+ is entirely filled with the insect-this is pronounced a sure remedy. The religious denominations were represented as follows: DENOMINATIONS. The yield of gold and silver in California in 1878 was $18,920,461; which is an increase in gold of $2,068,000, but a decrease in silver to Protestants: the amount of $1,323,000. In the important case of the United States vs. Throckmorton, the Supreme Court at Washington, on December 9th, rendered a decision affirming that of the California Circuit Court. The action was brought to set aside the final decree of confirmation of a Mexican grant on the ground of its alleged forgery, etc. The Court declined to interfere, because the validity of the grant was the very matter adjudicated twenty years ago. The following general principles were announced by Justice Miller in behalf of a unanimous full bench: Courts of equity will not set aside, on account of alleged fraud, a decision rendered by a tribunal of competent jurisdiction, unless the fraud complained of was extrinsic or collateral to the matter so adjudicated. There are rights which, even though founded in fraud, have been so established by formal judicial proceedings in legally constituted tribunals, and by legal methods, that they are no longer open to inquiry in the usual or ordinary way; and this Court will not set aside a judgment because it was founded on a fraudulent instrument or perjured evidence, or for any cause which was actually presented and considered in the judgment assailed. To overrule the demurrer to this bill would be to retry, twenty years after its decision by the Board of Land Commissioners and the District Court, the very questions which they tried on the ground of fraud in the very document on which this decreo was rendered. The Supreme Court further hold that no one but a United States Attorney-General, or some one authorized to use his name, can, without special act of Congress, bring suit to set aside a United States patent, or a judgment rendered in a Federal Court on which such a patent is founded; and that there is nothing in the record in this case to show that the Attorney-General sanctioned the proceedings. CAPE COLONY AND BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. The area and population of the British possessions in South Africa were as follows in 1878: Anglicans.. Dutch Reformed Church Catholics...... Mohammedans.. Other religions... Unknown... Total. Of the total number of inhabitants in Bassuto Land according to the census of 1875, 60,394 were males and 67,307 females. In Griqua Land West, according to the census of June 17, 1877, there were 12,374 whites and 32,903 blacks. The Caffre war, which seemed to have come to an end in November, 1877 (see Annual Cyclopædia " for 1877), broke out again at the close of the year. On December 20th Kreli, who was in hiding in one of the forests in the Transkei, sent messengers to Ibeka asking for peace, as he had been sufficiently punished. This was followed by the surrender of his chief councilor Botman, who declared that the tribe was subdued and craving for mercy. Col. Eustace discussed with Botman the terms upon which the submission of the Galekas would be received by the Government-namely, the unconditional surrender of the chief and his son, and the disarmament of his warriors. Three days were given for Kreli to accept this or take the consequences. At the expiration of the time an unfavorable answer was given; the armistice was thereupon declared at an end, and on Friday, December 28th, Col. Glyn, commanding in the Transkei, moved forward from the Ibeka, with the forces at his disposal. During the negotiations with Kreli, however, one of his councilors, Kiva, with 200 followers, eluded the guards at the river drifts and crossed over the Kei into the Gaika location. This immediately changed the aspect of affairs. A considerable section of the powerful Gaika tribe, whose veteran chief Sandilli was one of the most troublesome enemies of the British twenty-five years ago, and who up to this time had been overawed and kept in check, now took up arms against the Government. Martial law was proclaimed throughout portions of the Gaika territory, and the European residents on isolated farms in their neighborhood were warned at once to move to the nearest camps and places of rendezvous for protection. The Gaikas in the last days of December made an incursion into Fingo Land, which is under the British protectorate. They next attempted to cut off the communications by the postroad between King William's Town and Kon gha, which is the principal station of the cavalry and artillery belonging to the armed frontier police, and is distant forty miles north of King William's Town. A severe engagement was fought on December 31st, between a body of 40 men of the 88th and 