Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885

Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885

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December 19, 1885, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885
Author: Various
Release Date: September 8, 2004 [EBook #13401]
Language: English
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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 520

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 19, 1885
Scientific American Supplement. Vol. Vol. XX, No. 520.
Scientific American established 1845
Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.
Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
I. ENGINEERING, ETC.--Steel Structures.--Best use of different grades of steel.--From a paper by Mr. JAS. CHRISTIE.
Natural Gas Fuel and its Application to Manufacturing: Purposes.--Paper read before the Iron and Steel Institute by Mr. ANDREW CARNEGIE.--First use of the gas.--Wells near Pittsburg.--Extent of territory underlain with gas.--Cost of piping.--Analyses ofnatural gas.
A Gas Engine Water Supply Alarm.--1 figure.
The Water Supply of Ancient Roman Cities.--An address by Prof. W.H. CORFIELD.--Aqueducts for the supply of Borne.--The aqueduct bridge Pont du Gard.--The supply of Lyons.--Construction of underground aqueducts.
Steam Engine Economy.--By Chief Engineer J. LOWE, U.S.N.--With diagram.
The "Elastic Limit" in Metals.--Selection of wire for suspension bridges, etc.
Prices of Metals in 1874 and 1884.--With table.
II. TECHNOLOGY.--A Method of Measuring the Absolute Sensitiveness of Photographic Dry Plates.--By Wm. H. PICKERING.--From the proceedings of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Soldering and Repairing Platinum Vessels in the Laboratory.--By J.W. PRATT.
The Helicoidal or Wire Stone Saw invented by M.P. GAY.--With engraving of quarry showing application of saw, and 5 figures.
Portable Prospecting Drill and Automatic Safety Gear shown at the Inventions Exhibition.--With 2 engravings.
III. ELECTRICITY, ETC.--Electricity in Warfare.--By Lieutenant B.A. FISKE, U.S.N.--Electrical torpedoes.--Torpedo detecter.--Military telegraphy and telephony.--Electricity for firing great guns.--Arrangement of wires for lights.--The search light.--Incandescent lamps for sight signaling.--Electrical launches.--An "electric sight".
Meucci's Claims to the Telephone.--With description of his instrument and 10 figures.
An Electric Centrifugal Machine for Laboratories.--By ALEX. WATT.--From paper read before the British Association.--1 figure.
Transmission of Power by Electricity.--Experiments of M. MARCEL DEPREZ.
IV. ART AND ARCHITECTURE.--Quadriga for the New House of Parliament at Vienna.--An engraving.
Glazed Ware Finial.--With engraving.
Hotel de Ville, St. Quentin.--With engraving.
Fire Doors in Mills.--From a lecture before the Franklin Institute by C.J. HEXAMER.
V. NATURAL HISTORY, ETC.--Preservation of Insects.
An Accomplished Parrot.
The Roscoff Zoological Laboratory.--The buildings and rooms.--The aquarium.--Course of study.
The Mur?n? at the Berlin Aquarium.--With engraving.
Metamorphosis of Arctic Insects.
VI. MEDICINE. ETC.--A Year's Scientific Progress in Nervous and Mental Diseases.--By Prof. L.A. MERRIAM.--Report to the Nebraska State Medical Society.
Scaring the Baby Out.
VII. MISCELLANEOUS.--Wage Earners and their Houses.--Manufacturers as landlords.--Experiments of Pullman, Owen, Peabody, and others.
The Locked and Corded Box Trick, with Directions for making the Box.--By D B. ADAMSON.--9 figures.
A Perpetual Calendar.--With engraving.
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PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.
To remove the verdigris which forms upon the pins, the pinned insects should be immersed in benzine and left there for a time; several hours is generally long enough. The administration of this bath cannot be too highly recommended for beetles which have been rendered unrecognizable by grease, especially when dust has been mixed with the grease. This immersion, of variable duration according to circumstances, will restore to these insects, however bad they have become, all their brilliancy and all their first freshness, and the efflorescences of cupric oxide will not reappear. This preventive and curative method is also readily applicable to beetles glued upon paper which have become greasy; plunge them into benzine in the same way, and as the gum is insoluble in the liquid, they remain fastened to their supports. Pruinose beetles, which are few in number, are the only ones that benzine can alter; the others, which are glabrous, pubescent, or scaly, can only gain by the process, and they will always make a good show in the collection.--_A. Dubois in Feuille des jeunes naturatistes_, March, 1885, p. 71.--Psyche.
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QUADRIGA FOR THE NEW HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, AT VIENNA.
[Illustration: QUADRIGA FOR THE NEW HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, AT VIENNA.]
The new House of Parliament at Vienna is known as one of the finest specimens of pure Greek architecture erected in this century; and throughout the entire building great pains have been taken to ornament the same as elaborately as is consistent with good taste. The main buildings are provided with corner pavilions, the atticas of which project over the roofs, and these atticas and other parts of the buildings are to be surmounted by quadrigas, one of which is shown in the annexed cut, taken from the Illustrirte Zeitung. This group was modeled by V. Pilz, of Vienna, and represents a winged goddess in a chariot drawn by