations. In these days of
scientific palaeography and minute textual scholarship no forger of
ancient manuscripts could hope to take in scholars unless he were a
scholar himself. Variations of text would be looked for as a matter of
course; palaeographical accuracy would be exacted to the minutest turn
of a letter. Now, to vary a text so as to furnish a different recension
without betraying ignorance or solecism requires scholarship of no mean
order, while it is very far from an easy thing to write currently in an
archaic and unfamiliar character in such a manner as to deceive experts
in palaeography. But the fabricator of these fragments, if fabricated
they are, has attempted and accomplished a good deal more than this.
He has in some cases produced two identical texts written in different
hands, both preserving unimpaired the archaic character of the letters.
This implies either the employment of two scribes or else an almost
incredible skill in the single scribe employed, and in either case
it doubles the probability of detection. If, moreover, the supposed
fabricator is also himself the scribe, it is evident that he is not only
a very ingenious artist, but also a very accomplished scholar, and one
can only regret that he has engaged in an industry which has placed him
at the mercy of an Arab who would steal his mother-in-law for a few
piastres, and is likely, therefore, to enrich no one but Mr. Shapira. We
should expect to find, however, that his extraordinary ingenuity has at
some point or another overreached itself. Familiar as he must be with
the labors of modern Biblical critics--for otherwise he would hardly
have ventured to impose upon them--it would be strange if he were not
betrayed into some more or less suspicious coincidences with them. In
any case, the problem presented by the fragments is one of profound
interest, and the whole world of letters will resound with the
controversy they are certain to excite.--_London Times_.
* * * * *
[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF OLD KNOCKING DEVICES FOR DOORS.--_From the
Building News_.]
* * * * *
SHIPPING OSTRICHES FROM CAPE TOWN TO AUSTRALIA.
Since the failure last August of the Cape Commercial Bank there has been
much depression in South Africa. Ostrich farming, in common with
other enterprises, has suffered. Before the crisis a pair of breeding
ostriches have been sold for 350 l., now they would not realize 50 l.
The resolution of the Government of South Australia to encourage ostrich
breeding came in very opportunely for the Cape dealers, and one or two
cargoes of birds have been shipped for Adelaide. The climate of the two
colonies is very similar, and the locality selected for the imported
birds (the Musgrave Ranges) resembles in dryness and temperature their
native _habitat_.
The first sketch opposite represents the ostriches bidding farewell
to their South African home. "The dear old farm where we were reared,
good-by!"
One of the boxes, while being slung from the cart to the hold, got into
a slanting position. This frightened one of the two inmates, a fine
cock. He kicked so hard that he burst open the door of his cage, which
was, of course, instantly lowered on deck. Fortunately there was there
a gentleman who understood how to handle ostriches. He instantly seized
him before he could do himself or the bystanders any injury, and after
a brief struggle prevailed on him to re-enter his box. When released in
the hold he became quite quiet, and ate his first meal on board ship
with a relish.
After being taken out of their boxes the birds are allowed to take a
little exercise just to make themselves at home, and are then arranged
in wooden kraals, of which there are two hundred on board the vessel.
The ostriches are induced to move from one place to another by catching
hold of their bodies, and using a little gentle force.
The last sketch represents their first meal on board after a fast of
thirty hours. Apple melons were chopped up for them by their "steward,"
who was to accompany them to Australia. It was curious to see a bird
swallow a great lump and then to watch the lump working slowly down
the animal's long neck. On the voyage they would be fed with maize or
mealies, onions, apple melons, and barley. They require very little
water; however, there were five large iron tanks on board in case they
would feel thirsty. Our engravings are from sketches by Mr. Dennis
Edwards, of Hoff Street, Capetown,
[Illustration: SHIPPING OSTRICHES FROM CAPE TOWN TO AUSTRALIA.
1. Ostriches on the South African Farm Where They Were Reared.--2.
Attempted Escape and Recapture of an Ostrich on Board Ship.--3. Lowering
the Birds Into the Hold.--4.A Queer Dinner Party--Ostriches Eating Apple
Melons.]
* * * * *
A NEW WEATHERCOCK.