20 police, and a large body of Gaikas estimated at from 600 to 1,000. In the beginning of January the Caffres were swarming throughout East London division, especially near the Kei. From Kongha Col. Lambert, with a force 600 strong, went out against them, but thought it better to defer an attack until reenforcements should arrive. He relieved and brought away a garrison at Fort Jeupetu, and in less than an hour afterward the fort was occupied by the natives. At the junction of the Isomo and the Kei the Gaikas attacked the Fingoes, but were repulsed with a considerable loss. On January 14th a general plan of offensive operations for the attack and dispersion of the enemy was set in motion. Col. Glyn's column, east of the Kei, Col. Lambert's from the Kongha, reënforced by a large number of Fingoes, and Capt. Brabant's East London and Chalumna Volunteers, made a simultaneous movement upon the Kei and Chichaba Valleys. While Col. Lambert's force drew the head of the Chichaba Valley, the force under Capt. Brabant encountered the enemy lower down. About 4,000 head of cattle and 10,000 sheep were taken from the Caffres, and a large number of the enemy killed. A coutinuous roar of cannon and musketry was kept up from Col. Glyn's column on the other side of the Kei, who took from the enemy 1,000 cattle and 900 sheep. The losses of the British on this occasion were very small. On the 16th Capt. Brabant drove them with considerable loss from the fastnesses along the Kabousie River, where they had concentrated their forces, and again captured large numbers of cuttle and sheep. Nothing of importance occurred during the remainder of January. A decisive victory was gained by the British, however, in the beginning of February, when on the 7th Col. Glyn and Capt. Upcher inflicted a severe defeat upon the natives at Quintana. It was undoubtedly the most disastrous defeat the Caffres had met with up to that time. The Galekas themselves acknowledged severer losses than on any previous occasion; and the bodies of nearly 200 found in front and about the position, and more than an equal number afterward discovered in the neighboring kloofs and ravines, attested the severity of their punishment. It was known a day or two previous that the enemy were collecting in that part of the Transkei meditating an attack, but it was difficult to judge which of the positions, Ibeka or Quintana, they would approach. Col. Glyn made dispositions to meet either case. On the morning of the 7th the forces of the enemy were seen approaching, and proved to be the combined forces of Kreli and Sandilli, numbering about 4,000 to 5,000 men. They were immediately attacked, and after several hours' fighting completely routed. In the beginning of March a movement was undertaken by Commandant Griffith against the rebel positions on the Thomas River, and the whole country from the junction of the Kei to Henderson was effectually scoured, the Caffres everywhere retreating. Sandilli and his two sons, however, together with their followers made a backward movement into the colony during the succeeding night and day, and, passing within a mile or two of the posts at Stutterheim and Grey Town, reached without any hindrance the Izeli and Perie Bush in the famous Amatola range, thus taking pos session of their old and familiar strongholds in the wars of 1846 and 1851. Kreli, after the disastrous battle of Quintana, fled to Pondo Land on the Umtata River. On March 14th news reached Ibeka that the great Galeka warrior Kiva had taken refuge in one of Kreli's hiding-places. Col. Glyn immediately sent out an expedition against him, which was completely successful. It took Kiva completely by surprise, and during the engagement Kiva and three of his brothers were killed. No sooner was the news of his death made known than Kreli showed signs of submission. His principal councilor, Botman, brought the intelligence that the great chief intended to surrender in a few days. shortly after inquired on what terms peace would be made. But he as well as Sandilli, who made a similar inquiry, was told that no conditions would be made with rebel chiefs in arms against the Government. He The mountainous region to which Sandilli had retired offered all the advantages of a natural fortress, occupying a space of about 30 miles square. At first the number of rebel Gaikas in the Amatolas was not more than 1,000, but constant reenforcements soon raised it to 3,000 or 4,000. Gen. Sir A. Cunynghame, whose term had expired, was succeeded in the latter part of February by Gen. Thesiger. The operations of the latter were at first unsuccessful, but he gradually reduced the territory occupied by the rebels. Tini Macomo, a powerful chief who, after having been defeated near Fort Beaufort, had joined Sandilli, was captured on May 