Another source of injury to railway dividends is to be found in the multiplicity of separate managements, boards of directors, &c. At the first superficial aspect of the matter, it will be said that here the public gains the advantage from the law of competition, but searching the matter more deeply we find that as an almost invariable rule the public interests and those of any railway comWhere one benefits, or later the other does so too. As an example of how railway men

Could any really efficient means be devised whereby landowners deriving benefit from railways passing through their land might be compelled to pay a certain portion of the working cost of such railways it would redound alike to the advantage of all parties.

but until we can get some stuff more stubborn much lighter description of permanent way charaeter were the nibu, the ishu, the than ordinary iron, however good, from will answer, and thus a considerable saving nishu, the hachsi-mongseng, the zeni, which to manufacture rails it must remain will be effected in this item. Then, again, and the tempo. The kobang was worth From the question of rails we naturally the speed on the shorter branches not need-about 188. 5d., British; the gold itzebu was come to the engines which they sustain. ing to be so high as on the trunk lines here worth one-third of a kobang, whilst the Here, again, there is much yet to be done in would be another source of saving to the silver itzebu was equal to 1s. 4d., English the way of improvement. Could we get road and rolling stock also. money. At the time of the partial inauguraengines lighter than they now are, or at tion of foreign trading operations the kobang least with the weight more distributed, the by common consent passed in the towns of life of a rail, whether steel or iron, would be Japan at four silver itzebus only, although greatly prolonged. The only way in which its European intrinsic value was actually this weight can be distributed is by coupling equal to that of fourteen itzebus. The imthe wheels, a practice that has of late years mediate and by no means surprising result become nearly universal, though still, in conof this discovery on the part of the traders sequence of the magnitude of the loads to be of America and Great Britain was the purhauled, we have commonly from four to five chasing of all the kobangs that came in their tous on a single wheel; and, as some of our TRADE AND CURRENCY OF JAPAN. way at the Japanese valuation. By this large lines work their coal traffic at 30 and 40 miles an hour, it needs no prophet to course of procedure-which no doubt opened T seems extremely probable, if it be not the eyes of the natives to the truly commerIT morally certain, that ere many years cial attributes of their new customers-the foretell the result to the rails. shall have passed away the veil of mystery latter gained large sums of money. Taught which has so long concealed the peculiar by this kind of practical experience the poor habits of the people of Japan will be raised, Japanese followed the example of their and that new fields of commercial enterprise teachers. They bought up all the remaining will be opened up in that populous country kobangs, and from that time to this not one to Great Britain and other European has been found circulating in Japan. nations. Up to Such a desirable consummation must indeed result from the more enlightened itzebus have done duty as the chief metallic the present year, therefore, gold and silver mode of conducting negotiations with the authorities of the "empire of islands " which have been supplemented by a silver coin or currency of that place. These, however, now happily prevails. In time past it has been too much the practice of ambassadors, plate known as the itacune, and worth 128. while "dressed in a little brief authority' British, and by the copper or bronze zeni or cash, of which 376 are required to equal in to whom they were accredited, and thus to obsolete kobang was a thin and oval-shaped to play very "fantastic tricks with those value one shilling of English money. The create prejudice and distrust where they disc of flattened gold, 2in. in length and ought to have induced trustfulness and 14in. in width. Its weight was 200 grains 161 troy, and its degree of fineness The ornamentation of the kobang was of the most primitive kind. The gold itzebu, or, as the natives abbreviate its name, the "itjib," weighs about 60 troy grains, and its degreee 569 of fineness is In form it is simply an 1000* oblong piece of gold plate with rectangular ends and sharp corners, well adapted for cutting holes in European pockets. It is in. in width, and decorated with a rude kind of coat of arms. Its value is stamped upon its surface. The silver itzebu resembles it in all but the material of which it is manufactured. The itacune is a plate of silver oval-ended, 3in. in length and 14in. in width, and it weighs 1,160 troy grains. Its rate of fineness is 1000'

pany are identical.

sooner

themselves feel the force of this

the on

we

esteem.

280'

may refer to a statement made by the late Captain Lows, of the Liverpool and Yorkshire Railway, who estimated the saving derivable from unity of management at as much as 20 per cent. The late Mr. Stewart, the secretary of the London and North-Western communications with the Japanese governThe manner in which of late our own Railway, had stated upon examination before ment has been conducted is not amenable the Railway Commission, and upon careful to any such criticism. Confidence is, it is investigation, that the saving from unity of said, a plant of slow growth, but it appears management was at least 10 per cent. upon to be in process of rapid development on the gross receipts, which he said amounted the part of the inhabitants of Japan. At to 20 per cent. working ex- this moment there are in this country many penses. Japanese youths-some of them connected Then again, not long since, Mr. Laing, with noble families and destined for high the Chairman of the London and Brighton positions in their native land-under course Railway, was reported to have stated to the of education and training in England, whilst, shareholders, that if Parliament had allowed as a kind of quid pro quo Englishmen are pretty them to amalgamate with the South-Eastern freely admitted into Japan. In short, a Railway Company, the shareholders would gradual but sure revolution in these direchave had 20s. added to their dividends, tions is progressing between the two counthen 10s., and that would have added tries, and its course will be fruitful in £1,360,000 to the value of their ordinary advantages to both. Fortunately we have stock. We are not told, however, by Mr. a government which is alive to the important Laing how much of this increase would have commercial issues dependent upon the existbeen due to the pressure brought on the ence and continuance of satisfactory relations public by the monopoly. with the remarkable nation in question and Such, briefly described, was the cumbrous determined to maintain them. and curious coinage of Japan, and which is As, however, there are symptoms of in-now doomed to disappear in toto. It has creasing intercourse between the English and been stated that some of the consequences the Japanese, so are there to be found of the treaty of 1858 were felt in a material evidences of reformation and improvement illustration of the fact. It was ascertained sense by the Japanese, and here is another within the limits of Japan itself. that one Mexican dollar was approximately worth three itzebus of silver. Foreign merchants were therefore entitled to demand three such pieces in exchange for a dollar, and as by the provisions of the treaty gold and silver coins might be freely exported the gold coins would be obtained at the mint price for the itzebus. Thus acquired, they were speedily bought up and sent out of the country.

