Various - Scientific American Supplement, No. 312, December 24, 1881

V >> Various >> Scientific American Supplement, No. 312, December 24, 1881

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The variety of sugar plant called amber cane is not very clearly
defined, but it may be taken, from the description of the juice as to
crystallizing qualities, as no better sugar producer than sorghum. It,
with sorghum, is classed as a sub-variety of sugar cane, which will
yield sirup and fodder, but will not crystallize under several months'
time, and even then in but small percentage.

On the whole it appears, as before stated, that the sugar beet is the
only practicable source of sugar for the Northern States, which, as
experimentally shown, can be raised at a profit of forty six dollars
per acre, against twenty dollars per acre, the profit of sugar making
from cane in Louisiana. Upon this showing several beet sugar factories
have been started in the United States and in Canada, and their
products are said to be satisfactory, and have been sold at a profit
in competition with imported beet sugar.

Mr. Ware recommends the establishment of beet sugar factories on a
larger scale, to be managed by men who have had experience in this
particular kind of sugar making, which seems to be a practical means
of supplying ourselves with home-made sugar. It must be remembered,
however, that the successful cultivation of an ample supply of beets
to keep them at work is an essential prerequisite.

* * * * *

HERALD ISLAND.

John Muir, the geologist with the Corwin Arctic Expedition, describes,
as follows, the characteristics of Herald Island, hitherto known only
as an inaccessible rock seen by a few venturesome whalers and
explorers:

After so many futile efforts had been made to reach this little ice
bound island, everybody seemed wildly eager to run ashore and climb to
the summit of its sheer granite cliffs. At first a party of eight
jumped from the bowsprit chains and ran across the narrow belt of
margin ice and madly began to climb up an excessively steep gully,
which came to an end in an inaccessible slope a few hundred feet above
the water. Those ahead loosened and sent down a train of granite
bowlders, which shot over the heads of those below in a far more
dangerous manner than any of the party seemed to appreciate.
Fortunately nobody was hurt, and all made out to get down in safety.
While this remarkable piece of mountaineering and Arctic exploration
was in progress, a light skin-covered boat was dragged over the ice
and launched on a strip of water that stretched in front of an
accessible ravine, the bed of an ancient glacier, which I felt assured
would conduce by an easy grade to the summit of the island. The slope
of this ravine for the first hundred feet or so was very steep, but
inasmuch as it was full of firm, icy snow, it was easily ascended by
cutting steps in the face of it with an ax that I had brought from the
ship for the purpose. Beyond this there was not the slightest
difficulty in our way, the glacier having graded a fine, broad road.

ON THE SUMMIT.

Kellet, who discovered this island in 1849, and landed on it under
unfavorable circumstances, describes it as an inaccessible rock. The
sides are, indeed, in general, extremely sheer and precipitous all
around, though skilled mountaineers would find many gullies and slopes
by which they might reach the summit. I first pushed on to the head of
the glacier valley, and thence along the back bone of the island to
the highest point, which I found to be about twelve hundred feet above
the level of the sea. This point is about a mile and a half from the
northwest end, and four and a half from the northeast end, thus making
the island about six miles in length. It has been cut nearly in two by
the glacial action it has undergone, the width at this lowest portion
being about half a mile, and the average width about two miles. The
entire island is a mass of granite with the exception of a patch of
metamorphic slate near the center, and no doubt owes its existence
with so considerable a height to the superior resistance this granite
offered to the degrading action of the northern ice sheet, traces of
which are here plainly shown, as well as on the shores of Siberia and
Alaska, and down through Behring Strait, southward, beyond Vancouver
Island. Traces of the subsequent partial glaciation it has been
subjected to are also manifested in glacial valleys of considerable
depth as compared with the size of the island. I noticed four of
these, besides many marginal glacial grooves around the sides. One
small remnant with feeble action still exists near the middle of the
island. I also noted several scored and polished patches on the
hardest and most enduring of the outswelling rock bosses. This little
island, standing as it does alone out in the Polar Sea, is a fine
glacial monument.

A MIDNIGHT OBSERVATION.

