Various - Scientific American Supplement, No. 643, April 28, 1888

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[Illustration]

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 643

NEW YORK, APRIL 28, 1888

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XXV., No. 643.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

* * * * *

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I. ARCHAEOLOGY.--The Subterranean Temples of India.--The
subterranean temples of India described and illustrated, the
wonderful works of the ancient dwellers in Hindostan.--3
illustrations. 10275

II. BIOGRAPHY.--General F. Perrier.--Portrait and biography of
the French geodesian, his triangulations in Algiers and
Corsica.--1 illustration. 10264

The Crown Prince of Germany--Prince William and his son.--
Biographical note of Prince William, the heir to the German
throne.--1 illustration. 10263

III. BIOLOGY.--Poisons.--Abstract of a lecture by Prof. MEYMOTT
TIDY, giving the relations of poisons to life. 10273

The President's Annual Address to the Royal Microscopical
Society.--The theory of putrefaction and putrefactive
organisms.--Exhaustive review of the subject. 10264

IV. CHEMISTRY.--Molecular Weights.--A new and simple method
of determining molecular weights for unvolatilizable
substances. 10271

V. CIVIL ENGINEERING.--Concrete.--By JOHN LUNDIE.--A practical
paper on the above subject.--The uses and proper methods of
handling concrete, machine mixing contrasted with hand
mixing. 10267

Timber and Some of its Diseases.--By H. MARSHALL WARD.--The
continuation of this important treatise on timber destruction,
the fungi affecting wood, and treatment of the troubles
arising therefrom. 10277

VI. ENGINEERING.--Estrade's High Speed Locomotive.--A comparative
review of the engineering features of M. Estrade's new
engine, designed for speeds of 77 to 80 miles an hour.--1
illustration. 10266

Machine Designing.--By JOHN B. SWEET.--First portion of a
Franklin Institute lecture on this eminently practical
subject.--2 illustrations. 10267

VII. METEOROLOGY.--The Peak of Teneriffe.--Electrical and
meteorological observations on the summit of Teneriffe. 10265

VIII. MISCELLANEOUS.--Analysis of a Hand Fire Grenade.--By
CHAS. CATLETT and R.C. PRICE.--The contents of a fire
grenade and its origin. 10271

How to Catch and Preserve Moths and Butterflies.--Practical
directions for collectors. 10275

The Clavi Harp.--A new instrument, a harp played by means of
keys arranged on a keyboard--1 illustration. 10275

Inquiries Regarding the Incubator.--By P.H. JACOBS.--Notes
concerning the incubator described in a previous issue
(SUPPLEMENT, No. 630).--Practical points. 10265

IX. PHYSICS.--The Direct Optical Projection of Electro-dynamic
Lines of Force, and other Electro-dynamic Phenomena.--By Prof.
J.W. MOORE--Second portion of this profusely illustrated paper,
giving a great variety of experiments on the phenomena of
loop-shaped conductors.--26 illustrations. 10272

The Mechanics of a Liquid.--An ingenious method of measuring
the volume of fibrous and porous substances without immersion
in any liquid.--1 illustration. 10269

X. PHYSIOLOGY.--Artificial Mother for Infants.--An apparatus
resembling an incubator for infants that are prematurely
born.--Results attained by its use.--1 illustration. 10274

Gastrostomy.--Artificial feeding for cases of obstructed
oesophagus.--The apparatus and its application.--2
illustrations. 10274

XI. PHOTOGRAPHY.--How to Make Photo-Printing Plates.--The
process of making relief plates for printers. 10271

XII. TECHNOLOGY.--Improved Current Meter.--A simple apparatus
for measuring air and water currents without indexes or other
complications.--1 illustration. 10270

The Flower Industry of Grasse.--Methods of manufacturing
perfumes in France.--The industry as practiced in the town
of Grasse. 10270

Volute Double Distilling Condenser.--A distiller and condenser
for producing fresh water from sea water.--3 illustrations. 10269

The Argand Burner.--The origin of the invention of the Argand
burner. 10275

* * * * *

[Illustration: THE CROWN PRINCE OF GERMANY--PRINCE WILLIAM AND SON
[From a Photograph]]

THE CROWN PRINCE OF GERMANY--PRINCE WILLIAM AND HIS SON.