The enormous sums of money paid for land on which to make their lines has been a

source of injury to railway earnings in the way of profit, and in very many cases the sums thus exacted by landowners have been neither more nor less than charges made by them for improvements effected to their own properties by the railways passing through

them.

To one of the latter it is intended to invite attention at present, namely, the remodelling of the metallic currency of the Japanese We have already more than once said that empire now in progress. Hitherto the coinrailway managers ought to turn attention to age of Japan has been one of the most the construction of branch lines as feeders. extraordinary in the world. Far from being We are well aware that branch lines so called of a cosmopolitan character it was of the have been made, and that they have proved most narrow and artificial kind. Nevertheo be suckers rather than feeders, but that less it possessed some advantages, and was was the case simply because they were to all not altogether ill adapted to the wants of the intents made and worked in the same manner native population. The treaty which was and at the same expense as the main lines. completed in 1858 conjointly between Great It would appear as though there was some Britain, America, and Japan, which to a very moral difficulty about the working of these limited degree opened up commerce between feeders. According to the views of some the three countries, first induced the Japanese engineers it is necessary that they should be to take into earnest consideration the nature of a uniform gauge with the main line. Well, and peculiarities of their own metallic curbeing of a similar gauge the same rolling rency and non-adaptability to the require. stock travels over it. This would be no evil ments of foreign trade. This fact was in so long as engines specially built for the truth forced upon their attention by the branch were put on them. It is the engines pressure of self-interest. To make this and not the trains that smash up the road; point more intelligible let us explain the therefore, though the carriages, trucks, &c., peculiarities of the coinage as it existed at of the main line work over the branches, so that date. The principal coins in circulation long as they are drawn by light engines, only were the gold kobang, the gold itzebu, and powerful enough for branch work, a very the silver itzebu. Those of a subsidiary

656

It is not surprising that the natives soon saw through the trick and complained loudly and justly that they were being legally cheated. Sir Rutherford Alcock, who was a witness to these evils, strove hard to remedy them, and persuaded the government of the Tycoon to reform bis currency laws. This has subsequently been effected, and, under the wise and enlightened counsel of other British advisers, extraordinary changes in the whole system of metallic currency and in the manipulatory processes of moneymaking in Japan are now in process of realisation. In a second and concluding paper the old plans and the new will be further explained and contrasted.

OUR ARMAMENTS.

N our last number we devoted a portion of
by the Quarterly Review " against the
present Board of Admiralty. We will now
as briefly as possible run through the remain-
ing statements of that journal.
The policy adopted by Mr. Childers in
regard to anchors and coals appears to have
been carried out with all other stores; "and
it may be said without fear of contradiction
that the Royal Dockyards have never been
so denuded of stores and so unable to supply
a fleet as they are at the present moment."
It will scarcely be believed that the stores of
provisions had been allowed to run so low at
Malta that when the Mediterranean squadron
left that port to unite with the Channel
squadron for the summer cruise, "there was
no flour in store to complete the supply of
the fleet, and the gunboat 'Lyne,' returning
soon after for supplies, had to obtain a barrel
of flour from the receiving ship, as there was
none to be had in the Royal Naval Store."

A similar instance occurred at Bermuda.
The "Juno" before leaving there for Eng-
land required 5,000lb. of biscuit, but "there
was not 1lb. of serviceable bread in store at
Bermuda," and the "Juno's" requisition
had to be made up by a general subscription

from the fleet then in harbour.

We now come to the fleets and the men. In our previous article we stated that it was the practice of the Government (whichever political party was in power) to begin their reductions at the wrong end of the list. We have seen that the reductions (?) in the Admiralty Office resulted in an additional cost to the country of about £12,000 a year. But this was not the case with the seamen, marines, and boys of the fleet. These were reduced by 5,500 men, viz. :-700 marines, 500 officers' servants, 4,000 seamen, and about 500 stokers. This proves the truth of our assertion in our last week's article as to the use (or we should say abuse) of the "official pruning knife."

The limited space at our disposal prevents our following our contemporary through the whole of its figures and statements in reference to the ships composing our fleet. We must, therefore, content ourselves with glancing for a moment at the result of its investigations. We are quite one with the "Quarterly Review" in believing that, taking into consideration the smallness of our army, our iron-clad fleet ought not only to be equal to but superior both in numbers and in quality to the iron-clad fleet of any

power.

At the commencement of the present year the French navy consisted of 62 iron-clad ships of various types, 51 of which were in commission. Against these 51 ships of France we possess 52, but only 30 of these

are commissioned.

