Scientific American Supplement, No. 358, November 11, 1882
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Various >> Scientific American Supplement, No. 358, November 11, 1882
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For an easy and striking lecture experiment, I employ a tube open
at both ends and bent like a W. The two open arms are short and the
platinum wires are fixed at the highest bend. The tube is filled with
hot mercury--one of the ends being closed by a caoutchouc stopper for
the purpose--and a dry mixture of 5 volumes of air and 2 volumes of
carbonic oxide is introduced into the bent tube over the mercury. A
little phosphoric oxide is passed up one arm. After a few minutes the
gases may be submitted to the spark without exploding. A little water
may then be introduced through a pipette into the other arm; and if the
spark is passed directly the gases ignite in the wet and not in the dry
arm of the tube.
The admixture of the inert nitrogen renders a larger quantity of aqueous
vapor necessary for the explosion than when only carbonic oxide and
oxygen in proper proportion are present.
* * * * *
COMPOSITION OF BEERS MADE PARTLY FROM RAW GRAIN.
At the present time English brewers are being denounced for substituting
properly-prepared maize, rice, and other raw grain for barley malt, and
the beers produced partly from such materials are described as being
very inferior, and even injurious to health. That such denunciations are
altogether unwarranted is evident to all who have paid any attention to
the subject, and are acquainted with the chemical changes involved in
brewing, and with the composition of the resulting beers. Unfortunately
but few comparative analyses have been published of beers made solely
from malt and beers made from malt in conjunction with raw grain, and
therefore such wild assertions as were recently uttered in the House of
Commons have remained unanswered. A German chemist, J. Hanamann, some
time since made a series of analyses of beers brewed partly from raw
grain, and his results completely controvert the theory that raw grain
beers essentially differ in composition from malt beers. Four worts were
made by the decoction system of mashing: A entirely from barley malt; B
from 60 per cent. of malt and 40 per cent. of maize; C from 60 per cent.
of malt and 40 per cent. of rice; and D from 60 per cent of malt and 40
per cent. of pure starch. The analyses of these respective worts gave
the following results:
A B C D
Sugar............... 4.96 4.08 4.84 4.87
Dextrine............ 6.05 6.83 6.35 6.60
Total extract....... 12.29 12.27 12.30 12.32
Albuminoids......... 0.82 0.78 0.68 0.42
Other substances.... 0.46 0.58 0.43 0.43
It will be seen that these worts vary very little in composition, the
chief points of difference being that those made partly from raw grain
are more dextrinous and contain less albuminoids than the wort made from
malt alone. The process of brewing was then continued as usual, and
after fermentation the resulting beers were again analyzed with the
following results:
A B C D
Alcohol............. 2.71 2.76 2.90 3.19
Sugar............... 1.05 1.12 0.98 0.35
Dextrine............ 4.54 4.31 4.42 4.74
Extract............. 6.59 6.48 6.25 5.91
Albuminoids......... 0.43 0.39 0.33 0.28
Other substances ... 0.57 0.66 0.52 0.54
It will be observed that the beers made partly from raw grain are
slightly more alcoholic, but in other respects differ but very little
from the pure malt beer, but none of them can in any way be pronounced
as really inferior or unwholesome. The beer made partly from maize is,
in fact, hardly to be distinguished in chemical composition from that
made solely from malt. These worts and beers were brewed upon the German
system, but analogous results would undoubtedly be obtained with beers
brewed from the like materials on the English system. We hope soon to be
in a position to publish some comparative analyses of beers brewed in
this country from malt combined with different kinds of raw grain; but
the analyses which we have now quoted constitute a sufficient refutation
to those who assert that brewers using raw grain are producing an
injurious or even an inferior quality of beer.--_Brewers' Guardian_.
* * * * *
DOUBLE BUTTERCUPS.
Among early summer flowers in open borders few are prettier than the
double-flowered kinds of ranunculus of the herbaceous type. Having been
established favorites for ages, most of them are familiar to us, and
poor indeed is that hardy plant border which does not contain a good
healthy tuft of what are termed Fair Maids of France, or Bachelor's
Buttons, the doubled flowered variety of _R. aconitifolius_. The small,
pure white rosette-like flowers produced so plentifully, and in such
a graceful manner, make it an extremely pretty, and, though common,
valuable plant, particularly useful in a cut state. It is one of the
kinds shown in the annexed engraving. Of double crowfoots there are
three others, the types of which are _R. bulbosus, acris_, and _repens_.