At a moment when the entire world has its eyes fixed upon the invalid
of the Villa Zurio, it appears to us to be of interest to publish the
portrait of his son, Prince William. The military spirit of the
Hohenzollerns is found in him in all its force and exclusiveness. It
was hoped that the accession of the crown prince to the throne of
Germany would temper the harshness of it and modernize its aspect, but
the painful disease from which he is suffering warns us that the
moment may soon come in which the son will be called to succeed the
Emperor William, his grandfather, of whom he is morally the perfect
portrait. Like him, he loves the army, and makes it the object of his
entire attention. No colonel more scrupulously performs his duty than
he, when he enters the quarters of the regiment of red hussars whose
chief he is.

His solicitude for the army manifests itself openly. It is not without
pride that he regards his eldest son, who will soon be six years old,
and who is already clad in the uniform of a fusilier of the Guard.
Prince William is a soldier in spirit, just as harsh toward himself as
severe toward others. So he is the friend and emulator of Prince Von
Bismarck, who sees in him the depositary of the military traditions of
the house of Prussia, and who is preparing him by his lessons and his
advice to receive and preserve the patrimony that his ancestors have
conquered.

Prince William was born January 27, 1859. On the 29th of February,
1881, he married Princess Augusta Victoria, daughter of the Duke of
Sleswick-Holstein. Their eldest son, little Prince William,
represented with his father in our engraving, was born at Potsdam, May
6, 1882.--_L'Illustration._

* * * * *

GENERAL F. PERRIER.

Francois Perrier, who was born at Valleraugue (Gard), on the 18th of
April, 1835, descended from an honorable family of Protestants, of
Cevennes. After finishing his studies at the Lyceum of Nimes and at
St. Barbe College, he was received at the Polytechnic School in 1853,
and left it in 1857, as a staff officer.

Endowed with perseverance and will, he owed all his grades and all his
success to his splendid conduct and his important labors. Lieutenant
in 1857, captain in 1860, major of cavalry in 1874, lieutenant-colonel
in 1879, he received a year before his death the stars of
brigadier-general. He was commander of the Legion of Honor and
president of the council-general of his department.

General Perrier long ago made a name for himself in science. After
some remarkable publications upon the trigonometrical junction of
France and England (1861) and upon the triangulation and leveling of
Corsica (1865), he was put at the head of the geodesic service of the
army in 1879. In 1880, the learned geodesian was sent as a delegate to
the conference of Berlin for settling the boundaries of the new
Greco-Turkish frontiers. In January of the same year, he was elected a
member of the Academy of Sciences, as successor to M. De Tessan. He
was a member of the bureau of longitudes from 1875.

In 1882, Perrier was sent to Florida to observe the transit of Venus.
Thanks to his activity and ability, his observations were a complete
success. Thenceforward, his celebrity continued to increase until his
last triangulating operations in Algeria.

[Illustration: GENERAL FRANCOIS PERRIER.]

"Do you not remember," said Mr. Janssen recently to the Academy of
Sciences, "the feeling of satisfaction that the whole country felt
when it learned the entire success of that grand geodesic operation
that united Spain with our Algeria over the Mediterranean, and passed
through France a meridian arc extending from the north of England as
far as to the Sahara, that is to say, an arc exceeding in length the
greatest arcs that had been measured up till then? This splendid
result attracted all minds, and rendered Perrier's name popular. But
how much had this success been prepared by long and conscientious
labors that cede in nothing to it in importance? The triangulation and
leveling of Corsica, and the connecting of it with the Continent; the
splendid operations executed in Algeria, which required fifteen years
of labor, and led to the measurement of an arc of parallels of nearly
10 deg. in extent, that offers a very peculiar interest for the study of
the earth's figure; and, again, that revision of the meridian of
France in which it became necessary to utilize all the progress that
had been made since the beginning of the century in the construction
of instruments and in methods of observation and calculation. And it
must be added that General Perrier had formed a school of scientists
and devoted officers who were his co-laborers, and upon whom we must
now rely to continue his work."

