and the action is remarkably easy and elastic. The tone of the instrument is of wonderful quality, as well as its delicious decrescendo and remarkable sonority.

Another valuable improvement in the piano has been introduced by Friedrich Ehrbar, of Vienna, by which the player can prolong any note or notes that he pleases, while the other notes struck die away as usual. By this arrangement pieces written for the organ or orchestra can be rendered upon the piano much truer than has been hitherto possible.

A Prussian engineer, G. Hambruch, of Berlin, has been engaged for a couple of years in perfecting a machine for ready-printing, which is superior in some respects to anything invented hitherto in this line. This machine impresses the letters upon a plastic substance, from which stereotype plates can immediately be taken. The formerly invented type-setting machines, amid many imperfections, afforded but a slight saving of time and labor over the manual method of composition. The advantages claimed for this new process are: That any number of different alphabets can be used; that the lines can be made of any length and the pages of any size; that 40,000 characters can be made by it in a day of ten hours; that an electrotype plate can be cast without any intermediate operation; that the considerable fixed capital employed in providing movable type, and the expense of their wear and tear, are reduced to a minimum; that the skill required to work the machine can be acquired in a few days; that different kinds of letters can be employed without trouble in the same work; that the machine takes up less room than a printer's case. With all these perfections, Herr Hambruch's system, as far as he has elaborated it, has one serious defect: it will not allow of corrections and emendations. An electric pen, invented by Edison, an American, and successfully used in England and this country, consists of a style from whose point a fine needle, connected with a tiny electro-magnetic apparatus attached to the top of the pen, darts back and forth at the rate of 2,000 strokes a minute. When this instrument is carried over the paper in writing, a tracing of fine perforated lines is made. The writing is as easy as though it were a quill-pen. The copy is then employed like a stencil-plate, and any number of copies can be taken by imposing the perforated sheet successively upon other sheets of paper, and passing a roller covered with printer's ink over its surface.

A smoke-consumer invented in England does away with the elaborate apparatus heretofore used. The plan is to bore two holes above the fire-door of the boiler for two pipes going one-third or one-half the way across the top of the furnace. A jet of steam is conducted into these by a small pipe from the boiler. Two strong currents of air, rarefied by the steam, are thus created, which, being driven into the midst of the flame and smoke in the

furnace, precipitate the carbon sufficiently to prevent the issue of offensive clouds of smoke.

A fireman's dress, which enables its wearer to enter a burning building and remain in the hottest fire, has recently attracted considerable attention. It consists of an inner vest of rubber, an outer one of leather, and a metallic helmet. A hose-pipe, attached to the back of the outer garment, divides into two pipes, one which leads up to the top of the helmet and discharges an abundant fine spray downward over the dress, and the other runs under the fireman's arm and ends in a nozzle, which he can turn upon the fire. A small pipe within the hose connects with the inner space between the two garments and conducts compressed air. which serves for respiration, and distends the outer garment and keeps it away from the body. The exhausted air escapes through the small eye-holes of the helmet, driving the smoke and flame away from the eyes, and enabling the fireman to see clearly before him.

A novel fire-extinguishing apparatus has been introduced into the New York Tribune Building by a Louisville company. A watertank hung on pivots so as to be instantaneously invertible upon the raising of a latchrod, having a connection in every room of the building, is placed in the sub-cellar. The water contains subcarbonate of soda, and in the tank is a jar of sulphuric acid. When the tank is inverted the chemicals combine, producing carbonic acid, and the water is forced out at a pressure of 150 pounds to the square inch. It requires 20 seconds only to raise the water from the sub-cellar to the top of the building, where it is projected with tremendous force from the nozzle of a large hose. A useful aid to the navigator has been invented by Lieutenant Grandin, of the French Navy. It is an indicator of all the movements of the steering-wheel. An attachment connected with the wheel guides a pencil, which makes a mark upon a ruled roll of paper upon a bobbin which unwinds by clockwork. When the pencil follows the central line on the paper, the ship is on her true course; and when the mark deviates from this line, the helmsman must turn the wheel so as to bring the pencil back to the centre. Not only is the remissness or unskillfulness of the steersman recorded by this instrument, but it serves also as an indicator of the right course, and enables him to bring the vessel about in the right course when she deviates. The machine also keeps a permanent record of the course sailed, and of the direction of the wind, since the corrections made by the helmsman will be most of them owing to the veering of the ship in the wind.

An instrument for deep-sea soundings has been invented by naval Lieutenant Hopfgarten and engineer Arzberger, of Vienna, which sinks to the bottom, registers the depth, and returns to the surface bringing a specimen of the bottom, without being attached to a line. It con

utes, with only 4 gallons of water in the boiler. The apparatus consisted of a mirror so curved as to have a linear focus, a blackened boiler, and a glass envelope about the whole, admitting the rays of light, but preventing the return of the heat-rays. It is not pretended that the effect is powerful enough to originate sufficient mechanical power for practical purposes in the temperate zone, but the inventor is irmly persuaded that in hot climates a motor might be constructed which could be impelled by the direct action of the solar heat.