We have no doubt that

ship for ship our ironclads are superior in
speed, armour, and armament to the ships
composing the French navy. But this is not
all that is required. Our fleet should be
sufficiently numerous as well as powerful to
cope with any probable combination of hos-
tile fleets. Unfortunately there is no pros-
pect of this being the case under our present
naval administration. In the two years Mr.
Childers has been at the head of the Ad-
miralty he has only proposed to build four
ironclads, and one of these, the "Fury," is
not yet commenced. Another great blunder
has been the neglect to build a flotilla of
small gunboats carrying (say) one big gun
for the protection of our coasts and harbours,
and for co-operating with our heavy ships of

A few words about our dockyard establishments and we shall close this subject, at any rate for the present. It had long been decided to close Deptford and Woolwich Dockyards, this course having been recommended by committees of the House of Commons. Deptford was of less importance than Woolwich, although it was necessary that great prudence should be exercised in bringing about this result in order that no unnecessary hardships should be inflicted upon the workmen and the inhabitants of the district. But in the case of Woolwich yard matters were very different. This yard possessed "the only steam factory capable of refitting the North Sea Fleet," and it should not have been closed previous to the extension of Chatham yard being completed. It is true we have a steam factory at Sheerness, but its capabilities are very limited, as, according to Mr. Andrew Murray, late inspector of factories, it "is only capable of refitting one large ship, and of performing slight repairs to two or three others." Surely designating the closing of Woolwich yard in under these circumstances we are justified in the manner and at the time it was an exceedingly unwise transaction, and quite in harmony with the false economy of the Admiralty in the reductions and savings previously referred to.

have been built in comparatively large authorities cannot or will not decide upon
numbers.
the action to be fixed to the Henry barrel,
We now approach the supply (or rather, although committees have reported in favour
non-supply) of guns to the army and navy. of the Martini and the Westley-Richards
We shall, however, more particularly refer action. If either of these were adopted our
to the latter, and this is not the least im- men would be armed with a "really superior
portant part of the subject. Notwithstanding weapon."
the fact that the £11,000,000 voted by Par-
liament for fortifications have been spent and
the forts completed, or nearly so, we have
literally no guns to arm them. Our con-
temporary says "ships are being constructed
to carry guns of 35 tons, and similar guns
will be necessary to mount upon the forts
for the defence of our harbours, but the
pattern of the gun of this size has not yet
been decided upon." It appears that the
action of Mr. Childers has been to retard the
construction of guns for the navy by re-
opening the question of the manufacture of
the Whitworth guns. It had been finally
and satisfactorily settled that Sir William
Armstrong's coiled wrought-iron gun was
superior to that produced by Sir Joseph
Whitworth's homogeneous metal. We have
no hesitation in expressing our opinion that
the Armstrong gun is the superior gun of
the two. Sir Joseph Whitworth's invention,
if such it may be termed, consists in sub-
mitting steel in the ingot mould to a pressure
varying from 8 to 20 tons per square inch.
This
of preventing the formation or existence of
process will, no doubt, have the effect
air bubbles or cells in the metal, thereby
rendering it homogeneous, but its brittleness
will be increased and its suitability for the
manufacture of guns destroyed. But our
present object is rather to protest against
the policy of the present Board of Admiralty
than to discuss rival systems of artillery. Mr.
Childers had every confidence in his own
views, and was determined to carry them out
if possible at any cost. This determination
resulted in the right hon. gentleman removing
Admiral Key from his office of Naval Di-
rector General of Ordnance, and appointing
him to Portsmouth Dockyard, where he was
nicely out of the way. But, as with the sale
of the anchors at Portsmouth, Mr. Childers
failed in introducing the Whitworth gun into
the navy, although he has succeeded in re-
tarding for at least a year the arming of our
ships of war with the guns for which they
are adapted. The War Office appointed a
fresh committee, which reported against the
introduction of the Whitworth gun. The
writer in the "Quarterly Review," after
stating that of 294 cannon made at Woolwich
during the years 1868-69 only one
ordered by the present government, the article with the following words from our
servative predecessors, and that these were discovered the imposture under which it is
remaining 293 being ordered by their Con- contemporary:-"The country has not yet
for ships already built, and further, that suffering; but a day of retribution will come;
there were no reserve guns for the navy and the present Board of Admiralty will, for its
for arming the forts, ironically says: "Nor mismanagement and inefficiency, be swept
for the ship Devastation,' which the Times' away, and whatever the cost may be we feel
assures us is the joint production of Mr. sure the nation will insist on the restoration
other, we might say more competent, naval
Gladstone and Mr. Childers, in default of of the strength of the British Navy."

constructors."

was

There

The journal which has inspired the foregoing observations finally deals with the Navy retirement scheme recently adopted. It is not within our province to closely criticise the working of this scheme, although we cannot but remark that it appears to have given satisfaction to no one. can be no doubt that a considerable number of aged naval officers stood in the way of younger and abler men, and we think that it is in the best interests of the country that such officers should be compelled to retire. But we do not think that the whole foundations of Government employment should be broken up. Men who devote the whole of the best portion of their lives to the service of their country should feel certain that they will not be broken faith with at last; they must be justly and liberally dealt with, or the public service will suffer.

We cannot do better than conclude this

BRIDGE FOR THE OUDH AND
ROHILCUND RAILWAY.