All these are very pretty, having bright yellow, compact, rosette-like
flowers, as perfect in form as that of some of the finest sorts of the
Asiatic or Persian ranunculus of the florists. Both the double _R.
acris_ and _repens_ are profuse flowerers, but _R. bulbosus_ is not so;
it, however, bears much larger flowers than either of the others, and
on this account is named _R. speciosus_. These four plants are
indispensable, yielding, as they do, flowers in such abundance and in
such long succession. In order to enable them to develop fully
they require good culture, a good, deep loamy soil, enriched with
well-decayed manure, and if the border be moist, so much the better,'for
these ranunculuses delight in a cool, moist soil. Treated liberally in
this way, these double buttercups are indeed fine plants.--_W. G., in
The Garden_.
[Illustration: DOUBLE BUTTERCUPS.]
* * * * *
LIGUSTRUM QUIHOUI.
This is a Chinese species, at present little known in this country. It
forms a low bush with spreading wiry purplish downy branches, and loose
terminal panicles of white flowers. Its peculiar spreading habit, dark
green leaves, and abundant flowers render it a desirable acquisition to
the shrubbery. It is quite hardy.--_The Gardeners' Chronicle_.
[Illustration: LIGUSTRUM QUIHOUI.]
* * * * *
RAPHIOLEPIS JAPONICA.
This handsome Japanese shrub is not an uncommon plant in greenhouses, in
which it is generally known under the garden name of _R. ovata_. It is,
however, perfectly hardy, and it is with the view of making that fact
known that we produce the annexed illustration of it, which represents a
spray lately sent to us by Messrs. Veitch from their nursery at Coombe
Wood, where the plant has withstood the full rigor of our climate for
some years past. The Coombe Wood Nursery is not very well sheltered, and
the soil is not of the lightest description; the plant may, therefore,
be said to have a fair trial out-of-doors. We have also met with it in
the open air in other places besides Coombe Wood, and if we remember
rightly, Mr. G.F. Wilson has a fine old bush of it on his rockery which
abounds with shrubs of a similar character, all apparently at home. This
shrub is of low growth, somewhat bushy in habit, and rather sparsely
furnished with oval leaves of a leathery texture. It produces its
flowers in early summer, and when a good-sized bush, well covered with
clusters of white blossoms resembling those of some species of Crataegus,
it has a handsome appearance, and, like most other rosaceous shrubs,
powerfully fragrant. Those who possess duplicate plants of it would do
well to try it in the open in some sheltered spot, and if in a high and
dry position so much the better. This species is called also in the
gardens by its synonym, _R. integerrima_ There are three other kinds
of Raphiolepis in cultivation, viz., _R. indica, R. rubra_, and _R.
salicifolia_, but only the last named one is generally known. It too
is a handsome shrub, readily distinguished by the long, willow-like
foliage. Its flowers are much the same as those of _R. japonica_, but
more plentifully produced. We have no instance of its having stood out
like its congener, and we doubt if it is so hardy, seeing that it is
a Chinese plant. Perhaps some of our readers can enlighten us on the
point.--_W.G., in The Garden_.
[Illustration: FLOWERING SPRAY OF RAPHIOLEPIS JAPONICA.]
* * * * *
RIVINA LAEVIS.
The brilliant little scarlet berries of this plant render it, when well
grown, one of the prettiest of ornaments for the hothouse, conservatory,
or even for a warm room. It is quite easily managed, stray seeds of it
even growing where they fall, and making handsome specimens. For indoor
decoration few subjects are more interesting, and a few plants may be so
managed as to have them in fruit in succession all the year round. Any
kind of soil will answer for this Rivina. Cuttings of it strike freely,
but it is easiest obtained from seeds. Either one plant or three may
occupy a 6 in. pot, and that is the best size for table decoration.
Usually it is best to raise a few plants every year and discard the old
stock, but some may be retained for growing into large specimens. These
should be cut back before they are started into growth. The berries
yield a fine, but fugitive red color. Miller says that he made
experiments with the juice for coloring flowers, and succeeded extremely
well, thus making the tuberose and the double white narcissus variegated
in one night. Of this species there is a variety with yellow berries
which are not quite so handsome as the red, though very attractive. _R.
humilis_ differs from laevis in having hairy leaves, those of laevis being
quite smooth. It also differs in the duller red color of the
berries, laevis being much the prettier. Both are natives of the West
Indies.--_R.I.L., in The Garden_.