27th, and, within about ten days after, Sandilli himself was killed at Isidengi. This virtually put an end to the war, and the troops were ordered home. At the same time that the troubles in the Transkei territory were reopened, the powerful nation of the Zooloos, under their King Cetywayo, pressed close upon the borders of Natal and of the Transvaal province, along the Buffalc River. This locality is distant three hundred miles in a straight line to the north from the Great Kei River of the Gaikas and Galekas; but the intervening provinces of Natal and Bassuto Land are traversed by a chain of wild mountain ranges and highlands, called the Drakenberg, along which it would be possible for the savages to hold communication with each other. It was therefore an alarming circumstance that the Zooloo King had chosen this time to advance claims of territory in the district of Utrecht, at the southern extremity of the Transvaal, which both Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the Administrator of that province, and the Provincial Government of Natal were not disposed to admit. There was much cause to apprehend that Cetywayo was assured of an alliance with his restless warlike neighbor Sekukuni, the late unconquered foe of the Transvaal Republic; and it was estimated that both potentates together could command a joint force of 47,000 men, armed with muskets and rifles. In the middle of March Sekukuni declared himself openly hostile, and laid siege to two forts in the direction of Leydenburg. Severe fighting took place on June 22d at Largenbeck on the northern border, in which the rebels were defeated. The Kamas tribe was disarmed and dispersed. In August a mutiny broke out in Zooloo Land, in the native police. Skirmishing had been going on during July and August, and by the end of August the Caffres had completely invested Leydenburg. A rising took place among the Griquas, in Griqua Land East, during April, On the 14th they made an armed demonstration against Kokstadt, but were defeated with considerable loss. The rising was completely suppressed by the end of the month. The Caffre war gave rise to a ministerial crisis. It was well known that differences of opinion had occurred on more than one occasion between the Governor and the Cabinet. Possibly it could not be otherwise while the Governor as commander-in-chief was responsible to the Imperial authorities for the movements and actions of the British forces, and at the same time was constitutionally advised in all matters of government by a ministry answerable for their policy to the Colonial Parliament only. The dissensions in the Executive Council came to a head in the first days of February, when the General, Sir A. Cunynghame, called attention to the fact of there being virtually two commands on the frontier, one composed of the military, controlled by the General, and another a colonial army formed of the burgher and volunteer contingents, each operating independently of the other. Sir Bartle Frere took the military view that there could be no such division, that even the issuing of commissions to the officers at the head of the volunteer expeditions against the enemy was illegal and unconstitutional, and that the colonial auxiliary troops must be placed under LieutenantGeneral Sir A. Cunynghame, the officer commanding the British forces in South Africa. The Governor, finding the Ministry persistent in the course of maintaining the independent action of the Colonial Government with respect to the burgher and volunteer contingents, informed Mr. Molteno and his colleagues that he would feel it his duty to call to his Councils another Administration as soon as he could form the same. A new ministry was formed by Mr. Gordon Sprigg, and was composed as follows: Mr. Sprigg, Premier; Mr. Uppington, Attorney-General; Mr. Laing, Commissioner of Crown Lands and Public Works; Mr. Ayliffe, Secretary for Native Affairs; and Mr. Miller, Treasurer-General. Parliament met on May 10th. Among the first questions it considered was the action of Sir Bartle Frere in dismissing the Molteno Ministry. A resolution supporting the action of the Governor was passed by a vote of 37 to 22. CHEMISTRY. Nitrification.