ascertain the nature of the action exerted by various gases on the life and increase of bacteria, and what influence the bacteria have on the percentage composition of the gases. The organisms, obtained from a meat-extract, flour ished well in atmospheric air, pure hydrogen, pure oxygn, and a mixture of carbonic oxide, carbonic anhydride, oxygen, and nitrogen, absorbing oxygen and developing more or less of carbonic anhydride, with an apparent evolution of hydrogen and nitrogen in the latter experiment. Cyanogen seemed to be fatal as such to the organisms, but they appeared to revive, especially in the sunlight, after it underwent decomposition into ammonic oxalate. The bacteria lived well in sulphurous anhydride, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, carbonic anhydride, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen obtained by the electrolysis of water, coal-gas, and a solution of urea and phosphate of potash. With spongy iron and air, the bacteria vanished, and the air when analyzed consisted of N 99.74 per cent, CO, 0.26, and no oxygen. Acetylen, salicylic acid, strychnine, morphine, narcotine, and brucine, had no effect on the bacteria. Phenol, spongy iron, alcohol, and potassium permanganate, were very destructive to them. Mr. W. M. Hamlet has found that bacteria can exist in carbonic oxide, hydrogen, one-per-cent creosote, phenol, methylamin, methylic alcohol, and chloroform, and Mr. GraceCalvert has found that they can live in strong carbolic acid. The evidence of other observers is to the effect that the virulence of fever-producing liquids is destroyed by chlorine and sulphurous acid; and this suggests the query whether the organic matter to which they owe their power may not be essentially different from the bacteria described by Mr. Hatton.

ACTION OF INORGANIO SUBSTANCES ON THE CIRCULATION OF LIVING ANIMALS.-Dr. James Blake has been led, by the results of a long series of researches on the phenomena elicited by the direct introduction of inorganic matter into the circulation of living animals, to the conclusion that the intensity of the physiological action of such matter increases in direct ratio with the atomic weight. The action of salts of fortyone elements was tested upon horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, geese, and hens, with identical results. The different groups of metallic elements-monads, dyads, triads, and the restformed series in each of which the increase of activity corresponding with the rise of the atomic weight was manifested with striking regularity. Among some peculiar features of the experiments were that chlorine, bromine, and iodine agree closely in their physiological action-showing, however, a decrease instead of an increase in intensity; that phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony do not induce any immediately perceptible physiological reaction; and that the salts of potassium and ammonium, the latter of which produce results resembling those of certain nitrogenous alkaloids, exhibit the only exceptions to the rule that isomor

phous substances act in an analogous man

ner.

FREE FLUORINE.-Fluorine occupies a peculiar position among the elements the existence of which is satisfactorily established, in that it has never been isolated. This arises from the fact that its chemical affinities are so powerful that when it is released from any of its compounds it instantly attacks and combines with any material out of which it is practicable to make a vessel for the experiment. Loew has very recently announced that he has discovered what he supposes to be free fluorine in a variety of fluor-spar found at Wolsendorf in Bavaria, which is of a dark-violet color, and emits a peculiar odor. The origin of the odor has not hitherto been satisfactorily explained. Loew believes it to be due to fluorine existing free within the mineral, and has made some experiments which appear to bear out his conclusion.

ABSORPTION OF NITROGEN BY IRON.-Professor Ira Remsen has had his attention called to a power manifested by iron, under certain conditions, of exhibiting the reactions of nitrogen. He was making experiments to verify the applicability of the method of Lassaignac for the detection of nitrogen in bodies containing carbon to compounds in which sulphur is present, when, working with a fusion of a compound which had been proved to contain no nitrogen with sodium and iron by hydrogen, he perceived the blue precipitate revealing the presence of nitrogen to be distinctly formed. The experiment was repeated several times, with the same results, while the tests which were applied showed that all the substances operated with were free from nitrogen. Another specimen of iron by hydrogen, which had been kept for several years, and which did not take fire by contact with the air, failed to give the nitrogen-test. This led Mr. Remsen to believe that nitrogen was absorbed from the air by iron, under some power connected with its active condition. Further experiments gave results, both of a positive and negative character, agreeable to this view, so as to induce a confident statement of the conclusion that when iron by hydrogen and certain non-nitrogenous organic substances are heated together with metallic sodium in an atmosphere of nitrogen, a cyanide is readily formed. The action is similar to that which takes place in blast-furnaces when formation of cyanide of potassium takes place. Experiments made with Bessemer steel and other forms yielded results corresponding with those referred to above.