The midnight hour I spent alone on the highest summit, one of the most
impressive hours of my life. The deepest silence seemed to press down
on all the vast, immeasurable, virgin landscape. The sun near the
horizon reddened the edges of belted cloud bars near the base of the
sky, and the jagged ice bowlders crowded together over the frozen
ocean stretching indefinitely northward, while more than a hundred
miles of that mysterious Wrangell Land was seen blue in the
northwest--a wavering line of hill and dale over the white and blue
ice prairie and pale gray mountains beyond, well calculated to fix the
eye of a mountaineer; but it was to the far north that I ever found
myself turning, where the ice met the sky. I would fain have watched
here all the strange night, but was compelled to remember the charge
given me by the captain, to make haste and return to the ship as soon
as I should find it possible, as there was ten miles of shifting,
drifting ice between us and the open sea.

PLANT LIFE ON HERALD ISLAND.

I therefore began the return journey about one o'clock this morning,
after taking the compass bearings of the principal points within sight
on Wrangell Land, and making a hasty collection of the flowering
plants on my way. I found one species of poppy, quite showy, and
making considerable masses of color on the sloping uplands, three or
four species of saxifrage, one silene, a draba, dwarf willow,
stellaria, two golden compositae, two sedges, one grass, and a
veronica, together with a considerable number of mosses and lichens,
some of them quite showy and so abundant as to form the bulk of the
color over the gray granite.

INHABITANTS OF THE CLIFFS.

Innumerable gulls and murres breed on the steep cliffs, the latter
most abundant. They kept up a constant din of domestic notes. Some of
them are sitting on their eggs, others have young, and it seems
astonishing that either eggs or the young can find a resting place on
cliffs so severely precipitous. The nurseries formed a lively
picture--the parents coming and going with food or to seek it,
thousands in rows standing on narrow ledges like bottles on a grocer's
shelves, the feeding of the little ones, the multitude of wings, etc.

* * * * *

M. Bouchut's experiments with pepsine for destroying worms in the
stomach and bowels have been continued with extremely promising
results. Even the tapeworm succumbs to the digestive action of pepsine
in large doses, while the more highly organized tissues of the stomach
are unaffected.

* * * * *

FRANZ LISZT.

On the 22d day of October, 1811, Franz Liszt, the greatest pianist of
the last half century, was born at Raiding, in Hungary, and the entire
musical world was united in celebrating his seventieth birthday, which
took place this year.

What can be more appropriate than to take a look at the past and
recall some of the important events of Liszt's so very interesting
life? To recall his first appearance as a "wonder" child in his native
town, the blessing and kiss he received a few years later from the
immortal Beethoven, his great triumphs in the Paris salons and the
defeat of his rival Thalberg. After the appearance of the violin
virtuoso Paganini, he resolved to attain the highest development of
his musical genius and to become so world-renowned as none has been
before him, and in this was successful. He has not only maintained his
standing as the greatest master of modern piano virtuosos, but has had
the greatest influence on his followers and scholars, Taussig, v.
Bulow, Mr. and Mme. Bronsart, Menter, and other younger and older
pianists who have had the benefits of his instruction for a greater or
less length of time, so that it can be justly claimed that the
majority of our present virtuosos owe their success and fame directly
or indirectly to the abilities of Liszt.

Liszt is endowed with that great gift of treating every individual in
the manner most favorable to the development of its traces of artistic
ability and desires, and this accounts for his wonderful results as
instructor and master.

[Illustration: FRANZ LISZT.]

But no picture of Liszt would be perfect without a _resume_ or
recapitulation of his compositions.

After a most perfect transposition and preparation of numerous works
of Beethoven, Schubert, and Berlioz, and after making their
compositions popular and introducing numerous valuable novelties in
the art of playing piano, he produced his "Symphonische Dichtungen"
(Symphonic Poems).