An ordinary weathercock provided with datum points may, in the majority
of cases, suffice for the observation of the wind during the day;
but recourse has to be had to different means to obtain an automatic
transmission of the indications of the vane to the inside of a building.
The different systems employed for such a purpose consist of gearings,
or are accompanied by a friction that notably diminishes the
sensitiveness of the apparatus, especially when the rod has to traverse
several stories. Mr. Emile Richard, inspector of the Versailles
waterworks, has just devised an ingenious system which, while
considerably reducing the weight of the movable part, allows the
weathercock to preserve all its sensitiveness. This apparatus consists
of two principal parts--one fixed and the other movable. The stationary
part is designated in the accompanying figure by the letters A and B and
by cross-hatchings. This forms the rod or support. An iron tube, T, with
clamps, P, at its lower extremity forms the base of the apparatus, and
is hidden, after the mounting of the apparatus, by the ornamental zinc
covering, Z. The upper part of the tube carries a shoulder-piece,
upon which rests a bronze platform, E, and which is slightly inclined
outwardly to prevent the accumulation of water on it. Over the platform
there move three crystal balls, which are held and guided by a
horizontal disk movable around the stationary tube.
The movable portion, designed to receive the action of the wind and to
indicate its direction, is designated by the letters C D and coarse
lines. It consists of (1) a zinc tube, K, provided at intervals with
copper rings, and entering the rod, A B, which serves as a guide for it;
(2) of a bronze disk covered by an external ornament, O, fixed to the
tube and resting on the balls; (3) of the vane, G, properly so called;
and (4) of the cap, C, provided with bayonet catch, crowning the tube
and covering the point of attachment of the wire of transmission.
This latter consists of a simple brass or galvanized iron wire, f f,
perfectly taut, and made fast in the top of the tube. After traversing
as many stories as necessary this wire terminates, in the interior of
the room where the observations are made, in a copper rod to which is
fastened a horizontal arrow, F. The wire traverses the floorings through
small zinc tubes; and, in the rooms through which it passes, it is
protected by iron tubes. To the ceiling of the observing room there is
affixed a wind-rose, R, on which the arrow reproduces all the motions of
the vane.
[Illustration: RICHARD'S WEATHERCOCK.]
This apparatus is now in operation in the different stations that the
Versailles waterworks has established near the reservoirs of the plateau
of Trappes, and it is also installed in several primary normal schools,
where it is giving very good results.--_La Nature_.
* * * * *
CHARRED CLOVER.
A correspondent of the _Ohio Farmer_ reports an experiment in curing
clover, showing how he just missed breeding fire in his barn, and
illustrating the importance of ventilating hay mows:
In 1861 I used a horse fork for the first time. The haying season was
not a bright one, and our clover was drawn a little greener than usual,
and went into the mow in large and compact forkfuls. The result was
intense heating, and consequently very rapid evaporation and sweating of
the mow. On a bay holding ordinarily twenty tons we put at least thirty
tons, as every load at the top seemed to make room for another. The barn
was rather open, which allowed quite free evaporation on all sides as
well as at the top. The result was that I had very bright and excellent
hay at the bottom, top, and sides of that mow, but severals tons in the
center were as completely charred as though burned in a coal pit. What
prevented combustion has always been a mystery to me. Since that escape
from a conflagration, I have not deemed it prudent to put clover in so
green as to cause intense heating, or to fill a mow too rapidly. If we
haul six loads per day to one mow, weighing thirty hundred each, which
will shrink during the sweating process to one ton each, we have three
tons of water to be thrown off by evaporation.
If we continue to put on six loads per day until the mow is full, the
principal part of that moisture must rise through the entire mass. To
relieve the hay of moisture, I deem it best to have several places of
storage, and change daily or semi-daily from one to the other, thus
giving time for a share of the moisture to pass off. To facilitate this
evaporation and prevent the hay from reabsorbing it and becoming musty,
the best of ventilation is necessary. Ventilation above a clover mow is
as necessary as it is above a sugar or fruit evaporator. If there is
not open space and draught sufficient to carry away the moisture, it is
returned to the mow, and mould is the inevitable result. No ordinary
amount of drying will prevent hay from becoming musty if ventilation is
shut off during the sweating process. If a hole is cut through the floor
at the bottom of the mow near the center and under a ventilator in the
roof and a barrel placed over it and drawn up as the hay is mowed in,
thus leaving a hole from bottom to top, evaporation will be facilitated
and the quality of the hay improved. Salt thrown on, as the clover is
put in, to the amount of two or three quarts to the ton, will make it a
relish with stock.