ARSENIO IN WALL-PAPERS.-Mr. Harry Grimshaw, F. C. S., of Manchester, England, has called attention to the presence of arsenic in paper-hangings of other colors than green, which were obtained from the recent stock of a manufacturer in Lancashire, with the assurance that they contained no arsenic. Six specimens of as many different colors, including three greens of different shades, light brown, dark brown, and pink, all contained

arsenic in considerable proportions-the pink, which had the least, having enough on a square foot to poison an adult person. By the side of these papers were placed, for comparison, six other samples obtained from another manufacturer, the colors of which could hardly be distinguished from those of the arsenical papers, but which were wholly free from arsenic. From these and other papers which were compared with the same object, it was found that almost any color that may be desired can be obtained without the addition of that substance. If any difference exists in the appearance of the arsenical and non-arsenical colors, it is that the former are rather brighter. This, however, is not altogether a merit, for wall-colors may very easily be too bright. It is still undetermined whether the cheaper or more expensive papers usually contain more arsenic, and also in which class it is more commonly found.

AMMONIA IN HUMAN SALIVA.-Mr. B. H. Heyward, of the laboratory of the University of Virginia, has made some researches into the presence of ammonia in human saliva. Evidence of the presence of the alkali was obtained by observing the action of heated oxide of magnesium upon filtering-paper moistened with the Nessler reagent. The paper showed a distinct orange tint when saliva was present, but was not affected when the saliva was omitted. In all of nineteen different cases examined, of as many young men in good health, the ammonia reaction was obtained. In ten of the cases the amount was approximately determined to be in proportions varying from thirty to one hundred milligrammes of ammonia per litre of saliva. The proportions in the mixed saliva of a single person varied, on seven successive days, between forty and sixty milligrammes per litre. Special experiments directed to the different salivary glands indicated that most, if not all, of the ammonia came from the parotid and submaxillary glands, the latter furnishing notably the larger share, and that the source of ammonia-at any rate, the sole or chief source-is not to be found as free gas in the expired products of respiration condensed in aqueous solutions in the mouth.

66

GUM-LAC FROM ARIZONA.-A resinous substance has been found widely distributed throughout Arizona and Southern California, where it forms a coating of considerable thickness on the twigs of the Larrea Mexicana, or 'greasewood," which exhibits the cellular cavities containing ova of insects, and at certain seasons a red fluid, and other characteristic properties as to color, solubility, the color given to different solutions, action under the influence of heat, and odor, of the gum-lac of India. An analysis of the substance, by J. M. Stillman, of the University of California, gives its composition as consisting of 61.7 parts of resins, 14 of coloring matter soluble in water, 26-3 of caustic potash extract, 6·0 of insoluble residue, with a loss (including some coloring matter) of 4.6.

This shows a near correspondence, as to essential elements, with the composition of the Indian shellacs. A gum is also found, but in smaller quantities and having a less amount of coloring matter, on the twigs of the Acacia Greggii, which resembles the lac from the Larrea in its general appearance and irregular cellular structure, as well as in its essential chemical properties, and behaves in the same manner toward chemical reagents.

THE FREEZING-POINT OF ALCOHOLIC MIXTURES.-Researches which have been made by M. Raoult, of the Faculty of Sciences at Grenoble, on the point of congelation of alcoholic liquors, show that the point at which mixtures of alcohol and water begin to freeze falls as the proportion of alcohol becomes stronger. M. Raoult has made a table of the points of congelation for different mixtures, by a comparison with which the strength of any given mixtures may be determined by subjecting them to the freezing-test. Fermented liquors congeal at a temperature a little lower than mixtures of alcohol and water of the same strength, the difference increasing as the proportion of alcohol becomes stronger. In all cases the ice consists of pure water, wholly free from alcohol. Hence the part of the liquid left unfrozen is richer than the original liquid, and it follows that the point of congelation descends as the congelation progresses.