The merits of General Perrier gained him the honor of being placed at
the head of a service of high importance, the geographical service of
the army, to the organization of which he devoted his entire energy.

In General Perrier, the man ceded in nothing to the worker and
scientist. Good, affable, generous, he joined liveliness and good
humor with courage and energy. Incessantly occupied with the
prosperity and grandeur of his country, he knew that true patriotism
does not consist in putting forth vain declamations, but in
endeavoring to accomplish useful and fruitful work.--_La Nature._

General Perrier died at Montpellier on the 20th of February, 1888.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.[1]

[Footnote 1: Delivered by the Rev. Dr. Dallinger, F.R.S., at the
annual meeting of the Royal Microscopical Society, Feb. 8,
1888.--_Nature._]

Retrospect may involve regret, but can scarcely involve anxiety. To
one who fully appreciates the actual, and above all the potential,
importance of this society in its bearing upon the general progress of
scientific research in every field of physical inquiry, the
responsibilities of president will not be lightly, while they may
certainly be proudly, undertaken.

I think it may be now fairly taken for granted that, as this society
has, from the outset, promoted and pointed to the higher scientific
perfection of the microscope, so now, more than ever, it is its
special function to place this in the forefront as its _raison
d'etre_. The microscope has been long enough in the hands of amateur
and expert alike to establish itself as an instrument having an
application to every actual and conceivable department of human
research; and while in the earliest days of this society it was
possible for a zealous Fellow to have seen, and been more or less
familiar with, all the applications to which it then had been put, it
is different to-day. Specialists in the most diverse areas of research
are assiduously applying the instrument to their various subjects, and
with results that, if we would estimate aright, we must survey with
instructed vision the whole ground which advancing science covers.

From this it is manifest that this society cannot hope to infold, or
at least to organically bind to itself, men whose objects of research
are so diverse.

But these are all none the less linked by one inseverable bond; it is
the microscope; and while, amid the inconceivable diversity of its
applications, it remains manifest that this society has for its
primary object the constant progress of the instrument--whether in its
mechanical construction or its optical appliances; whether the
improvements shall bear upon the use of high powers or low powers;
whether it shall be improvement that shall apply to its commercial
employment, its easier professional application, or its most exalted
scientific use; so long as this shall be the undoubted aim of the
Royal Microscopical Society, its existence may well be the pride of
Englishmen, and will commend itself more and more to men of all
countries.

This, and this only, can lift such a society out of what I believe has
ceased to be its danger, that of forgetting that in proportion as the
optical principles of the microscope are understood, and the theory of
microscopical vision is made plain, the value of the instrument over
every region to which it can be applied, and in all the varied hands
that use it, is increased without definable limit. It is therefore by
such means that the true interests of science are promoted.

It is one of the most admirable features of this society that it has
become cosmopolitan in its character in relation to the instrument,
and all the ever-improving methods of research employed with it. From
meeting to meeting it is not one country, or one continent even, that
is represented on our tables. Nay, more, not only are we made familiar
with improvements brought from every civilized part of the world,
referring alike to the microscope itself and every instrument devised
by specialists for its employment in every department of research; but
also, by the admirable persistence of Mr. Crisp and Mr. Jno. Mayall,
Jr., we are familiarized with every discovery of the old forms of the
instrument wherever found or originally employed.

The value of all this cannot be overestimated, for it will, even where
prejudices as to our judgment may exist, gradually make it more and
more clear that this society exists to promote and acknowledge
improvements in every constituent of the microscope, come from
whatever source they may; and, in connection with this, to promote by
demonstrations, exhibitions, and monographs the finest applications of
the finest instruments for their respective purposes.

To give all this its highest value, of course, the theoretical side of
our instrument must occupy the attention of the most accomplished
experts. We may not despair that our somewhat too practical past in
this respect may right itself in our own country; but meantime the
splendid work of German students and experts is placed by the wise
editors of our journal within the reach of all.