These highly dramatic compositions, in which he follows Berlioz and
often produces the most astonishing effects of sounds, however, did
not find entire approbation with the public, and did not succeed in
popularizing themselves. But that fact can be recorded in his favor
that every programme containing Liszt's "Dante," or Faust Symphony, or
"Mazeppa," receives more than ordinary attention from the public. The
same is the case with his solo songs with piano accompaniment, in
which, however, ingenious details often tend to drown the original
melody. Of his quartets, some have become highly popular with singing
societies and form part of their _repertoire_. The crowning point of
Liszt's compositions is to be found in sacred music, for instance in
his mass known as the "Grauer Messe," composed for the dedication of
the Cathedral at Grau, in Hungary; the Crowning mass, and his two
oratorios, "Die heilige Elisabeth" and "Christus." But even they
caused a decided difference of opinion; and if some knew no bounds for
their enthusiasm, others could not find an end for their condemnation.
Such works should not be treated too lightly, and a thorough and
impartial examination will show that a place of honor must be accorded
to them in the history of music. Since the "Heilige Elisabeth" has
been produced in several cities of Germany it has been viewed more
favorably and disarmed many of the opponents.

But Liszt also belongs to the literary fraternity, and his works,
published by Breitkopf & Hartel, contain some of the best ever written
in regard to art and artists. They were mostly written in elegant
French originally, and relate to the social position of artists and
the state of the art of music in certain cities or even an entire
country. A part of his works is devoted to the music of gypsies, and
to a true and honest history of the life of his friend Chopin.

Then again we find him preparing the path to the hearts of the public
for Berlioz, Schumann, Wagner, Robert Franz, and Meyerbeer. Liszt has
certainly collected enormous sums of money in his successful career,
but as fast as he reaps his earnings he gives them to those needing
assistance, and it is almost entirely to him that the inhabitants of
Bonn, on the Rhine, owe their beautiful Beethoven Monument, and during
the last years Liszt has been untiring in giving concerts and
collecting money for a monument for the greatest of the great, Johann
Sebastian Bach.

Liszt is an artist in every sense of the word, and we should all wish
that he will remain among us for many years more.

* * * * *

M. GARNIER'S NEW METHODS OF PHOTOENGRAVING.

By MAJOR J. WATERHOUSE, B.SC.

In one of the upper rooms of the Electrical Exhibition in Paris, there
is an interesting collection of plates and proofs produced by various
methods of photo-engraving, invented by M. Henri Garnier, whose name
is so well known in connection with these processes, and whose
beautiful plate of the Chateau of Maintenon gained for him a gold
medal at the Paris International Exhibition of 1867.

Some interesting details of these processes are given in an extract
from a report on them by M. Davanne to the Societe d'Encouragement
pour l'Industrie Nationale, read at its sitting on the 22d July last,
of which copies are distributed gratis in the exhibition.

The report opens with a brief allusion to M. Garnier's continuous
labors in permanent photographic printing, commencing with the
ingenious mercury process worked out in conjunction with M. Salmon,
and published in 1855, in which a print which has been exposed to the
fumes of iodine is laid down on a plate of polished brass, so that the
iodine, absorbed by the printed lines, slightly attacks the brass;
mercury being then rubbed over the brass, forms an amalgam with the
iodized parts. If a roller charged with printing ink be now passed
over the plate, the ink will only be taken on the pure brass, and not
on the iodized parts. The plate is next bitten with acid nitrate of
silver, and may then be treated in various ways, so as to form either
a printing-block or an engraved plate. The process never came to any
practical use, but led M. Garnier to the invention of the very
valuable and largely used process of acierage or steel-facing, by
which the surface of engraved copper-plates is so hardened and
protected by a thin coating of iron that instead of only a few hundred
impressions, many thousands can be printed from a plate without the
slightest deterioration.

The next invention noticed is the citrate of iron process of M.M.
Salmon and Garnier, in which a paper, coated with a sirupy solution of
citrate of iron, is exposed to light under a positive print for a
period varying from eight to ten minutes in the sun, to half or
three-quarters of an hour in the shade. In the parts where the light
has acted the paper becomes non-hygroscopic in proportion to the
intensity of the action of the light upon it. The paper being left for
a short time to absorb moisture from the air, is dusted over with
lamp-black, which, attaching itself to the unexposed parts, reproduces
an exact image of the original drawing.

M. Garnier has since greatly modified this method of obtaining an
image by dusting, and applied it to various processes of
photo-engraving.

The report then proceeds to give the following details of a process of
photo-engraving, which was exhibited before the society by M. Garnier
in March last:

PHOTOGRAVURE.

In photo-engraving a distinction must always be made between the
reproduction of drawings in line and those with shaded tints.