* * * * *
THE QUEEN VICTORIA CENTURY PLANT.
(_Agave victoriae-reginae_.)
This beautiful Agave is now in blossom in the garden here, and I am
happy to be able to send you photographs of it. This is the first time
it has ever blossomed in cultivation, and it has never been seen in
flower in a wild state. It is a mature native-grown specimen, dense in
habit, and perfectly semi-spherical in form, and the leaves are arranged
in spiral fashion with as much regularity as those of a screw pine. The
circumference of the plant is 5 ft. 1 in., and it has 268 leaves. Its
flower-stem appeared about the middle of June, grew rather fast till it
was 7 ft. high, then rather slowly till it reached its full development.
The scape is now 10 ft. 4 in. high above the plant, 61/2 in. in
circumference at the base, or 51/4 in. at a foot above the base; from
there it tapers very gradually till near the apex. The flower-spike is
exceedingly dense, and 5 ft. 8 in. long; the lower or naked portion, 4
ft. 8 in. long, is prominently marked by abortive flower buds, with,
near the base, some bristle-like scales 31/2 in. to 4 in. long. The
flowers are regularly arranged in parcels of three, all the three being
equal in size and opening together; they are greenish white in color, 11/2
in. long, or, including the stamens, some 23/4 in. to 3 in. long.
[Illustration: AGAVE VICTORIAE-REGINAE.]
The first flowers opened on August 3, and they have continued to open
in succession, a belt about 3 in. wide opening each day. They remain in
good condition for two days; on the third day the stamens wilt and drop
down, but the pistil remains erect till the fourth day. On the first day
of opening the pistil is not so long as the stamens by 3/4 in.; on the
second it has grown to be as long as the stamens, but it is not in
condition to receive the pollen till after noon of the second day.
Although the flowers on some eighteen inches of the spike have already
blossomed, none of the ovaries have been fertilized; they are dropping
off, but I am rather sanguine regarding those about the middle of the
spike. So great is the superfluity of nectar contained in the flowers,
that on the afternoon of the second day it often drops from the cups,
and the least shake to the scape brings it down in a shower. The main
beauty of the inflorescence consists in the dense bottle-brush-like mass
of bright yellow anthers. This plant, together with several smaller
ones, was contributed to this garden by Dr. Edward Palmer, who collected
them in their native wilds--the mountains of Northern Mexico--some three
years ago. He found them growing in a limited and rather inaccessible
locality in gravelly and rocky soil some miles from Monterey. In
addition to those he sent here he also sent a quantity to the garden of
the Agricultural Department at Washington, and some to Dr. Engelmann,
the eminent botanist at St. Louis. To Dr. Engelmann he also sent a piece
of an old flower stem and some dried capsules which he found upon an
old plant, and it was from these specimens in 1880 that the doctor
was enabled to describe for the first time the inflorescence of this
Agave.--_The Garden_.
* * * * *
ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE NATURAL FATS.
By J. ALFRED WANKLYN and WILLIAM FOX.
In the course of an investigation in which we are at present engaged we
have arrived at some results which appear to us to be very interesting.
We find that the generally received view that the fats are ethers of
glycerin is partially correct, and that instances of a different kind of
structure occur among the natural oils and fats.
Ethers of iso-glycerin, or of homologues of iso-glycerin, appear to
occur. Iso-glycerin has this structure:
C(OH)_{2}
CH
CH_{3}
It exists in its ethers, but cannot be isolated, and should be resolved
into:
COOH + H_{2}O
CH_{2}
CH_{3}
Ethers of iso-glycerin, or ethers of homologues of iso-glycerin, yield
no glycerin when saponified.--_Chemical News_.
* * * * *
A catalogue, containing brief notices of many important scientific
papers heretofore published in the SUPPLEMENT, may be had gratis at this
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