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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 488




NEW YORK, MAY 9, 1885

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XIX, No. 488.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.


                                                               PAGE
I.   CHEMISTRY.--Notes on Three New Chinese Fixed Oils.--Tea
     oil.--Cabbage oil.--Wood oil.--Paper read by R. H.
     DAVIES before the Pharmaceutical Society of Great
     Britain.                                                  7798

II.  ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.--A Visit to the Creusot
     Works.--Giving a description of the works and the
     projects undertaken by the proprietors.--With full page
     of engravings illustrating the Hall of Forges and the
     100 ton steam hammer.                                     7784

     Le Creusot.--Extract of the report of the visit of the
     American Gun Foundry Board to these works.                7784

     Plan for the Elevated Railway at Paris.--4 figures.       7785

     Engineering Inventions since 1862.--By Sir F. J.
     BRAMWELL.--Bridge construction.--Pneumatic
     Foundations.--Construction of tunnels.--Canals and river
     improvements.--Military engineering appliances.--Uses of
     cement.--Preservation of wood.                            7787

III. PHYSICS, ELECTRICITY, ETC.--Electric Light Apparatus for
     Military Purposes.--With engraving.                       7790

     Electricity and Magnetism.--By Prof. F. E.
     NIPHER.                                                   7790

     The Hydrodynamic Researches of Prof. Bjerknes.--By C.
     W. COOKE.--5 figures.                                     7791

     Electrotyping.--With a full description of the process.   7793

     A New Seismograph.--With engraving.                       7793

IV.  ART AND ARCHITECTURE.--The Cathedral of the Incarnation
     at Garden City.                                           7787

     Movable Market Buildings.--7 figures and engraving of
     movable flower market at Paris.                           7788

     Dinocrates' Project.--With three engravings of landscapes
     showing human profiles.                                   7789

     The Babylonian Palace.                                    7798

V.   HORTICULTURE.--The Stone Pine (Pinus Pinea).--With
     engraving.                                                7797

VI.  HYGIENE, ETC.--The Otoscope.--With engraving.             7794

     State Provision for the Insane.--By C. M.
     HUGHES, M.D.                                              7794

VII. MISCELLANEOUS.--The Xylophone.--2 engravings.             7793

     The Courage of Originality.                               7795

     A Circular Bowling Alley.--With engraving.                7795

     Patent Office Examination of Inventions.                  7795

     The Universal Exposition at Antwerp, Belgium.--With full
     page engraving.                                           7797

     The Art of Breeding.                                      7798

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

We give in this number of our SUPPLEMENT several articles with
illustrations, for which we are indebted to _La Nature_. They are
entitled Electric Light Apparatus for Military Purposes, The Otoscope,
A New Seismograph, Dinocrates' Project, The Xylophone, Plan of an
Elevated Railway for Paris.

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A VISIT TO THE CREUSOT WORKS.


Here we are at the great forge (Fig. 1), that wonderful creation which
has not its like in France, that gigantic construction which iron has
wholly paid for, and which covers a space of twenty-four acres. We
first remark two puddling halls, each of which contains 50 furnaces
and 9 steam hammers. It is in these furnaces that the iron is puddled.
The ball or bloom thus obtained is afterward taken to the hammer,
which crushes it and expels the scoriae.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE GREAT HALL OF FORGES AT THE CREUSOT WORKS.]

The puddler's trade, which is without doubt the most laborious one in
metallurgy, will surely soon be lightened through the use of steam.
Two rotary furnaces actuated by this agent have been in operation for
a few years at Creusot