-The process generally in use for preparing saltpeter (nitrate of potassium) is as follows: Soil, containing more or less vegetable mold and carbonate of lime, is mixed with a certain proportion of stable manure or other refuse organic matter, and disposed in small heaps, to the interior of which there must be free access of air; the heaps are sheltered from rain, and watered from time to time with stable sewage. After two or three years the earth is found to be sufficiently rich in niter to be worth leaching. Of late, however, niter is obtained far more expeditiously by the treatment of Peruvian nitrate of sodium with potassium chloride, the product being saltpeter and common salt. But how is the phenomenon of nitrification as seen in the artificial process to be explained? Clearly it involves oxidation of nitrogen into nitric acid; but the question which has long vexed the minds of chemists concerns the rationale of this oxidation. The old chemists believed that a decaying organic body evolves more or less of its nitrogen in a free state, and that this while nascent combines with the oxygen of the air. According to many modern chemists, the oxidizing agent is ozone. Others again incline to the belief that nitrogen is never oxidized in the soil except when in the form of ammonia, and that the nitrogen of organic matter is converted into ammonia as a preliminary to nitrification. According to soine experiments, the ferric oxide, which gives a red color to so many soils, is itself an oxidizing agent, and capable of converting ammonia into nitric acid. An entirely new explanation is offered by Messrs. Schloesing and Müntz, and their theory appears to be confirmed by the researches of others. According to this theory, nitrification, so far from being a purely chemical process, is the work of a living organism comparable to the yeast-plant. They have found that nitrification, however active, is immediately stopped by chloroform vapor, herein showing an analogy to all known organized ferments. They have further shown that, when the process has been suspended in this way for many weeks, it can be renewed by the addition of a small quantity of a nitrifying body. Again, the temperature of boiling water suffices to destroy all power of nitrification, and soil which has been once heated to this point produces no nitrates. If, however, this soil be moistened with water containing a little unheated soil, the production of nitric acid begins again. The theory has been subjected to practical tests in England, and the results, as stated in "Nature" by Mr. R. Warington, are as follows: It was found that the vapor of bisulphide of carbon, and of chloroform, effectually prevented nitrification in a moist garden soil through which air was frequently aspirated, while without these vapors the soil produced nitrates in considerable quantity. A solution of chloride of ammonium containing a little tartaric acid, phosphate of potassium, and carbonate of calcium, was also completely nitrified in a few weeks by the addition of a small quantity of soil taken from the "fairy-ring" of a meadow. This solution, when nitrified, was successfully used as seed to produce nitrification in other similar solutions, which without this addition produced no nitric acid. It was further shown that light was prejudicial to nitrification; solutions kept in a dark cupboard producing nitric acid, while similar solutions standing in daylight produced none. The evidence has thus become very strong that the nitrates in soil owe their origin to oxidation brought about by living organisms. That mycoderms, in their processes of life, may exert a powerful oxidizing action upon organic matter, we have already learned through the researches of Pasteur and others. The most familiar example is that of the acetic fermentation. Vinegar is produced by the oxidation of alcohol during the growth of a very simple organism, the Mycoderma aceti; without the growth of such an organism no vinegar is ever formed. It is by similar low organisms that fermentation of all kinds is brought about. Putrefaction has also been shown to be equally dependent on the presence of microscopic organisms, and except under the conditions suitable for their rapid development putrefaction will not take place. With this abundant evidence before us of the energetic decomposition of organic matter brought about by what we may term microscopic fungi, we can hardly be astonished to find that the same agency is capable of oxidizing the nitrogen of organic matter and of ammonia, and thus producing nitric acid. The organisms which produce these wonderful changes consist of colorless cells; they are independent of daylight, for they derive their supply of carbon exclusively from organized matter, and from the decomposition of such matter they obtain the force necessary for life and growth. In these respects they differ entirely from green vegetation, in which sunlight is the source of all energy, and carbonic-acid gas, decomposed by the aid of light, the material from which carbon is derived. The colorless and green organisms, however, equally require phosphoric acid, potash, and other ash constituents; and both appear to be capable of assimilating nitrogen in the form of ammonia. Not only are these simple organisms independent of the aid of light, but light is, in some cases ut least, actually fatal to their existence. This fact