A.--_Photo-engraving of Line-work._--A plate of copper is prepared by
covering it, either by flowing or with a roller, with a very thin
coating of a solution of:

Sugar 2 grammes.
Bichromate of ammonia 1 gramme.
Water 14 grammes.

This coating is equalized and quickly dried by means of an arrangement
which keeps it in rotation over a warm plate.

As soon as the plate is dry, a positive cliche of the drawing to be
reproduced is laid upon it, and the whole exposed to the sun for a
minute, or to the electric light for three minutes. The reaction
produced is the same as with the citrate of iron, but much quicker;
the exposed parts are no longer hygroscopic, but in the parts
protected by the lines of the drawing the sensitive coating has
retained its stickiness, and will hold any powder that may be passed
over it, thus producing a very clear image of the drawing. The coating
being excessively thin, the little moisture it holds and the powder
applied suffice to break its continuity, especially if the powder be
slightly alkaline. If the rest of the surface were sufficiently
resisting, the plate might be bitten at once; but light alone is not
enough to produce complete impermeability: the action of heat must be
combined with it. The plate is, therefore, placed on a grating, with
wide openings, a large flame is applied underneath, and it is heated
till the borders where the copper is bare show iridescent colors. The
sugary coating thus becomes very hard in the exposed parts, but under
the powder it is broken, porous, and permeable to acids. The surface
is then covered with the biting fluid, which is a solution of
perchloride of iron at 45 deg. Baume, and after few minutes' contact the
plate is engraved. It only remains to clear off the bichromated sugary
coating which forms the reserve, and which, being hardened by the
heat, resists ordinary washing. It is removed perfectly by rubbing the
surface with a hard brush and warm potash lye; the plate is then ready
for printing. Sometimes it may be necessary to give several successive
bitings, or to use a resinous grain; in such cases the various methods
of the engraver's art are employed.

B.--_Photo Engraving for Half-Tones._--To reproduce by engraving the
image of any object, a portrait, or a landscape, the gradation of tint
is obtained by repeating three times in the following manner the
operation A, just described:

The copper plate being prepared as before, it is exposed to the light
under a positive, and given a long exposure, say four minutes, in the
electric light. The sugary coating hardens under the whites and the
lighter shades--it only remains tacky under the blacks. The positive
cliche is removed, the plate powdered, and bitten; the blacks alone
come out.

The plate is cleaned, then coated again with the sugary preparation,
and exposed a second time under the positive, care being taken to
preserve an accurate register, which may easily be done. The second
exposure is not so long as the first--say two minutes, and gives the
image of the middle tints and blacks. The plate is powdered and bitten
as before, bringing out the middle tints, and, at the same time,
giving greater depth to the shadows.

In the third operation, the plate is exposed still less to the
light--say one minute. The high-lights alone harden; the light shades,
middle tints, and the shadows remain permeable. After powdering and
biting, the plate is finished.

When necessary, after each operation, a resinous grain may be applied
in the manner usual with engravers.

It is important to note that M. Garnier affirms that in both cases the
engravings are untouched, and that this is one of the essential
characteristics of his process.

C.--_Engraving in Relief for Letter-Press._--In the case of drawings
in lines to be made into printing-blocks for letter-press printing,
the operation is conducted in its first phase absolutely in the same
manner as the foregoing, only, after exposure, instead of producing
the image with a slightly alkaline powder, powdered bitumen is used,
and the plate is slightly warmed, so that the powder may slightly fuse
and adhere to the metal, but not enough to make the bichromated sugar
become insoluble. The plate is then washed with water, and all the
sugary coating removed, leaving the surface of the copper bare, except
where it is protected by the bitumen forming the image. The plate is
then bitten with perchloride of iron, which gives a first biting,
leaving all the lines in relief. Further depth is obtained by
alternate inkings and bitings, as in the Gillotype method.

The above processes are very interesting, the use of the sugary
coating, the hardening it by heat, and the triple exposure and biting
are new--at any rate, have not, so far as I know, been published
before.

The report then goes on to describe a further application of the same
principle to obtaining photographic images recently invented by M.
Garnier, and called by him atmography.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING BY VAPOR--ATMOGRAPHY.