HE

Surprising as are many of the statements we have referred to there are others equally surprising yet to be noticed in connection with the deficiency of ammunition for the heaviest works of construction on all the great Indian railways are unquesguns already on board our ships in place of tionably the bridges. Many of the rivers in those with which they were intended to be that country attain to dimensions which are armed. For instance, the unfortunate "Cap-only to be rivalled by those on the transtain" sailed on a cruise after the declaration atlantic continent. The necessity for crossof war by France against Prussia "upwards ing these by bridges of commensurate size and of 100 12-inch shot short of the number she importance becomes indispensable when the should have had on board," and it is further traffic assumes the proportions belonging to stated that the "Monarch sailed upwards steam locomotion. A very good example of of 70 short of her number, and of those that bridge building for India is to be seen at The late Conservative government she had on board 73 were of a pattern present in the workshops of Messrs. Campbell, adopted the design of Mr. Rendell, of New- which were reported dangerous to the gun. Johnson, and Co., at Silvertown. On Friday castle, for a small vessel or floating gun It is not, however in artillery alone that the 21st ult., a numerous party of professional carriage, the "Staunch," capable of ma- our services are at such a low ebb. The and scientific gentlemen proceeded to the noeuvring by steam in very shallow water, same hesitation, procrastination, and false above-mentioned locality for the purpose of and armed with an 18-ton gun. These economy which has run rampant in the direc-inspecting some large girders in course of vessels cost but £7,000 each, and in the tions we have specified has prevailed with construction for a line in India. The expeabsence of any superior design they should reference to the supply of small arms. The dition was undertaken not so mach with the

war.

"Volage," of 600-horse power and 2,322 tons, was
The
calculated to cost for the hull £80,207.
"Blonde" is a much larger vessel than this; she
is designed to have engines of 1,000-horse power,
to carry 26 guns, to be over 4,000 tons, and to
these vessels are now utterly worthless.
The greater number of

cost about £140,000.

object of examining the girders themselves lower flange, and horizontal bracing is introas of witnessing a novel method of erecting duced between the pair of main girders both at them. It frequently occurs that in some top and bottom. This is rendered indispensable situations it becomes absolutely impossible to by the character of the structure. Single put up any temporary staging to support the lattice girders possess, per se, very little girders of a bridge while its erection is in lateral rigidity or stiffness, although by bracprogress. Consequently, the only alternative ing a pair together, as in the present instance, It is much to be feared that the money expended is to erect them without any scaffolding the whole structure may be made firm and upon our'national fortifications is of little more value. whatever. This has been accomplished in unyielding. Exactly over the intermediate The total amount granted for fortifications at Portsseveral instances already, in which the girders pier in the two continuous spans, the open mouth, Plymouth, Pembroke, Portland, Gravesend, were built on the neighbouring site and rolled web is altered to one of the plate or solid Chatham, Sheerness, Dover, Cork, and other naval or launched bodily over the open spans into type in order the better to resist the shear-stations, amounted in last year to a recorded their permanent positions. So far, therefore, ing strain, which reaches its maximum over expenditure on account of £4,558,938 in addition there is nothing new in the idea abstractedly the bearings. The vertical struts are "built to other expenditure incurred, and it may be regarded, of dispensing with scaffolding, or up sections," composed of plates and angle well asked at the close of such statements why are we to pay such amounts in the light of Krupp's in the practice either. Indeed, provided irons, while the ties are of a plain bar section. there were plenty of "tackle" of the right They are, however, double, each bar being thing that have been manufactured at Woolwich guns, that are certainly superior in power to anysort, any competent engineer would manage riveted on the opposite side of the vertical Arsenal or elsewhere. to throw a girder over an intervening space. plates of the flanges. As we might have expected the trade and naviBut to effect this operation in the most eco- The position the girders were supposed to gation returns show a remarkable change in nomical and rapid manner is an affair of be in during the experiment was that in various exports and imports in the month of another sort. It is one thing to accomplish which one end of the first span rested upon September last. In September, 1868, we received a task in a rough and ready manner, and the abutment or solid ground, the two con- from Prussia 396,466cwt. of corn; in September another to reduce it to a system which will tinuous extremities upon one pier, and the last Prussia sent us only 7,983cwt. It is curious invariably yield true results. This is what other extremity of the second span was free. that France should have sent us a larger quantity Messrs. Campbell and Johnson profess to Five men were set to work upon each set of in the one month as compared with the other. It have done by the aid of their special appa- presses, thus making ten in all required to trial localities, should be doing as much as it does. seems passing strange that France, in its indusratus, which is of a portable nature, and re- move the pair of girders and the correspond-In August last we had £550,000 against £436,000 quires very little extraneous assistance. The ing framework of iron connecting them in August, 1868, value in ribbons. France sent us apparatus, to describe it briefly, consists of a together. At every stroke of the stretcher, in August last over £280,000 worth of this kind set or series of five small hydraulic presses, and every turn of the screw, the bridge of goods against £214,000 in August, 1868. upon the top of which are fixed the same advanced about ĝin., which would give on an number of toothed wheels geared on to others average nearly 40ft. per hour. The motion upon the smooth periphery of which rests was exceedingly regular and unaccompanied the girder. A set of five is placed under the by any vibration of the girders. At the bottom flange of each girder, so that the unsupported extremity, the deflection was total set comprises ten. The rail which runs considerable, as might be expected, consideron the wheels is a piece of wrought iron in ing that for the time being, the girders were the shape of a T, and forms a part of the converted into cantilevers. Ten presses are bottom flange of the girders, to which it is supposed to constitute a set, that is, five for riveted. After the girders have been raised each side of the pier or for each girder, so to the required height by the presses, motion that in actually erecting a bridge, three sets is imparted to the wheels by men raising and are required. One serves to support what we lowering a long bar or wooden stretcher. may term the near end of the double This bar turns an endless screw which the second, which is the working set, carries to revolve. They carry the plain ones with is placed on the bridge itself, ready to be engages the toothed wheels and causes them the central or continuous part, and the third them, and the friction of the latter against the rail causes the girders to advance. The screws are right handed and left handed, so that the progressive motion of each girder is contemporaneous.