* * * * *
APPLES IN STORE.
Apples always, whether in barrels or piles, when the temperature is
rising so that the surrounding air is warmer than the apples, condense
moisture on the surface and become quite moist and sometimes dripping
wet, and this has given the common impression that they "sweat," which
is not true. As they come from the tree they are plump and solid,
full of juice; by keeping, they gradually part with a portion of this
moisture, the quantity varying with the temperature and the circulation
of air about them, and being much more rapid when first picked than
after a short time, and by parting with this moisture they become
springy or yielding, and in a better condition to pack closely in
barrels; but this moisture never shows on the surface in the form of
sweat. In keeping apples, very much depends upon the surroundings; every
variation in temperature causes a change in the fruit, and hastens
maturity and decay, and we should strive to have as little change as
possible, and also have the temperature as low as possible, so the
apples do not freeze. Then, some varieties keep much better in open bins
than others; for instance, the Greening is one of the best to store in
bins. A very good way for storing apples is to have a fruit-room that
can be made and kept at from 32 deg. to 28 deg., and the air close and pure,
put the apples in slatted boxes, not bins, each box holding about one
barrel, and pile them in tiers, so that one box above rests on two
below, and only barrel when ready to market; but this is an expensive
way, and can only be practiced by those with limited crops of apples,
and it is not at all practicable for long keeping, because in this way
they lose moisture much more rapidly than when headed close in barrels,
and become badly shriveled.
All things considered, there is no way of keeping apples quite so good
and practicable as packing in light barrels and storing in cool cellars;
the barrel forms a room within a room, and prevents circulation of air
and consequent drying and shrinking of the fruit, and also lessens the
changes of temperature, and besides more fruit can be packed and stored
in a given space than in any other way. The poorest of all ways is the
large open bin, and the objections are: too much fruit in contact; too
much weight upon the lower fruit; and too much trouble to handle and
sort when desirable to market. It was formerly the almost universal
custom in Western New York to sort and barrel the apples as fast as
picked from the trees, heading up at once and drawing to market or
piling in some cool place till the approach of cold weather, and then
putting in cellars. By this method it was impossible to prevent leaves,
twigs, and other dirt from getting into the bin, and it was difficult to
properly sort the fruit, and if well sorted, occasionally an apple, with
no visible cause, will entirely and wholly rot soon after packing. Some
varieties are more liable to do this than others, but all will to some
extent; this occurs within a week or ten days after picking, and, when
barreled, these decayed apples are of course in the barrels, and help to
decay others. Although packed ever so well and pressed ever so tight,
the shrinking of the fresh-picked fruit, soon makes them loose, and
nothing is so bad in handling apples as this. Altogether this was a very
untidy method of handling apples, and has been entirely abandoned for a
better.
The very best method depends a good deal upon the quantity to be
handled; if only a few hundred barrels, they can be put in open barrels
and stored on the barn floor. Place empty barrels on a log-boat or old
sled; take out the upper head and place it in the bottom of the barrel;
on picking the apples put them, without sorting, directly into these
barrels, and when a load is filled, draw to the barn and place in tiers
on end along one side of the floor; when one tier is full lay some
strips of boards on top and on these place another tier of barrels; then
more boards and another tier; two men can easily place them three tiers
high, and an ordinary barn floor will in this way store a good many
barrels of apples. Where many hundreds or thousands of barrels are
grown, it is a good plan to build houses or sheds in convenient places
in the orchard for holding the apples as picked; these are built on
posts or stones, about one foot from the ground; floors, sides, and ends
should be made of strips about four inches wide and placed one inch
apart, and the roof should project well on every side. The apples, as
picked, are drawn to these in boxes or barrels and piled carefully on
the floors, about three feet deep. Where these houses are not provided,
the next best way is to pile the apples, as picked, on clean straw under
the trees in the deepest shade to be found.
