Various

“ Where water containing such mineral and suspended matter is fed to a steam boiler, there results a combined deposit, of which the carbonate of lime usually forms the greater part, and which remains more or less firmly adherent to the inner surfaces of the boiler, undisturbed by the force of the boiling currents. Gradually accumulating, it becomes harder and thicker, and, if permitted to accumulate, may at length attain such thickness as to prevent the proper heating of the water by any fire that may be maintained in the furnace. ”

“ It is packed in masses resembling the brucite, from which it only differs in breaking into fibers instead of plates, as I have explained in my description of that species (see Part II) . They are both readily soluble in acids, with effervescence, and infusible but crumble to powder before the blowpipe, or at least become brittle; when rubbed in mass with a piece of iron, they phosphoresce with a yellow light; specific gravity, 2.4, hardness, 1.5 to 2. Its ready solubility in acids without effervescence at once distinguishes it from any mineral that it may resemble. ”

“ The whole spectrum, visible and invisible, is powerfully affected by the selective absorption of our atmosphere and that of the sun; and we must first observe that could we get outside our earth's atmospheric shell, we should see a second and very different spectrum, and could we afterward remove the solar atmosphere also, we should have yet a third, different from either. ”

“ The terminal ray of the solar spectrum, whose presence has been certainly felt by the bolometer, has a wave-length of about 28,000 (or is nearly two octaves below the "great A" of Fraunhofer) .
So far, it appears only that we have been measuring heat, but I have called the curve that of solar "energy," because by a series of independent investigations, not here given, the selective absorption of the silver, the speculum-metal, the glass, and the lamp-black (the latter used on the bolometer-strip) , forming the agents of investigation, has been separately allowed for. ”

“ If, now, one-half an inch of scale intervenes between the boiler shell and the water, such is its quality of resisting the passage of heat that it will be necessary to heat the fire surface to about 700°, almost to a low red heat, to effect the same result. Now, the higher the temperature at which iron is kept the more rapidly it oxidizes, and at any heat above 600° it very soon becomes granular and brittle, and is liable to bulge, crack, or otherwise give way to the internal pressure. ”

“ The pulp is of the consistency of milk when it pours from the spout of the pumps on the paper machine. The latter is a complicated series of rollers, belts, sieves, blankets, pumps, and gears, one hundred feet long. To describe it or to understand a description of it would require the vocabulary and the knowledge of a scientist. The milky pulp first passes over a belt of fine wire cloth, through which the water partly drains. It is ingeniously made to glide over two perforated iron plates, under which pumps are constantly sucking. ”

“ With regard to the heat evolved by a metallic conductor carrying an electric current, he established what was already supposed to be the law, namely, that "the quantity of heat evolved by it [in a given time] is always proportional to the resistance which it presents, whatever may be the length, thickness, shape, or kind of the metallic conductor," while he obtained the law, then unknown, that the heat evolved is proportional to the square of the quantity of electricity passing in a given time. ”

“ The beat of the exhaust, working, as it does, on the quarters, causes a constant sawing or backward and forward circulation of steam without any discharge, and only the condensation is carried off.
The water is brought from the pump and discharged into the lower side of the heater well forward, and passes around the heating tubes to the end, when it is discharged into a pipe that carries it forward, either direct to the check or into the purifier, which is located between the frames under the boiler, and consists of a chamber in which are arranged a live steam coil and a filter above the coil. ”

“ When the bed for the railroad was being cut here, many fine specimens were obtained by those in the vicinity, and the natives of the place have it in abundance, and it may be obtained from many of them for a trifle, if one is not inclined to work it out. The mineral itself occurs in masses in the vein of a white, greenish white, or more or less dark green color. Sometimes yellowish crystals of it occur plentifully in short thick prisms, but the common form is that of round coralloid bunches, having a radiated structure within. ”

“ Here, too, violet has been absorbed enormously more than the green, and the green than the red, and so on, the difference being so great, that if we were to calculate the thickness of the solar atmosphere on the hypothesis of a uniform transmission, we should obtain a very thick atmosphere from the rate of absorption in the infra-red alone, and a very thin one from that in the violet alone. ”