I know of no higher hope for this important society than that it may
continue in ever increasing strength to promote, criticise, and
welcome from every quarter of the world whatever will improve the
microscope in itself and in any of its applications, from the most
simple to the most complex and important in which its employment is
possible.

There are two points of some practical interest to which I desire for
a few moments to call your attention. The former has reference to the
group of organisms to which I have for so many years directed your
attention, viz., the "monads," which throughout I have called
"putrefactive organisms."

There can be no longer any doubt that the destructive process of
putrefaction is essentially a process of fermentation.

The fermentative saprophyte is as absolutely essential to the setting
up of destructive rotting or putrescence in a putrescible fluid as the
torula is to the setting up of alcoholic fermentation in a saccharine
fluid. Make the presence of torulae impossible, and you exclude with
certainty fermentative action.

In precisely the same way, provide a proteinaceous solution, capable
of the highest putrescence, but absolutely sterilized, and placed in
an optically pure or absolutely calcined air; and while these
conditions are maintained, no matter what length of time may be
suffered to elapse, the putrescible fluid will remain absolutely
without trace of decay.

But suffer the slightest infection of the protected and pure air to
take place, or, from some putrescent source, inoculate your sterilized
fluid with the minutest atom, and shortly turbidity, offensive scent,
and destructive putrescence ensue.

As in the alcoholic, lactic, or butyric ferments, the process set up
is shown to be dependent upon and concurrent with the vegetative
processes of the demonstrated organisms characterizing these ferments;
so it can be shown with equal clearness and certainty that the entire
process of what is known as putrescence is equally and as absolutely
dependent on the vital processes of a given and discoverable series of
organisms.

Now it is quite customary to treat the fermentative agency in
putrefaction as if it were wholly bacterial, and, indeed, the
putrefactive group of bacteria are now known as saprophytes, or
saprophytic bacteria, as distinct from morphologically similar, but
physiologically dissimilar, forms known as parasitic or pathogenic
bacteria.

It is indeed usually and justly admitted that _B. termo_ is the
exciting cause of fermentative putrefaction. Cohn has in fact
contended that it is the distinctive ferment of all putrefactions, and
that it is to decomposing proteinaceous solutions what _Torula
cerevisiae_ is to the fermenting fluids containing sugar.

In a sense, this is no doubt strictly true: it is impossible to find a
decomposing proteinaceous solution, at any stage, without finding this
form in vast abundance.

But it is well to remember that in nature putrefactive ferments must
go on to an extent rarely imitated or followed in the laboratory. As a
rule, the pabulum in which the saprophytic organisms are provided and
"cultured" is infusions, or extracts of meat carefully filtered, and,
if vegetable matter is used, extracts of fruit, treated with equal
care, and if needful neutralized, are used in a similar way. To these
may be added all the forms of gelatine, employed in films, masses and
so forth.

But in following the process of destructive fermentation as it takes
place in large masses of tissue, animal or vegetable, but far
preferably the former, as they lie in water at a constant temperature
of from 60 deg. to 65 deg. F., it will be seen that the fermentative process
is the work, not of one organism, nor, judging by the standard of our
present knowledge, of one specified class of vegetative forms, but by
organisms which, though related to each other, are in many respects
greatly dissimilar, not only morphologically, but also embryologically,
and even physiologically.

Moreover, although this is a matter that will want most thorough and
efficient inquiry and research to understand properly its conditions,
yet it is sufficiently manifest that these organisms succeed each
other in a curious and even remarkable manner. Each does a part in the
work of fermentative destruction; each aids in splitting up into lower
and lower compounds the elements of which the masses of degrading
tissue are composed; while, apparently, each set in turn does by vital
action, coupled with excretion, (1) take up the substances necessary
for its own growth and multiplication; (2) carry on the fermentative
process; and (3) so change the immediate pabulum as to give rise to
conditions suitable for its immediate successor. Now the point of
special interest is that there is an apparent adaptation in the form,
functions, mode of multiplication, and order of succession in these
fermentative organisms, deserving study and fraught with instruction.