A NEW THEOry of Steel.-Mr. W. Mattieu Williams has proposed a new theory to account for the temperability of steel. It is well known that, if steel is heated red-hot and suddenly cooled, it becomes extremely hard and brittle; if heated again and slowly cooled, it becomes almost as soft and tough as wrought-iron. If it is moderately heated, it becomes partially softened or "tempered," in proportion to the temperature to which it is raised. None of these properties is possessed by either of the materials, carbon or iron, of which the steel is composed. Mr. Williams's theory is based on the fact that there exists a definite compound, consisting of four equivalents of iron to one of carbon, which may be obtained in crystals, and which is more fusible than ordinary steel, and far more fusible than iron, and is excessively hard and brittle, but not temperable like steel. When it is melted at a temperature at which iron is quite infusible, it is capable of dissolving iron, and forming a liquid mixture. When such a mixture is cooled below the solidifying point of one of the substances, while its temperature is still above that of the other, then one must be still fluid while the other is striving to solidify. "If the cooling beyond this goes on slowly, the molecular conflict will have time to settle itself; but, if the cooling is effected suddenly, there must be a 'molecular strain,' due to the inequality of contraction of the different parts of the solid and the liquid portions of the mixture, the internal fluid movements necessary for the adjustment of this irregular contraction of the different parts

of the substance being arrested by the sudden solidification of the whole. We should thus have a solid with its different parts pulling against each other, or set in rigid grasp, or a state in which the opposite character and fluidity or mobility of particles would be excessively developed. This would be excessive solidity, or hardness and brittleness. The molecular strain must be still more severe in the case of a substance which goes on contracting as it approaches the temperature of solidification, and then suddenly expands as it assumes solidity. This is the case with iron." Repeating the heating process would relax the mutual grasp of particles in proportion to the development of that viscosity which is one of the characteristics of heated iron; and steel is tempered at a point approaching the "weldingheat" of iron.

CHILI (REPUBLICA DE CHILE). To the general statements of area, territorial division, population, etc., given in preceding volumes,* it may here be added that the population on January 1, 1879, has been reported at 2,155,029. The President of the Republic is Señor Don Domingo Santa-María, inaugurated September 18, 1881, for the usual term of five years.

The Cabinet was composed, June, 1881, of the following ministers: Interior, Señor Recabarren; Foreign Affairs and Colonization, Señor Valderana; Finance, Señor Don J. Alfonso; Justice, Public Worship, and Public Instruction, Señor García de la Huerta; and War and the Navy, Señor Don J. F. Vergara.

General Baquedano, the distinguished commander-in-chief of the Chilian forces in the Chilo-Peruvian War, had been nominated as a candidate for the presidency, but withdrew his candidature. Señor Santa-María had the portfolio of Foreign Affairs in 1880.

The regulation strength of the army in time of peace was fixed by Congress, in 1875, at 3,573 men, deficiencies to be made up by conscription. The regular army, at the time of the latest returns before the commencement of the war with Peru and Bolivia, comprised 712 horse, 2,000 foot, and 804 artillery, with 749 officers of all arms; 7 generals, 14 colonels, 54 lieutenant-colonels, 67 majors, 182 captains, and 425 lieutenants; constituting a total of 3,516. The National Guard consisted of 1,215 horse, 21,147 foot, and 1,925 artillery; total, 24,287. But, on war being declared, the regular army was raised to a strength of 20,000, distributed in three divisions, and the National Guard to 30,000; thus forming a total land-force of 50,000. A single number of the "Official Gazette" was said to contain, in October, 1880, eleven decrees relating to the formation of as many new corps, with an aggregate of 20,000

men.

In an official report published in the second half of 1880, the navy was stated to comprise 11 ships of war, 12 transports, 3 pontoons, and 2 launches (torpedoes)-in all, 28 craft; with an *See "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1879.

aggregate of 20,107 tons, 5,459 horse-power, an armament of 83 pieces of cannon, 224 naval officers, and 1,686 seamen; besides six marine officers, commanding 389 marines. In the above number of vessels were included six mail-steamers chartered by the Government until the end of the war, and equipped by their

owners.