“ The acid turns logwood violet to a fine red, and equally reddens orchil violet. But the two colors cannot be confounded, first, because the two violet shades are very distinct, that of orchil being much the brighter; and secondly, because ammonia has no action on logwood violet, while it turns orchil violet, if at all reddish, to a blue shade. Hydrochloric acid, whether dilute or concentrated, is without action on alkanet violet. If the acid is dilute, it is equally without action on Perkin's violet and dahlia. If it is strong, it turns them blue, and even green if in excess. ”

“ In order to properly understand the requirements of an effective feed-water purifier, it will be necessary to understand something of the character of the impurities of natural waters used for feeding boilers, and of the manner in which they become troublesome in causing incrustation or scale, as it is commonly called, in steam boilers. All natural waters are known to contain more or less mineral matter, partly held in solution and partly in mechanical suspension. ”

“ The exhaust steam for heating is taken equally from both sides of the locomotive by tapping a two-inch nipple with a cup shaped extension on it in such a way as to catch a portion of the exhaust without interfering with the free escape of the steam for the blast, and without any back pressure, as it relieves the back pressure as much as it condenses. The pipe from one side of the engine is connected with the chamber into which the heating tubes are screwed, and is in direct communication with them. ”

“ Girls pack the sheets on the tables as they fall from the cutters, and throw out the damaged or dirtied sheets. A small black spot or hole or imperfection of any sort is sufficient to reject a sheet. In some orders fifty per cent. of the sheets are thrown out. There is no waste, as the damaged paper is ground into pulp again. Having been cut, the paper must be counted and folded. Then it is packed into bundles for shipment. The young lady who does the counting and folding is the wonder of the mill. ”

“ The potential of one cell is from 1.9 to 2 volts with strong solution, and the internal resistance varies from 0.108 to 0.170 of an ohm with cells of the size described. In order to test the constancy of the battery, a red heat was maintained in a platinum-iridium wire by the current for six weeks, both day and night.
The absence or exhaustion of the zinc in any one cell in a battery is indicated by the appearance of a red insoluble chromic salt of mercury, in a finely divided state, floating in the faulty cell. It is then necessary to drop in some pieces of zinc. ”

“ Should we take and examine these little weaklings, we should find generally that they are at a period when they normally should have the strength for flight, and we should also find that they are almost always of a lightish tint, some with head white, others with streaks and spots of white on the tail or back, and occasionally one is found entirely white, with red eyes--a complete albino. It is an accepted fact that the city-sparrow is everywhere of a lighter color than that of the country. ”

“ As soon as a fire starts in any part of a building, heat will be generated and immediately rise toward the ceiling, and the sprinkler nearest the fire will become heated in a very few moments to the required 155 degrees, when the cap will become loosened and will be forced off by the power of the water. The water will then be spread in fine spray on the ceiling over the fire, also directly on the fire and all around for a diameter of from fourteen to eighteen feet. ”

“ The ore is found in a sort of chloritic slate and iron pyrites which follow the ledge all around. The ore itself is a fine-grained pyrite, with a grayish color, and it is well suited by its sulphur and low copper contents, as well as by its properties for heap roasting. In heap roasting, the ore is hand-broken by Chinamen into small lumps before being hoisted to the surface. From the landing on the surface it is run out on long tracks under sheds, dumped around a loose brick flue and on a few sticks of wood formed in the shape of a V, which runs to the flues to give a draught. ”

“ Contrary to the accepted belief, it appears here also that the absorption on the whole grows less and less, to the extreme infra-red extremity; and on the other hand, that the energy before absorption was so enormously greater in the blue and violet, that the sun must have a decidedly bluish tint to the naked eye, if we could rise above the earth's atmosphere to view it. ”

“ The paper gives an account of an admirable series of experiments, proving that heat is generated (not merely transferred from some source) by the magneto-electric machine. The investigation was pushed on for the purpose of finding whether a constant ratio exists between the heat generated and the mechanical power used in its production. As the result of one set of magneto-electric experiments, he finds 838 foot pounds to be the mechanical equivalent of the quantity of heat capable of increasing the temperature of one pound of water by one degree of Fahrenheit's scale. ”