The bridge is intended for the Oudh and Rohilcund line of railway, and is from the designs of Mr. J. M. Heppel, C.E. It will span the River Ganges at Cawnpoor, and will carry a single line of rails, and an ordinary roadway as well. This is a very common style of structure in India, the existing road bridges being so few that they are as much needed for ordinary as for locomotive traffic. Without including the two side or land spans, which are of smaller dimensions, there are in all twenty-three openings. Each spar is about 100ft. in length, so that, allowing for the thickness of the piers, the total length of the bridge will be rather more than half a mile. In the experiment, a couple of spans were riveted up completely together with the cross girders and bracing, but no part of the platform of either roadway or railway was included. The girders were, therefore, continuous over one pier, which are the conditions to which they will be subjected when in their permanent position. account of the considerable amount of expansion and contraction to which bridges are fiable in India, it would be difficult to apply the continuous principle to many spans. In all probability, except for the peculiar method of erection that is intended to be adopted in this instance, each pair of girders would have been made independent of its neighbours. Each girder is what is termed "a single lattice"; the flanges are composed of horizontal and vertical plates, and the web of vertical struts and diagonal ties. The latter are inclined at the usual and most economical angle of 45deg. The cross girders are attached at the junctions of the vertical compression bars or struts with the

On

span,

got into position directly the free end touches
the pier to which it is advancing. These three
are the minimum number required, but more
can be used accordingly as time is valuable
or not. After witnessing the experiment,
which was pronounced a decided success, the
party adjourned to a large apartment on the
premises, where a handsome collation was pre-
pared. The chair was taken by Sir John
Rennie, and a few appropriate toasts proposed
and honoured. In the same apartment was a
long wrought-iron tank filled with water, for
the purpose of experimenting upon the work-
ing models of floating docks, caissong, and
pontoons, which were sunk and raised for the
entertainment and instruction of the visitors.
Models of various well-known vessels were
docked and undocked with a facility that would
have delighted the Lords of the Admiralty.
An early train conveyed the party back to
town, well satisfied with the scientific portion
of the visit, and highly appreciating the
courteous and hospitable reception they had
received from their genial hosts.

NOTES BY QUIDNUNC.

We have sent a larger quantity of coals to France in recent times. For the nine months ending September 30th last 1,790,871 tons as against 1,436,479 tons for the nine months ending September, 1868.

IN

SIEMENS' PYROMETER.

[N one of the discussions which took place in section A of the British Association at Liver

pool much was said of the merits of a pyrometer and thermometer invented by Mr. C. W. Siemens,

C.E. This instrument can be used to indicate

high temperatures, such as those met with in that the indicating part of the apparatus may be blast furnaces; it can also be used to measure moderate temperatures, but its chief feature is several yards, or miles even, away from the place of which the temperature has to be ascertained. Hence it was used by Dr. Carpenter to learn the temperature of the deeper portions of the Atlantic, and it enables ironmasters and colliery proprietors to see in the office of the works the temperature of their pits or furnaces which are at a distance from the place of observation.

The principle of the instrument is simple.

When a platinum or iron wire rises in tempera

ture it offers more resistance than before to the passage of a current of electricity. Hence the variations in the conductivity of the wire serve to indicate the variations in temperature, which variations may be read off by means of suitable galvanometric appliances. We are now enabled to give a full description of the instrument from facilities kindly given to us by Mr. Siemens.

The apparatus for indicating high temperatures, such as those of furnaces, consists of a coil of fine platinum wire wound round a cylindrical clay pipe, which pipe is about 3in. long by in. in dia

meter. The wire lies in a spiral groove made
upon the surface of the clay cylinder; this grooving

prevents the convolutions of the platinum wire
from touching each other, in consequence of which
the electrical current must pass along the whole
The
length of the wire, or about three yards.
exact length through which it must pass is regu-
lated by a small platinum adjusting clam, the

position of which may be shifted. In this way all
the instruments made by Mr. Siemens are adjusted
to give the same indications.

IT may seem disloyal, but we cannot help it.
A parliamentary paper has been just published
giving an account of the vessels now building, or
ordered to be built, during the year 1870, that
are not armour-plated. We very much fear that the
list is not a correct one, for where, we ask, is the
Bulwark" of Chatham, and echo answers where.
We find that, according to this return, there are in
the different building yards 21 vessels in various
stages. The yards include the Government yards
at Devonport, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Sheerness,
Chatham, and Woolwich. Of these 21 ships, the
greater number are from 1,000-horse power nominal
down to 25-horse power, and we notice that Penn,
Humphrys, Napier, and Rennie are the chief makers.
The Avonside Engine Company has also taken
a large share in these contracts. The ships
referred to vary in cost as regards hull, &c. The from the spiral.

The ends of the fine wire which measures the temperature are connected with two thick platinum wires, each about 18in. long; as the further ends of these thick wires are at a tolerable distance from the source of heat when the instrument is in use, they in their turn are connected with thick copper conducting wires. All these wires are protected by clay pipes. The whole of this arrangement is placed in a protecting tube of iron about 4ft. long. The platinum spiral pyrometer is then in the closed end of the tube; the other end of the tube has a wooden cap on which two brass terminal screws are fixed, and these screws are connected with the conducting wires to and