After lying in any one of these positions about ten days they should
be carefully sorted and packed in clean barrels, placing at least two
layers on the bottom of the barrels, with stems down; after this fill
full, shaking moderately two or three times as the tilling goes on, and,
with some sort of press, press the head down, so that the apples shall
remain firm and full under all kinds of handling. Apples may be pressed
too much as well as too little. If pressed so that many are broken, and
badly broken, they will soon get loose and rattle in the barrels, and
nothing spoils them sooner than this. What we want is to have them just
so they shall be sure to remain firm, and carefully shaking so as to
have them well settled together, has as much to do with their remaining
firm as the pressing down of the head. After the barrels are filled and
headed they should at once be placed on their sides in a barn or shed,
or in piles, covered with boards, from sun and rain, or if a fruit-house
or cellar is handy they may at once be placed therein; the object should
be to keep them as cool and at as even a temperature as possible. In all
the operations of handling apples from picking to market, remember that
carelessness and harshness always bruise the fruit, and that every
bruise detracts much from its keeping and market value; and remember
another thing, that "Honesty is the best policy."--_J.S. Woodward, in
N.Y. Tribune_.
* * * * *
ON DETERMINING THE SUN'S DISTANCE BY A NEW METHOD.
By T.S.H. EYTINGE, Cainsville, Canada.
It is well known that the sun's distance has been determined from the
velocity of light. It has been found, by terrrestrial experiments, about
how fast light travels, and, knowing from certain astronomical phenomena
the time light requires to pass from the sun to the earth, we have been
able to determine the sun's distance.
There are several methods of determining the velocity of light, but
hitherto only two plans have been used to detect the time light occupies
in passing from the sun to the earth. This time was first discovered
by observations of the satellites of Jupiter. It was found that the
interval between the eclipses of these bodies was not always the
same--that the eclipses occurred earlier when Jupiter was nearest the
earth, and later when he was at his greatest distance. Roemer, a Danish
astronomer, first detected the cause of this variation. The second
method by which this time has been found is the aberration of stellar
light. This refined method was detected by the great English astronomer
Bradley.
About two years ago it occurred to me that a third method can be used
to solve this important problem. My plan is this: It is well known that
many variable stars, such as Algol, [sigma] Librae, U Coronae, and the
remarkable variable D.M. + 1.3408 deg., discovered by Mr. E.F. Sawyer,
fluctuate at regular intervals. Now, I believe it is possible to
determine very accurately the intervals between these changes, and,
by noting the change of time in these intervals, when the earth is in
different points of its orbit, we get the time light requires to cross
that orbit. For, as in the case of the satellites of Jupiter, when the
star is "in opposition," the changes will occur earlier than when it is
in conjunction or approaching that point. I have recently put this plan
to the test, and hope before long to make known the results.
In detecting the changes of variables, I have attempted to substitute,
in place of the ordinary eye observations, a very delicate thermopile,
which registers the changes in the star's heat. So far as I know, this
is the first application of the thermopile to variables.
* * * * *
PROFESSOR HAECKEL ON DARWIN.
In _Nature_ appears a report of the remarkable address given by
Professor Haeckel at the recent Eisenach meeting of the German
Association of Naturalists on the theories of Darwin, Goethe, and
Lamarck. The address is mainly devoted to Darwin and Darwinism, and of
both, we need scarcely say, Professor Haeckel has the highest estimate.
He said:
"When, five months ago, the sad intelligence reached us by telegraph
from England that on April 19 Charles Darwin had concluded his life
of rich activity there thrilled with rare unanimity through the whole
scientific world the feeling of an irreparable loss. Not only did the
innumerable adherents and scholars of the great naturalist lament the
decease of the head master who had guided them, but even the most
esteemed of his opponents had to confess that one of the most
significant and influential spirits of the century had departed. This
universal sentiment found its most eloquent expression in the fact that
immediately after his death the English newspapers of all parties, and
pre-eminently his Conservative opponents, demanded that the burial-place
of the deceased should be in the Valhalla of Great Britain, the national
Temple of Fame, Westminster Abbey; and there, in point of fact, he found
his last resting-place by the side of the kindred-minded Newton. In no
country of the world, however, England not excepted, has the reforming
doctrine of Darwin met with so much living interest or evoked such a
storm of writings, for and against, as in Germany. It is, therefore,
only a debt of honor we pay if at this year's assembly of German
naturalists and physicians we gratefully call to remembrance the mighty
genius who has departed, and bring home to our minds the loftiness of
the theory of nature to which he has elevated us. And what place in the
world could be more appropriate for rendering this service of thanks
than Eisenach, with its Wartburg, this stronghold of free inquiry and
free opinion! As in this sacred spot 360 years ago Martin Luther, by his
reform of the Church in its head and members, introduced a new era in
the history of civilization, so in our days has Charles Darwin, by his
reform of the doctrine of development, constrained the whole perception,
thought, and volition of mankind into new and higher courses. It is true
that personally, both in his character and influence, Darwin has more
affinity to the meek and mild Melanchthon than to the powerful and
inspired Luther. In the scope and importance, however, of their great
work of reformation the two cases were entirely parallel, and in both
the success marks a new epoch in the development of the human mind.