Let it be remembered that the aim of nature in this fermentative
action is not the partial splitting of certain organic compounds, and
their reconstruction in simpler conditions, but the ultimate setting
free, by saprophytic action, of the elements locked up in great masses
of organic tissue--the sending back into nature of the only material
of which future organic structures are to be composed.

I have said that there can be no question whatever that _Bacterium
termo_ is the pioneer of saprophytes. Exclude _B. termo_ (and
therefore with it all its congeners), and you can obtain no
putrefaction. But wherever, in ordinary circumstances, a decomposable
organic mass, say the body of a fish, or a considerable mass of the
flesh of a terrestrial animal, is exposed in water at a temperature of
60 deg. to 65 deg. F., _B. termo_ rapidly appears, and increases with a simply
astounding rapidity. It clothes the tissues like a skin, and diffuses
itself throughout the fluid.

The exact chemical changes it thus effects are not at present clearly
known; but the fermentative action is manifestly concurrent with its
multiplication. It finds its pabulum in the mass it ferments by its
vegetative processes. But it also produces a visible change in the
enveloping fluid, and noxious gases continuously are thrown off.

In the course of a week or more, dependent on the period of the year,
there is, not inevitably, but as a rule, a rapid accession of spiral
forms, such as _Spirillum volutans_, _S. undula_, and similar forms,
often accompanied by _Bacterium lineola_; and the whole interspersed
still with inconceivable multitudes of _B. termo_.

These invest the rotting tissues liked an elastic garment, but are
always in a state of movement. These, again, manifestly further the
destructive ferment, and bring about a softness and flaccidity in the
decomposing tissues, while they without doubt, at the same time, have,
by their vital activity and possible secretions, affected the
condition of the changing organic mass. There can be, so far as my
observations go, no certainty as to when, after this, another form of
organism will present itself; nor, when it does, which of a limited
series it will be. But, in a majority of observed cases, a loosening
of the living investment of bacterial forms takes place, and
simultaneously with this, the access of one or two forms of my
putrefactive monads. They were among the first we worked at; and have
been, by means of recent lenses, among the last revised. Mr. S. Kent
named them _Cercomonas typica_ and _Monas dallingeri_ respectively.
They are both simple oval forms, but the former has a flagellum at
both ends of the longer axis of the body, while the latter has a
single flagellum in front.

The principal difference is in their mode of multiplication by
fission. The former is in every way like a bacterium in its mode of
self-division. It divides, acquiring for each half a flagellum in
division, and then, in its highest vigor, in about four minutes, each
half divides again.

The second form does not divide into two, but into many, and thus
although the whole process is slower, develops with greater rapidity.
But both ultimately multiply--that is, commence new generations--by
the equivalent of a sexual process.

These would average about four times the size of _Bacterium termo_;
and when once they gain a place on and about the putrefying tissues,
their relatively powerful and incessant action, their enormous
multitude, and the manner in which they glide over, under, and beside
each other, as they invest the fermenting mass, is worthy of close
study. It has been the life history of these organisms, and not their
relations as ferment, that has specially occupied my fullest
attention; but it would be in a high degree interesting if we could
discover, or determine, what besides the vegetative or organic
processes of nutrition are being effected by one, or both, of these
organisms on the fast yielding mass. Still more would it be of
interest to discover what, if any, changes were wrought in the
pabulum, or fluid generally. For after some extended observations I
have found that it is only after one or other or both, of these
organisms have performed their part in the destructive ferment, that
subsequent and extremely interesting changes arise.

It is true that in some three or four instances of this saprophytic
destruction of organic tissues, I have observed that, after the strong
bacterial investment, there has arisen, not the two forms just named,
nor either of them, but one or other of the striking forms now called
_Tetramitus rostratus_ and _Polytoma uvella_; but this has been in
relatively few instances. The rule is that _Cercomonas typica_ or its
congener precedes other forms, that not only succeed them in promoting
and carrying to a still further point the putrescence of the
fermenting substance, but appear to be aided in the accomplishment of
this by mechanical means.

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