The practical employment of the electric light in the illumination of large factories has been introduced in France, and is constantly growing in favor. Even on the score of cheapness, where a large space is to be illuminated, this method seems to have the advantage over the other kinds of artificial light. But it has other points of superiority, more important than that of economy: the mechanics can perform their labors by this light as rapidly and easily as in daylight, which no other illumination allows; the danger of fire is entirely avoided; no blackening of the walls and ceilings takes place; and the property possessed by the magnetic light of reflecting the true colors of objects gives it a specially important advantage in some manufacturing processes. The electro-magnetic apparatus of Gramme is employed for generating the light; and a regulator manufactured by Serrin is the one generally used. The carbonic substance used for the production of the voltaic currents is the plumbago-like incrustations which form in gasretorts. Several such instruments can be put up in a few hours' time; and in two or three days a laborer can learn how to manage the lamps and the machine. No part of the machine can become deranged. Most establishments possess the motive power needed to operate the generating machine; a motive power of 200 kilometres is required to start the operation. Calculations of the cost of the electromagnetic light prove that a light equal to that of 400 carcel-lamps of ordinary size (equal to the light of 7 times the number of stearine candles, or to that of an equal number of ordinary gas-burners) can be produced at an expense of about 16 cents per hour, while the same degree of illumination could not be furnished by gas, according to Paris prices, at less than 14 times that cost. When only 100 gas-burners are used in a factory the expense is 3 times greater than that of electric lights of 4 times the illuminating power; while the apparatus required for gaslighting is much more costly than that needed for this process. The carbonic substance employed in generating this light will probably be more cheaply produced in a short time, or will give place to some cheaper substitute. Before the beginning of this year only two such apparatus were in operation, one in the foundery of Ducommun & Co. in Mulhouse, and one in Gramme's workshop in Paris. Within the last

year the machine has been erected in many extensive factories in France, Russia, Spain, England, Austria, Italy, and in South America. This light is employed in the station of the Northern Railroad at Paris; and upon ships in the French, Russian, and Austrian marine; and one of them was used on the Polaris in the late Polar Expedition. In the foundery at Mulhouse a room, 56 by 28 metres, is lighted by 4 Serrin lamps, so well that no shadows are cast, and in every spot of the interior one can see to read as easily as by daylight. This establishment has used this process for two years; the outlay of capital was 12,000 francs, and the expense of illumination 3 francs per hour, including interest. In the weavingestablishment of Pouyer-Quertier, at L'ÎleDieu, in France, a room having a surface to be illuminated of 600 square metres, in which 140 looms are operated, is lighted by 4 of Gramme's machines with 100 burners and 8 lamps, so adjusted that the light comes from below, and is reflected from the ceiling, and the sources are concealed from the operatives. In the Sautter-Lemonnier factory of lighthouse lamps, at Paris, 3 Gramme machines are employed in the mounting-shop and copper smithy, with 100 burners and 3 lamps. The lamps are constructed upon three different systems: that of Serrin, that of Carré, and that of Duboscq; the one of Serrin's construction is found to be the most reliable and efficient. The surface to be lighted is 1,200 square metres. A large number of machines of different uses are scattered about the room, but by means of cross-lights all interfering shadows are avoided. The light is quite sufficient for all the different mechanical operations here carried on. In the harbor at Salmaize boats carrying beets for the sugar-factory are unloaded in the evening by the employment of the magnetic light as well as by day.

A Russian man of science, M. Jablouskoff, has made an invention by which the electric light can be distributed, and a single current may be divided among several electric burners, though separated from each other by considerable distances. The light produced is greater in volume than by the old method, and the regulators, which have been the most expensive and least durable part of the apparatus, are done away with entirely. His process is to inclose two pencils of carbon, parallel to each other and adjusted at the right distance apart, so that when inverted the current passes from the end of one to the end of the other, in a single cylinder of clay, powdered stone, or the like. Any number of these may be connected with a single battery. As the combustion goes on, the envelope is also consumed, adding to the light. The pencils always remain parallel, and at the same distance apart, so that the use of a regulator is dispensed with.