Consider, first, the irrefragable fact of the unexampled success which
Darwin's reform of science has achieved in the short space of 23 years!
for never before since the beginning of human science has any new theory
penetrated so deeply to the foundation of the whole domain of knowledge
or so deeply affected the most cherished personal convictions of
individual students; never before has a new theory called forth such
vehement opposition and so completely overcome it in such short time.
The depicture of the astounding revolution which Darwin has accomplished
in the minds of men in their entire view of nature and conception of
the world will form an interesting chapter in the future history of the
doctrine of development."
Describing a visit which he paid to the late Mr. Darwin in 1866,
Professor Haeckel says:
"In Darwin's own carriage, which he had thoughtfully sent for my
convenience to the railway station, I drove one sunny morning in October
through the graceful, hilly landscape of Kent, which, with the checkered
foliage of its woods, with its stretches of purple heath, yellow broom,
and evergreen oaks, was arrayed in the fairest autumnal dress. As the
carriage drew up in front of Darwin's pleasant country-house, clad in a
vesture of ivy and embowered in elms, there stepped out to meet me from
the shady porch, overgrown with creeping plants, the great naturalist
himself, a tall and venerable figure with the broad shoulders of an
Atlas supporting a world of thoughts, his Jupiter-like forehead highly
and broadly arched, as in the case of Goethe, and deeply furrowed by
the plow of mental labor: his kindly, mild eyes looking forth under the
shadow of prominent brows; his amiable mouth surrounded by a copious
silver-white beard. The cordial, prepossessing expression of the whole
face, the gentle, mild voice, the slow, deliberate utterance, the
natural and _naive_ train of ideas which marked his conversation,
captivated my whole heart in the first hour of our meeting, just as
his great work had formerly, on my first reading it, taken my whole
understanding by storm. I fancied a lofty world sage out of Hellenic
antiquity--a Socrates or Aristotle--stood alive before me. Our
conversation, of course, turned principally on the subject which lay
nearest the hearts of both--on the progress and prospects of the history
of development. Those prospects at that time--16 years ago--were bad
enough, for the highest authorities had for the most part set themselves
against the new doctrines. With touching modesty, Darwin said that his
whole work was but a weak attempt to explain in a natural way the origin
of animal and vegetable species, and that he should not live to see any
noteworthy success following the experiment, the mountain of opposing
prejudice being so high. He thought I had greatly overestimated his
small merit, and that the high praise I had bestowed on it in my
'General Morphology' was far too exaggerated.
"We next came to speak of the numerous and violent attacks on his work,
which were then in the ascendant. In the case of many of those pitiful
botches one was, in fact, quite at a loss whether more to lament the
want of understanding and judgment they showed or to give the greater
vent to the indignation one could not but feel at the arrogance and
presumption of those miserable scribblers who pooh-poohed Darwin's
ideas and bespattered his character. I had then, as on later occasions,
repeatedly expressed my just scorn of the contemptible clan. Darwin
smiled at this, and endeavored to calm me with the words, 'My dear young
friend, believe me one must have compassion and forbearance with such
poor creatures; the stream of truth they can only hold back for a
passing instant, but never permanently stem.' In my later visits to Down
in 1876 and 1879 I had the pleasure of being able to relate to Darwin
the mighty progress which in the past intervals his doctrines had made
in Germany. Their decisive outburst happened more rapidly and more
completely here with us than in England, for the reason chiefly that the
power of social and religious prejudice is not nearly so strong here
as among our cousins across the Channel, who are better placed than
ourselves. Darwin was perfectly well aware of all this; though his
knowledge of our language and literature was defective, as he often
complained, yet he had the highest appreciation of our intellectual
treasures."
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