That end of the tube which has to be inserted in to register temperatures up to 1,000deg. Centi- In the autumn of 1862, I went to the city of
the furnace is not always made of iron, for when grade, and some have been made to register Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio, and in the well-
temperatures above the melting point of iron have 2,000deg., but in these instances, the end of the known establishment of Miles H. Greenwood and
to be measured, the end of tube which is subjected large tube was made of platinum.
Co., I had six of my guns constructed; but about
to the heat must be made of platinum. In some For ordinary temperatures, or temperatures the time they were completed the establishment
instances, where moderate furnace temperatures much below a red heat, a fine insulated iron wire, was destroyed by fire, together with the guns,
have to be measured, it is advantageous that the several miles in length is used, and it is enclosed patterns, and drawings, subjecting me to a very
end of the tube shall be made of copper. The in a hermetically closed tube, that it may be re-heavy pecuniary loss. Shortly afterwards, I had
metal is very thick at a point some few inches moved from the influences of moisture and rusting. twelve of my batteries manufactured at another
nearer the cold end of the pipe than the platinum Such thermometers are found to be very sensitive, establishment in the same city. In the meantime,
spiral, in order that the cooler part of the outer and to give very accurate readings. Dr. Carpenter I continued to fire my gun, made at Indianapolis,
pipe may not draw off the heat by conduction too used these instruments in his deep sea soundings, before the citizens of Cincinnati, and in the pre-
rapidly, and thus affect the reliability of the indi-and the leading wires had to be very carefully in- sence of many Army Officers of rank and
cations. The short clay cylinder carrying the sulated with india-rubber. As the motion of the distinction, all of whom were highly pleased at
platinum spiral has a projection at each end, ship made the galvanometers unsteady, and as the the result of its performance. The American press
which removes all possibility of any part of the galvanometers used in cable testing were not suffi- of 1862 and 1863 teemed with accounts of these
spiral touching the sides of the iron pipe, and thus ciently sensitive, torsion was applied both to the trials, and during all this period no notice of a
interfering with the accuracy of the indications by top and bottom of a sensitive galvanometer needle, similar weapon, at least none equalling or approach-
increasing the electrical conductivity of the whole in order to make it work steadily. Some other ing the "Gatling battery," in the rapidity of its
arrangement.
modifications in the method of ascertaining the tem- firing, appeared in any of the papers published in
perature were also introduced into the system of America or Europe.
noting ocean temperatures at great depths.
Some of these pyrometers are now in use in the
Imperial Ironworks in Russia; they are also used
for blast furnaces, and in gas works, for the tem-
perature at which coal is distilled much influences
the quality of the gas. Some of the instruments
for testing low temperatures have gone to Turin
Conducting wires, which may be of any length, for experimental purposes. Mr. Siemens intends
are connected with the terminal screws at the to use his electrical thermometers for medical pur-
cold end of the iron pipe, and thus the hot spiral poses, to ascertain the temperature of the blood of
becomes a part of the electrical circuit. The those who are suffering from fever and other com-
change in the electrical resistance is then measured plaints; the spirals for such work will be enclosed
by apparatus, the principle of which may be ex-in a little silver case, and the temperature can be
plained by the aid of the accompanying diagram. read off at a distance from the bed, without
bling or inconveniencing the patient.

Thus, when the end of the great metallic pipe is pushed into a furnace, the temperature of the platinum spiral rises and its electrical conductivity consequently decreases; the decrease in conductivity is measured by electrical appliances, and thus the temperature of the furnace is read off. We have, therefore, now to describe the electrical part of the apparatus.

The current goes from the zinc pole of the battery Z to the movable contact wheel B, which wheel may be moved to any part of the arc A D, which is a very fine platinum wire fixed round the edge of a disc of ebonite. When the little wheel is in the position shown in the diagram, the current enters the platinum wire at P and splits into two parts, one portion of the current going to A and the other to D. Midway between A and D the galvanometer H is fixed. From the two ends of the platinum wire A D the current passes on one side into the constant resistance C, and at the same time into the galvanometer; on the other side it passes to the other terminal of the same galvanometer, and at the same time to one of the leading wires of the platinum spiral pyrometer W. The current passes through the platinum spiral as well as through the constant resistance C, and the two branches meet at the point L in order to return to the other pole of the battery. K is a "key" for making contact with the battery. As long as the electrical force at A and D is equal, the galvanometer needle will be at rest, bnt when it is unequal the needle is deflected. The balance may be restored and the needle brought back to zero by shifting the wheel B; hence, when the electrical balance of forces is disturbed by the heating of the spiral W, it may be restored by shifting the wheel B, consequently the temperature is read off by noting the position of the wheel B upon the graduated arc A D.

The plan of action is to expose the platinum spiral to the temperature to be examined, and to connect the leading wires with the terminals; then the astatic needle of the galvanometer has to be adjusted, so that it points to the zero of its small scale. When the contact key K is pressed down, the needle is deflected, and the movable contact wheel B is shifted until equilibrium is obtained. After this, a reading of the large scale on the arc A D is taken, and a calculated table attached to the instrument gives the real degrees in Centigrades of the heat of the platinum spiral in the furnace. Many of the instruments are made

TH

THE GATLING BATTERY GUN IN
ENGLAND.

I made no effort to keep my invention a secret, but, on the contrary, published full descriptions of the gun, with cuts and diagrams, and sent the same to all parts of the civilized world. I stated in these descriptions that my invention consisted of a "series of barrels," parallel to each other, arranged around a central shaft, and that "each of the barrels was furnished with its own appropriate lock, or firing mechanism;" I also described it as a "compound machine gun," that is many guns in one. At the time I made these publications, that " mysterious" French mitrailleuse, of which we have since heard so much, was not introu-vented, and, in my opinion, not even thought of. It is well known that the French and Montigny mitrailleuses are composed of a number of barrels, and have a lock or firing device for each barrel, and, for reasons submitted hereafter, I have no hesitation in saying that this feature of a gun, formed of many barrels and many locks, is copied from my invention.