Touching the question of finances, the most reliable information at hand is that derived from President Pinto's message to the Chilian Congress under date of June 1, 1881. The revenue, ordinary and extraordinary, for the year 1880, was in that document set down at $43,992,584, and the expenditure at $43,123,829; the latter sum being only approximate, "inasmuch as, out of the extraordinary number of accounts arising from the war, it is but natural that many should still remain unsettled, the amount of which is not precisely known; as, for instance, the outlays made by the legation in France for military and naval supplies." The ordinary revenue for the year referred to stood at $27,992,584, while the total revenue, ordinary and extraordinary, for 1879, was but $27,693,087. It is true that in the revenue for 1880 was included the sum of $2,500,000 derived from an "accidental source"-the redemption of annuities; and the proceeds of the sales of nitrates, amounting to $4,000,000 up to October 2, 1880, after which time "this latter source of income was replaced by the export duty, which, besides being almost equal in amount, possesses the advantage of facility of collection without the inconveniences attending mercantile operations." The Tarapacá nitrates, just referred to, yielded considerable sums to the Government, for account of which they were worked until October 2, 1880, as stated above, the sales having been effected first by auction and afterward by British consignees. The working of the guano deposits having been retarded by scarcity of laborers, transactions in that commodity had been limited, the quantity exported up to June 1, 1880, not having exceeded 40,000 tons. The guano shipments were in accordance with the terms of the decree issued by the commander-inchief of the army on February 22, 1880. In conformity with the act of September 2, 1880, all the stocks of the monopoly office had been disposed of, and the offices established in its stead were working satisfactorily. As, however, these offices were of a temporary character, the President announced his intention of submitting a bill to Congress for their organization on a permanent basis. The issue office had emitted, up to the middle of May, 1881, $10,626,000, in exchange for a corresponding amount in treasury notes. The total value of notes issued, including the amount on hand, was estimated at $12,000,000, which, with $13,000,000 in bank-notes, constituted an aggregate of $25,000,000 in circulation: an amount of paper that might under ordinary circumstances appear to be excessive, but

which was, "in reality, hardly sufficient to meet the requirements of the service now performed by the Chilian paper money, not only at home, but in a considerable portion of the South Pacific coast." The Government was represented as holding, at the date of the message, a sufficient quantity of fiscal notes to replace the entire issue of treasury notes, which, though reduced by rather more than one-third, amounted to $26,000,000, of which $12,000,000, deposited in the national Treasury, were bearing interest at 5 per cent, pursuant to the terms of the law of August 19, 1880.

After stating that the custom-house yield for 1880 had exceeded that for 1879 by nearly $4,000,000, President Pinto remarks, as noteworthy, that such increase was owing to "new markets, and to increased production and consequent development of consumption.

"In the new territories successively occupied by our troops, custom-houses have been established with a view to make the war self-supporting, as far as the unhinged condition of affairs in those regions will permit. With the reduction of the national expenditure to the requirements of a normal situation, taking into consideration the gradual increase of the revenue, and the resources drawn from the conquered country, together with those to be derived from the ultimate permanent occupation of the Araucanian territory (which occupation renders urgent and indispensable the passage of the bill now before you relating to the ownership of the land in that territory), we have the encouraging conviction that the expenses of the war will be defrayed without further sacrifices. So far the Government has not found it necessary to make use of the bill recently passed for a new issue of $12,000,000, and I believe recourse thereto will not be required in the present month. Nevertheless, care and economy in new outlays are essential to the establishment of our finances on a sure foundation that shall enable us to redeem, at an early day, our paper money, and return to specie currency."

The expenses of the war, up to the middle of 1881, have been reported, on the authority of the Chilian Minister to Washington, at $60,000,000. Further particulars concerning the war debt and the means for paying it off were given in our volume for 1880 (article CHILI, p. 97, et seq.). Reference may be made to the same volume for a detailed statement of the several loans, etc., constituting the national debt of Chili, which debt was officially reported as follows, on January 1, 1880:

represented the exports. But in a later official report the exports were set down at $42,657,839, and the imports at $23,226,781: total, $65,884,620. It should here be remarked that in the latter total is included that of the exports and imports at the new port of entry— Antofogasta $5,464,991, and $432,173, respectively. Thus the value of the exports for 1879 exceeded that of the imports by $19,431,058, a result very largely contributed to by the splendid wheat-crop of the year in question. The quantity of wheat exported, mainly to Great Britain, in that year, was 142,182,985 kilogrammes.