has quite recently been established by Downes and Blunt. They find that the bacteria present in an or ganic fluid may in many cases be entirely destroyed by exposure of the solution to daylight, and that even when this is not the case their development is much retarded by such treatment. This observation is perfectly in accordance with the fact observed at Rothamsted, that uitrification did not proceed in solutions exposed to daylight. In the last communication of Schloesing and Müntz, it is stated that vegetable soil suspended in water, by passing a stream of air through the mixture, undergoes nitrification both in light and darkness. No details of the experiment are given, but it seems probable that such a mixture would be more or less opaque, and the greater bulk of the material consequently at all times in partial darkness. The microscopic organism producing ni trification has probably distinctive characters, and might be isolated by cultivation under conditions specially suitable to its growth, but more or less unfavorable to the life of other associated germs. Pasteur has pursued this method with success in the case of beer yeast, and has shown that with the pure yeast thus obtained an unchangeable beer may be manufactured, the organisms producing secondary changes having been excluded. The subject of nitrification has clearly reached a stage which demands the aid of the vegetable physiologist. New Compounds from Carbon Bisulphuret.— It is known that carbon bisulphuret, like cyanogen, will unite directly with metals without the intervention of oxygen or any similar body; hence its distinguishing name of " erythrogen.' Guided by this property, L. Thompson made the attempt to discover whether erythrogen could displace cyanogen from any of its combinations, and in this way discovered not only that cyanogen can be so displaced, but also that in so doing two hitherto unknown compounds are produced, viz., a new pigment and a new explosive. The first experiment was made with a sample of coal-gas containing a rather large A set of proportion of carbon bisulphuret. Liebig bulbs were charged with caustic-potash solution containing dissolved bicyanide of mercury, and the coal-gas was then slowly passed through the bulbs, with the following results: Very soon the solution became milky, and this effect continued to increase for several days, with deposition of a white precipitate, which became successively first gray, then black, and finally a beautiful scarlet, thus proving the existence of at least two, perhaps three different compounds. Having ascertained by analysis that the scarlet compound derived nothing from the coal-gas but the bisulphuret of carbon, the gas was abandoned, and pure bisulphuret of carbon was employed instead. The process is as follows: A strong solution of the cyanide of potassium is to be boiled for several minutes upon binoxide of mercury, or, what answers equally well, the nitric oxide of mercury sold by apothecaries; it is then to be mixed with three times its bulk of a very strong solution of caustic potash, and when it has become cold it must be cautiously decanted into a Florence flask or other convenient vessel, and a considerable quantity of bisulphuret of carbon added to it with frequent agitation. The mixture assumes in rapid succession a variety of tints, passing from white, yellow, brown, and gray, into black; and, if then left to the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, the black. is changed into scarlet in the course of twenty-four to forty-eight hours, according to the The larger the quantity of caustic potash present. amount of potash, the shorter is the time required for the development of the scarlet color; but this change is very soon brought about by the employment of heat, and therefore the flask containing the mixture should be placed in a water-bath at 1108 Fahr., when in about half an hour the scarlet precipitate will have formed, and we may distill off and collect the surplus bisulphuret of carbon, after which the pigment must be well washed and carefully dried." This pigment (ponsalion) is a scarlet powder of a very brilliant tint. It rivals gold itself in resisting the effect of atmospheric influences, and is, like gold, only attacked by aqua regia and those fluids which generate chlorine; it is moreover unaffected by sulphuretted hydrogen or any of the hydrosulphurets, and as a paint is practically imperishable. Its composition appears to be very peculiar, though a sufficient number of analyses has not yet been made to settle that question beyond the range of doubt. Nevertheless, it seems to consist of one atom of mercury (202), three atoms of sulphur (48), one atom of carbon (6), and one atom of hydrogen (1); thus making 257 as its atomic equivalent, and leading us to conclude