HE trial of the "Gatling Battery gun" at Shoeburyness has given the British authorities a very favourable impression of its formidable character. The small Gatling gun of 42 one hundredths of an inch calibre was tried first. This gun has ten steel rifled barrels, and is made of any proper calibre to suit the musket cartridges used by different governments. It was fired at the high rate of about 350 shots a minute. The one-inch gun was tested next. This is the third or largest gun of the system, and is made with six, sometimes with ten, barrels, and discharges solid lead balls half a pound in weight. It also uses a canister cartridge which contains sixteen balls. It also discharges explosive balls with great effect. At this test it discharged 255 half-pound balls in one minute and eighteen seconds, and riddled the target at 1,400 yards. On the same day the small gun (No. 1) was again discharged at 1,400 yards, and made an excellent target, firing about 375 shots a minute. It was also fired at dummies representing a company front, on uneven ground, the men being disposed in irregular order. There were 136 dummies, representing men, 99 of whom would have been killed. The average hits were four in each man.

Subsequently the small gun was again fired at various ranges from 1,200 down to 400 yards at targets and at dummies. The firing was at about the same rate and speed as before, making the same targets and producing the like destructive effect among the dummies. All on the ground seemed to agree that they had seen the operation of a weapon of unprecedented power.

Our readers will be interested in the history of this remarkable gun from the pen of Mr. Gatling himself:

A man is entitled to the fruits of his labour, and to assert a just claim is a duty as well as a right. In the year 1861 I first conceived the idea of a machine gun, which has been ever since the great controlling idea of my life; and it certainly cannot be regarded as egotism when I express the belief that I am the originator of the first successful weapon of the kind ever invented. A brief bistory of this arm may establish the fact, and cannot fail to engage the attention of all who take an interest in fire-arms.

I completed my first "battery," or "machine gun," in the city of Indianapolis, State of Indiana, my place of residence, in the early part of the year 1862, and my first American patent bears date November 4th of the same year. The gun was fired repeatedly during that year, in Indianapolis, in the presence of hundreds and thousands of persons, over two hundred times a minute, and the result published to the world.

I continued to make my guns in Cincinnati during the years 1863 and 1864, and in the autumn of the latter year, I made additional improvements to my battery-in the locks and rear cam-but without, however, changing its main features, for which I secured a second patent of the United States, bearing date May 9th, 1865.

In the years 1865 and 1866, these improved Manufactory, in the city of Philadelphia, but guns were manufactured at Cooper's Fire Arms since that time they have been constructed in large numbers, at Colt's Armoury, in the city of Hartford, where machinery has been fitted up at great expense to build the guns in the highest style of perfection.-" Scientific American," Octo

ber 15.

REMARKABLE ENGINEERING OPERATION.
HE "New York Tribune" gives the following
Taccount of the successful moving of the large
mains of the Croton Water Works in New York
City:-

The recent change of grade in Fifth Avenue, between Sixty-eight and Seventy-second streets, laid bare the two large three-foot iron water pipes which supply the city below Central Park, and rendered it necessary for them to be lowered to the depth of and from injury by the constant passing of vehicles. about four feet, in order to protect them from frost As one pipe is not of sufficient capacity to supply the wants of the city below Central Park, it was decided to prepare a bed on the west side of the avenue as a temporary resting place for the pipes, while a proper trench, 12ft. wide and from 1ft. to 4ft. deep, could be excavated for them beneath the line they had occupied. This was no easy task, as the pipes were then laid in a trench cut through a solid rock, and, before they could be moved an inch, one side of the trench had to be blasted and removed with the utmost precaution. When the temporary bed, some 8ft. to 10ft. wide, was properly prepared, the Croton mains, each about 1,000ft. in length, were slipped sidewise on wooden blocks with great care, so as not to disturb any of the joints.

The magnitude of this task may be inferred from the fact that every foot of the pipe, including the water contained therein, weighs about 1,500lb.

After the pipes were shifted to the temporary bed, a trench 12ft. wide and from 1ft. to 4ft. deep, was exthe avenue. cavated through the solid rock along the centre of without interrupting the flow of water through them. Into this the pipes are now lowering The pipes were laid in 1840, and appear to be very little corroded, and the hemlock blocks from the Northern part of the State, upon which the pipes have rested for the last 30 years, are as sound today as they were when buried with the pipes.

IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND

BOILER S.

BY MR. J. HOPKINSON.

The liquor is clarified in the usual manner, and is admitted through the pipes F as before mentioned provided with suitable stopcocks to cut off the supply of liquor to the apparatus when, for instance, the granulating cooler G is full.

IMPROVEMENTS IN FURNACES AND
BOILERS.

HE above engraving represents a section of a
THE
boiler and furnace which has lately been
patented by Mr. J. Hopkinson, of Southport, near
Liverpool. He proposes to make the boiler of
short length in proportion to its diameter and
place in it a number of tubes or flues to connect
a smaller vessel thereto, and to which the feed
pipe, safety valve, and gauges are attached; the
upper part of this vessel forms the steam chamber,
to which the usual draw-off steam pipes are
connected. The fire-bars and dead plate are
placed in a transverse direction with the boiler,
the dead plate being below an arch of fire-brick,
which carries the smaller vessel; at the back of
the fire-bars there is a space in the brickwork for
the removal of clinkers when required. The
water line is nearly at the top of the boiler and
midway in the smaller vessel, the steam from the
boiler passing through the upper pipes to the
steam chamber. The fuel is to be placed on the
dead plate below the arch, and afterwards pushed
on to the fire-bars, the heated air passing round
the boiler to one end and then through the tubes
or flues to the other end of the flue or chimney. It
will be observed that the boiler is distinct from the
steam chamber, and can have a large number of
tubes or flues, which enable the water to imme-
diately absorb the heat and generate steam with
great economy of fuel.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SUGAR.