This process consists in tracing or transferring by means of vapors or
fumes an image of any object from one surface to another, whence the
name of atmography it is proposed to give it. The operations are as
follows:

When an image formed of a powdery substance has been obtained either
by dusting (as described above), or by filling an engraved plate with
the powder, the plate bearing the image is exposed to a vapor, which
has no effect upon it. The powder alone absorbs the vapor, and if the
plate be then applied to a surface coated with some substance capable
of being acted upon by the vapor, an image is obtained upon this
second surface. For example, the lines of an engraved copper-plate are
filled with powdered albumen. On the other hand, a few drops of
hydrofluoric acid are spread over a wooden board, and the powdered
engraving is exposed for ten to fifteen seconds to the fumes
disengaged by holding it about a quarter-of-an-inch above the board.
The acid is absorbed by the powdered albumen without attacking the
copper. If this plate be now placed in close contact with any surface
(metal, paper, or glass) which has been covered with a coating of
sugar and borax, and dried immediately, a deliquescent fluoborate of
soda is produced under the action of the acid vapors, the sugar
becomes tacky, and, by brushing a powder over this surface, the image
appears immediately.

In M. Davanne's opinion this new invention of M. Garnier's seems
likely to have a useful and extended application. The image may be
made with powder of any desired color. If it is on glass, it may be
transferred to paper or other support by means of collodion or
gelatine. By employing enamel powders, this process gives a new method
of producing vitrified images. It may also be used as a simple method
of reproducing engravings under certain circumstances; copies of
diagrams, however intricate, could easily be produced on glass by it,
and used for the illustration of lectures by means of the magic
lantern.--_Photo. News._

* * * * *

DANGERS OF PYROGALLIC ACID.

By DR. T.L. PHIPSON.

Some time ago, Dr. Napias, of Paris, who devotes much of his time to
matters connected with hygiene, took up the subject of the hygiene of
the photographer, and published in the _Moniteur de la Photographie_ a
series of papers which were afterward translated into English and
published by Messrs. Piper & Carter, of London. In them the worthy
author has considered the action on the economy of the various
poisonous substances which pass daily through the hands of our
readers, and the best means of counteracting their influence.

Since then--in fact, quite recently--attention has been called in the
medical journals to certain properties of pyrogallic acid which were
perfectly unknown, and show that this substance, even when applied
externally, may act as a violent poison causing death by its great
affinity for oxygen. I published a short note upon the subject in the
_Journal of Medicine_, etc., for April last, and it may perhaps be
useful to reproduce the facts here. Physicians who were unacquainted
with this energetic deoxidizing property of pyrogallic acid have
proposed it as a substitute for chrysophanic acid in the treatment of
skin diseases; but Dr. Neisser has made known a case of poisoning by
an ointment of pyrogallic acid, which at once shows that considerable
danger attends its use for this purpose. A man of strong constitution
was admitted into one of the wards of the Breslau Hospital to be
treated for general psoriasis. He appears to have been submitted to a
kind of experimental treatment in order to test the curative
properties of pyrogallic acid as compared with chrysarobine. He was
treated by friction with chrysarobine (in the form of a pomade of
alcoholic extract of rhubarb, containing one-twentieth) on the
one-half of the body, while the other half was treated in the same
manner by a pomade containing ten per cent. of pyrogallic acid. Six
hours after the application the patient had violent shivering with
vomiting and intense collapsus. Death occurred on the fourth day.
Experiments were at once undertaken on rabbits, and proved that this
catastrophe was due entirely to the pyrogallic acid pomade, and that
the chrysarobine was innocuous. In some instances the rabbit died
within two hours. It was also found that in the case of the patient in
the Breslau Hospital the pyrogallic acid had acted by its extreme
avidity for oxygen when in contact with alkaline fluids. The blood had
been affected, and the red corpuscles were destroyed and turned brown.
Very little urine was voided, but it presented a most extraordinary
character, being dark brown and very thick; it contained no blood
corpuscles, but a considerable amount of haemoglobine (the coloring
matter of the corpuscles), which was recognized by the absorption
bands it gave in the spectroscope. The kidneys were uniformly bluish
black. The blood had a dirty brownish red tint, and contained an
abundance of _detritus_ of red corpuscles.

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