“ Of other improvements and additions to philosophical instruments may be mentioned a thermometer, unaffected by radiation, for measuring the temperature of the atmosphere, an improved barometer, a mercurial vacuum pump, one of the very first of the species which is now doing such valuable work, not only in scientific laboratories, but in the manufacture of incandescent electric lamps, and an apparatus for determining the earth's horizontal magnetic force in absolute measure.
Here this imperfect sketch must close. My limits are already passed. Mr. Joule has never been in any sense a public man ”

“ At the Southampton meeting of the British Association, Captain Abney read a paper in which he called attention to the fact that photographs taken at high altitudes show skies that are nearly black by comparison with bright objects projected against them, and he went on to show that the higher above the sea level the observer went, the darker the sky really is and the fainter the spectrum. ”

“ When these are broken open, the red copper oxide is readily distinguished, and may be separated or brought into relief by carefully trimming away the malachite surrounding it as its gravity (6) is much greater than malachite. When a piece of the last is found which has a high gravity, it may be suspected and broken into, as this species is much more valuable and rarer than the malachite which is so abundant. It dissolves in acids like malachite, but without effervescence, if it be freed from that mineral, and acts the same before the blowpipe. ”

“ Whole wheat meal, besides containing other essential mineral elements, has double the amount of lime, and nearly three times the amount of phosphoric acid; so that if defective mineral nutrition in any way predisposes to consumption, the adoption of wheat meal prepared in a digestible and palatable form is of primary importance for those who are unable to obtain the phosphates from high-priced animal foods. ”

“ Red wood shades are turned toward a gooseberry-red by hydrochloric acid, especially if strong. This last reaction not being very distinct, red-wood shades might be mistaken for those of artificial ponceau but for the superior brightness of the latter. If the action of potassa is prolonged, the red-wood shades are decolorized, and a washing with water then bleaches the tissue. Rocelline affords the same reactions as artificial ponceau, but if steeped in a concentrated solution of stannous chloride it is in time completely discharged, which is not the case with artificial ponceau. ”

“ As the water evaporates in the boiler, however, a point is soon reached where supersaturation occurs, as the water freshly fed into it constantly brings fresh accessions of the salt; and when this point is reached, the sulphate of lime is precipitated in the same form and with the same tenaciously adherent quality as the carbonates. There is, however, a peculiar property possessed by this salt which facilitates its precipitation, namely, that its solubility in water diminishes as the temperature rises. ”

“ In fact, the same number of piston strokes per minute may be preserved in the two modes of running, so as to reduce the speed in ascending, in proportion to the diameters of the wheels. There will thus occur the same consumption of steam. On another hand, there is nothing to prevent the boiler from keeping up the same production of steam, for it has been ascertained by experience, on the majority of railways, that the speed of running has no influence on vaporization, and that the same figures may be allowed for passenger as for freight locomotives. ”

“ If a better surface or gloss is required, it is carried to the super calendering mill, where it is steamed and subjected to a long and circuitous journey up and down tall stands of calenders upon calenders. The paper is cut by machines having long, winding knives which revolve slowly and cut, on the scissors principle--no two points of the blade bearing on the paper with equal pressure at once. ”

“ The writer on other occasions applied single tests (the collodion test) to samples of beechwood creosote that he had an opportunity of procuring small specimens of, and satisfied himself that they were pure. The conclusion is that the wood creosote of the market of the present time is in abundant supply, is of unexceptionable quality, and reasonable in price, so that there is no excuse for the substitution of the phenol commonly sold for it. When it is directed for use for internal administration (the medicinal effect being entirely dissimilar) , wood creosote only should be dispensed. ”

“ The automatic sprinkler is a device for automatically extinguishing fires through the release of water by means of the heat of the fire, the water escaping in a shower, which is thrown in all directions to a distance of from six to eight feet. The sprinkler is a light brass rose, about 11⁄2 inches diameter and less than two inches high entire, the distributer being a revolving head fitted loosely to the body of the fixed portion, which is made to screw into a half inch tube connection. ”