R. W. HARDY, of Melbourne, Victoria, has just

Mpatented in this country some improvements

in the manufacture of sugar and in apparatus used for the purpose. The invention, as represented in the above engraving, relates to an improved apparatus to be used in the manufacture of sugar for evaporating and concentrating the liquor from which the sugar is to be obtained.

The apparatus is termed a "saccharator" and consists of a rectangular chamber or flue A of considerable height. This chamber or flue is constructed preferably of sheet iron, and is provided with inner or double walls A1 on two opposite sides. Within the chamber are several series of tubes B of the same or other suitable metal disposed horizontally across the chamber from one wall A1 to the other, the tubes in each series being placed directly over one another; partitions C are placed alternately at either side of the apparatus in the space between the double walls of the chamber with which all the tubes communicate so as to form a serpentine passage for steam or hot air introduced at the lowest tube of each series through which it circulates as shown by the black arrows on the drawing, and finally escapes at the blast pipe D, at the top of the apparatus. Each tube B is furnished with a longi

tudinal plate or feather a dependent from the under
side thereof, the edge of which plate is formed with
serrations as seen, from which the liquor drops more
readily; F are the liquor supply pipes, one of which
The liquor to be concentrated is received from the
is disposed immediately over each series of tubes.
liquor supply cisterns or clarifiers with which said
pipes are in communication, and issues through mi-

THE AURORA BOREALIS.
No. 1.

THOSE
HOSE of our readers who pay attention to

passing events and occurrences other than
such as relate to the affairs of individuals and
nations can hardly have failed to notice that dur-
ing the past two months some unusual natural mani-
festations have been witnessed in the heavens. Of
such a nature have been the remarkable luminous
meteors of which we recently took notice, and of
such a nature also are the aurora boreales which
have been observed in the northern heavens at
various times since the middle of August last,
down to the present time. These phenomena,
which are common to the inhabitants of the higher
latitudes, are frequent in the north of Europe, and
of late years have not been of unfrequent occur-
rence in the neighbourhood of our own metropolis.
We therefore think a notice of these magnificent
displays will appropriately follow those of other
meteorological phenomena which have preceded
it. The aurora borealis, or northern lights, is a
remarkable luminous phenomenon, which, occur-
ring with great frequency in the northern regions,
relieves the long dreary night of the inhabitants
of the arctic zone. It is one of those many
beautiful compensating laws of nature which so
greatly contribute to the comfort of man, for
during the winter of the northern hemisphere the
inhabitants are without the light of the sun for
months together. But the auroral appearances
are not confined to the northern hemisphere, hav-
ing been seen in the direction of the south pole by
some who have explored the southern seas.
would therefore seem that the term
lights," to designate the aurora, but as we are
lights" would be more appropriate than "Northern
accustomed to see them chiefly in the north, we
suppose the latter term will still obtain. The
appearance of the aurora borealis has been
described by observers both in northern and
central Europe, and their accounts coincide pretty
nearly one with the other.

It

Polar

The manner in which the phenomenon takes place is generally much the same; the sky first assumes a dingy appearance towards the north, and this gradually becomes darker and takes the form of a circular segment surrounded by a luminous arch and resting at each end on the horizon. The density of this dark segment must be very small, as stars are sometimes seen shining through it. The luminous arch is of a bluish white colour and has its lower edge very sharply defined. This arch may be considered to be a portion of a luminous ring, elevated at a considerable distance above the earth's surface, and having its centre corresponding with some point near the north pole. The luminous arch once formed remains visible for several hours, and is in a constant state of motion, rising and falling, extending now eastward and now westward, breaking sometimes in one part and sometimes in another. These motions become more apparent when the arch is about to shoot forth rays; this it does at one point first, which becomes highly luminous, eating in as it were upon the dark segment. The bright ray darts upwards towards the zenith, changing its form and fluttering like a ribbon moved by the wind. This ray after a while fades out, but is rapidly superseded by other rays, until at length they are projected from every part of nute perforations in the lower side of pipes F, by the arch and the aurora attains its full brightwhich it is supplied in fine streams to the topmost ness and activity. These rays, when very bright, tube B of each series, over which the liquor is assume a variety of tints, appearing sometimes equally distributed and whence it passes down- green, sometimes purple, whilst at others they are wards from tube to tube successively throughout of a violet or of a rose colour, the whole appeareach series until finally received in a suitable granulator or cooler G. The pipes B being heated by Such was the appearance of a beautiful auroral ance being exceedingly beautiful and effective. the current of steam passing through them the aqueous matter contained in the saccharine (or it display which we witnessed in London some eight might be a saline) solution will by contact with said years since, and of similar character, only more tubes be gradually but rapidly evaporated, and the magnificent, is one as seen in Norway, which is saccharine (or saline) properties concentrated at a illustrated in Miller's" Kosmische Physic." When comparatively low temperature; H is a fan mounted the rays darted forth by the luminous arch are at the upper part of the chamber A, and driven by numerous and of great length, they culminate in power applied to a pulley on its spindle for assist- a point, which is situated in the prolongation of ing the blast pipe D in carrying off the vapour from the dipping-needle somewhat south-east of the chamber A. The arrows indicate the direction of a zenith. There they form what is called the blast of hot air, which may be introduced by a pipe boreal crown, and the whole heavens, east, west, at the lower part of the chamber to assist in evaporating the liquor and carrying off the vapour as it is and north, present the appearance of a vast cupola formed, or the apparatus may be wholly or partly of fire supported by columns of variously coloured closed at the lower part and the vapour withdrawn light. Of this character was the auroral display by exhaustion only. which we witnessed in full beauty between 6 and