The special trade of the republic in 1880 was of the total value of $81,404.539-exports, $51,083,810; imports, $30,320,729: balance of trade in favor of Chili, $19,763,081. Included in the exports were agricultural products of the total value of $11,661,067, against $12,781,394 for 1879; and minerals of the total value of $37,250,973, against $26,248,726 for 1879. The wheat-crop was exceptionally unfavorable in 1880.

The custom-house yield for the ten months of 1880 ending October 31st reached $7,594,891, against $6,845,731 for the whole of the year immediately preceding.

The value of the annual exports of copperthe great Chilian staple-to Great Britain, is estimated at from $12,500,000 to $15,000,000. The imports from Great Britain in 1880 were as follows:

According to the report of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department, the exports from the United States to Chili for the fiscal year 1879 amounted to $1,254,000, a decrease of $723,000 from the preceding year, while the imports from Chili into the United States during the same period amounted to $643,000, a decrease of only $20,000 from the preceding year. The trade of England with Chili during the year 1878 was as follows: Imports from Chili, $10,692,000, a decrease of nearly $12,000,000 from the imports of 1874, which occurred principally in copper, wheat, and flour. Exports to Chili, $6,000,000, a decrease of nearly $8,000,000 from the exports of 1874. As the decrease herein noted in the trade of England with Chili is confined to no single year, but runs consecutively through all the intervening years, it shows a steady decline in the trade between both countries. The exports to Chili from England are composed principally of the following articles: cotton manufactof 1874 of nearly $2,000,000, and of 20,000,000 yards; ures, $2,466,000, a decrease from the cotton exports wearing apparel, arms, ammunition, bags and sacks, beer, ale, coal, earthen and china ware, glass-ware, leather and manufactures of, linens, jutes, machinery, metals and manufactures of, paints, woolens, etc.

The trade of France with Chili during the year 1878 was as follows: Imports from Chili, $3,000,000, about the same as the imports of 1874; exports to Chili, $3,500,000, a decrease of $4,000,000 from the exports during the year 1878, in the order of their value, were of 1874. The principal exports from France to Chili, as follows: Refined sugar, leather and manufactures of, woolen goods, cotton goods, mercery and buttons,

wearing apparel, wines, paper, pottery and glassware, fish, olive-oil, tools and implements, liquors, felt hats, medicines, jewelry, watches and clocks, etc. During the year 1877, according to the report above quoted, there entered at and cleared from Valparaiso 827 steamers, of 798,656 tons, 1,319 sailing-vessels, of 648,712 tons, a total of 2,146 vessels, of 1,447,368 tons. The United States was represented in this fleet by 68 sailing-vessels. Of the steamships, 36, of a tonnage of 126,000 tons, entered the port direct from Liverpool, via the Straits of Magellan. Herein lies the secret of England's large trade with South America.

The following extract from the official organ of the Chilian Government will be found to contain significant considerations on the commercial relations of Chili with the United States:

From the data collected, systematically arranged, and published in the yearly reports of the Bureau of Commercial Statistics, it appears that Chili imported from the United States in 1856 assorted merchandise to the amount of $2,439,153, and in return exported her own agricultural and mining products to the markets of the United States to the amount of $3,090,899. Our business thus, in that year, with the great republic aggregated the respectable sum of $5,530,052, an amount certainly greater than its commerce with any of the other republics of this continent. Nevertheless, in the course of twenty-four years only, this condition of things has totally changed, to the great detriment of both nations. While the commerce between Colombia and the United States reaches the sum of a little over $7,000,000 per annum, and with Venezuela exceeds $11,000,000; while her commercial relations with the far-off Argentine Republic and the petty republics of Central America are every day assuming greater importance, our commercial statistics hardly make any record of trade, and this record only shows a trifling amount of the commerce between Chili and the United States, which in other times was so active and profitable. The decline is shown by the following official figures: In 1860 importations from the United States had fallen from $2,500,000 to $1,085,000 in round numbers. Three years later, our exports of copper and ores still amounted to $1,250,000, while the imports of American products amounted to about the same sum. In 1868 the decrease was still more noticeable: our exports scarcely reached half a million, or $400,000 less than in 1844, in which year the United States were purchasers from us to the amount of $956,052. From 1874 to 1878 trade continued in the same depressed condition, and it is but reasonable to suppose that the fluctuations in exchange, and difficulties in obtaining exchange, will have, during the course of 1879 and the present year, still further reduced the figures representing the commercial intercourse of the two peoples. In the tables of commercial statistics, which we may properly call a journal of our progress, the total of the trade between Chili and the United States, during a term of twenty-two years, from 1844, is set down at the respectable sum of $88,730,000; what will be the insignificance of the total for an equal period of time reckoned from 1866 may be easily calculated from the data we have already given, and it is no rash assertion to say that, if the causes which have led to this decay be not considered and some remedy applied, the day will soon come when trade between Chili and the United States will be but a sad reminiscence of our commercial statistics. It is but proper to add, in support of our observations on this decay, that the same is observable with other countries, the Argentine Republic, Ecuador, and Colombia, with which, at a period not very remote, and under circumstances much less favorable for developing and increasing trade, our own country had an active and mutually advantageous commerce. The causes that, within the last twenty-four years, have led to this extraordinary decay in the commerce of Chili with the United States are apparent.

The astonishing development of the agricultural interests in the old mining regions of California, together with the fact that there, on rich and virgin soil, scientifically cultivated, are produced the same articles raised by us here on worn-out soils, imperfectly cultivated without the aid of fertilizers, constitutes the first and most conclusive of such causes. Not only have our cereals been driven out of the advantageous markets of California, but by the products of this same California they have been supplanted in other markets, which, but a short time since, were our own. United States flour to-day finds its way to Central America, Panama, Ecuador, and occasionally has reached even our own country to supply the deficit created by bad crops, unwise commercial calculations, or our imperfect methods of planting and gathering our crops. It is not singular that in San Francisco Chili flour should be no longer used, inasmuch as that essentially agricultural land produces wheat with such wonderful profusion; but it is very singular that the wheat of California, which is, as it were, but of yesterday, should have absolutely driven Chilian wheat, of long standing and high repute, out of all the markets of the Pacific coast. Our inability to enter into competition with it indicates the existence of questions to be resolved with regard to low rates of interest, the use of agricultural implements in planting, of fertilizers, and means of transportation. These questions must be considered in the light of the requirements of our agricultural interests. If, however, there are reasons why California, so far from buying wheat from us, brings her own extraordinary production of this article into competition with our own, such reasons totally fail when we come to consider other articles which, twenty-five years ago, we exported to the markets of the United States, and to a very considerable extent. Why is it, then, that the United States are no longer purchasers of our copper? Why is it that they have ceased to work up our wool? In 1866 we exported to the United States $1,000,000 worth of these two articles; in 1862, $1,943,429; and in 1863, still $823,600. This trade, far from tending toward an increase, seems to be on the verge of disappearing. Is it, then, because the United States produce all the copper they require in their manufactures and shipbuilding? Most certainly not, if we are to believe their own statistics and the reports of some of the branches of their manufactures. The yield of copper in the United States is not sufficient for their consumption, and it is necessary to import from England part of that which England receives from Chili. As may be naturally supposed, this reaches the hands of the consumer in the United States with an addition of the charges for the increased freights, expenses, and profits of the first purchaser. The same, or something very nearly so, though perhaps on a smaller scale, occurs with regard to our wool. All this is due to the protective, or rather prohibitory, tariff which the Government of the United States have put in force, more particularly since 1863, when they were called upon to meet the expenses of their tremendous war of secession.

Commerce is nothing more than an interchange of products; and in order that we may become consumers of the manufactures of America, it is indispensable that our products should have easy access to the markets of that country. Drawing against England, as has been the case up to the present time, it is not probable that we shall be purchasers to any great extent of the goods offered to us. Upon such a basis of trade, and however advantageous the prices might be, it would be impossible for them to compete with similar productions from other countries. England, which buys our copper and wool, can always sell us her cutlery and hardware on advantageous terms, for financial reasons that from their obviousness it is not necessary here to state. It is not, then, through the means of education pursued by the State, or the intelligence of the American manufacturer, that the problem of establishing extensive commercial relations between