that it is a hydro-erythride of the protosulphuret of mercury, whence we may infer that it might be made by a very different process to that above described, and, indeed, we may naturally expect many improvements in the mode of its production. As we have seen, the first effect of passing coal-gas through an alkaline solution of bicyanide of mercury is a white precipitate. If we arrest the process at this point we obtain, in the usual way of washing and drying, a gray-white powder, which on applying heat explodes with great violence. In all probability it consists of two substances, one containing sulphur and the other cyanogen united to some form of hydrocarbon; it is to this last that the name 66 cyanon " has been provisionally given. has As procured in the way described, cyanon is a white powder having a greenish-gray tint, and, when a few grains of it are heated in a test-tube, it explodes at a heat of about 400° Fahr. with much force and the production of a considerable quantity of soot or carbon, while the mercury is thrown out of the tube to a considerable distance, so that cyanon may truly be said to combine the qualities of both gunpowder and shot. The cyanogen compound, which in cyanon is united to mercury, been transferred to copper with the production of a copper salt having an explosive quality quite equal to the mercurial compound; and in all likelihood this copper salt is the substance which has frequently caused explosions during the repairing, of old gas-meters by soldering them. This explosive is, however, destroyed by the action of hydrosulphate of ammonia, and no doubt common gagliquor would answer the same end, so that it would be a wise precaution to bathe old gas-meters in gasliquor before attempting to apply a heated soldering iron to them. To obtain cyanon it is not necessary that there should be an excess of caustic alkali present in the liquor, for this is needed only to insure the formation of ponsælion; consequently we have merely to boil a solution of the cyanide of potassum upon an excess of peroxide of mercury, and, after filtering the cold liquor, pass a current of purified coal-gas through it until a sufficient quantity of white precip itate has been formed, which must then be washed and dried in the usual way. on the other hand, complex compounds of other elements are as a rule decomposed by this substance into two or more simpler compounds. Mr. Hannay was therefore induced to examine whether carbon is or is not the only element capable of forming series of bodies of complicated structure; and whether the existence of water on this earth is the reason of our not having complex bodies with other elements than carbon for their basis. The plan adopted was to take some complicated substance containing no carbon which is decomposed by water, find a solvent for it, and act on it with other reagents out of contact of air and moisture. The substance used was oxychloride of chromium (CrO2Cl2), and the solvents employed were carbon disulphide and carbon tetrachloride. Mr. Hannay has devised an apparatus which allows of the substance being precipitated, filtered, washed, dried, and weighed off for analysis without coming in contact with air or moisture. The following is a list of the chromium compounds prepared by him: Mr. Hannay has prepared some analogous manganese compounds, but the analyses of these have not yet been finished. The Luminosity of Flame.-Heumann considers the luminosity of hydrocarbon flames to be due to the presence in them of solid particles of incandescent carbon. The grounds on which this opinion is based are thus briefly summed up in the "American Journal of Science": "1. The increased luminosity which chlorine gives to weakly luminous or non-luminous flames is due to its well-known property of separating the carbon as such. 2. A rod held in a flame is smoked only on the lower side, the side opposed to the gas stream. Were the carbon there as vapor, as Frankland assumes, it would be condensed by a cooling action, and so all around the rod. 3. A body held in the flame is smoked even when it is in a state of ignition; this, therefore, can not be condensation of a vapor 4. These particles can be actually seen in the flame when it is made to strike against a second flame or an ignited surface, the particles aggregating together to form visible masses. 5. The luminous portion of a flame is not very transparent, no more so than the layer of smoke of the same thickness which rises above a flame fed with turpentine. 6. Flames which unquestionably owe their luminosity to the presence of solid particles give a shadow with sunlight, precisely as do hydrocarbon flames; while luminous flames composed only of ignited gases and vapors give no such shadow in sunlight." Alum in Baking-Powders. - Dr. Henry A. |