An American electrician, Mr. W. E. Sawyer, has invented a method of telegraphy by which

a fac-simile reproduction of a letter written at one end of the wire is obtained at the other end, and that in much less time than it takes to transmit a message by the Morse system. A company called the United States Postal Telegraph Company has been organized in New York, for the purpose of putting into practice this important invention. The operation is very simple. The sender writes his dispatch upon ordinary white paper, which, when it is pressed against a metallic plate between two rollers, transfers a copy to the plate. The lines of writing are composed of a non-conducting substance, while the plate is an electrical conductor. An instrument carries metallic points on revolving arms across the plate, and whenever the point passes over a line of writing the electrical connection is broken, and the instrument at the other end makes a dot upon a chemically-prepared piece of paper. At the same time that the points move across the surface the plate is moving horizontally with a slow motion, so that the entire surface is gone over. The receiving-instrument is run in an opposite direction to that of the transmitting one, so that the copy will not be in reverse. The same instruments are used for both sending and receiving dispatches. The time that it takes depends not on the amount of the writing, but upon the size of the copy; in ordinary handwriting about a hundred words a minute can be transmitted. The impression taken by the receiving-instrument is ready for immediate delivery. The message appears traced in dark-blue dotted lines upon white paper. The same system is used in the Signal Service to transmit the weather-maps by telegraphy. The ink which is used on a manuscript to be copied telegraphically is mixed with a little glycerine; ordinary paper is employed. Before the ink is dry some powdered shellac, which is the best non-conductor of electricity, is sprinkled upon it. The plate which receives the writing is a piece of hot zinc, an excellent electrical conductor. The plate of zinc is bent about a cylinder, in the latest instruments, which revolves, while the metallic point that conveys the electrical current is held to its surface by a spring. The paper which receives the message is wound about a similar cylinder, and contains a chemical substance, which decomposes and changes color the moment the point pressed against the zinc cylinder comes to a line of writing. It is necessary that both cylinders should make their revolutions in exactly the same time; and this is accomplished by means of a magnet at the receiving-station, connected with the cylinder at the other end by electricity, which hastens or slackens the motion of its cylinder at every movement of the other.

MEINICKE, KARL EDUARD, an eminent German geographer, born August 31, 1803; died August 25, 1876. He received an appointment on the gymnasium of Prenzlau in 1825, and in 1852 became director of it. His principal

works are: "Das Festland Australien (2 vols., 1837), "Die Südseevölker und das Christenthum " (1844), "Versuch einer Geschichte der europäischen Colonien in Westindien " (1831), "Beiträge zur Ethnographie Asiens" (1837), "Lehrbuch der Geographie" (second edition, 1845), a "Leitfaden der Geographie " (third edition, 1860) for the lower classes of the gymnasium, and "Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans" (Part I., "Melanesien und Neuseeland," 1875; Part II., "Polynesien und Mikronesien," 1876). He was also the author of the chapter on Australia in Stein's "Handbuch der Geographie " (seventh edition, 1854). MELLIN, HENRIK, a Swedish novelist and writer, born in Revolax, Finland, April 23, 1803; died August 2, 1876. Having lost both his parents at an early age, he came in his twelfth year to Sweden, into the house of the poet Franzén. He entered the University of Upsala in 1821, and, having graduated, was ordained as a priest in 1829. From this time on he lived in Stockholm until 1851, in which year he went to Norre-Wram, in Schonen, remaining there up to his death. His first literary attempt was the novel "Blommen på Kinnekulle " (third edition, 1831). Among his other early works are the novels " Anna Reibnitz" (second edition, 1833) and "Sivard Kruses Bröllopp" (second edition, 1863), by which he immediately became one of the most popular authors of Sweden. The subject for his larger romances he has taken chiefly from Swedish history. Among them are: "Johannes Fjällmann (1831-33)," Flickoma i Askersund " (1832), Gustaf Brahe " (1832), "Helena Wrede" (1834), "Pawo Nissinen" (second edition, 1838), and "Jacob Casimir de la Gardie" (1849). Among his other numerous novels, the best known are: "Den gamla Grefvinnan," "Den unga Grefvinnan," " 'Kolarflickan," "Oejungfrun,” “ Naema," "Prinsessan af Angola," "Fröknarna," "Kolmårds Boerna," and others. A number of these novels are found in his annual publication, Winterblommor, which he published in the years 1831 to 1845. A complete edition of his novels appeared in 1866. Among his historical works are: "Krigen och Statshvälfningerna i våra Dagar" (1849), "Trettioåriga Kriget" (1847–'49), "Oscar I.'s historia" (1844), "Den skandinaviska Nordens historia" (2 vols., 1850–53), "Fäderlandets historia" (fourth edition, 1852), "Sveriges store män,' "Sveriges märkvärdigaste Fruntimmer," and others. These works were exceedingly popular, not so much on account of any particular historical value, but for their popular and clear style.

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MERRY, Don FRANCISCO, a Spanish naval officer, born November 6, 1793; died in November, 1876. His father was a resident merchant, of Irish descent, and his mother a lady of noble Andalusian extraction. He entered the British Navy as midshipman, and was present in the Stork frigate at the siege of San

Sebastian, in 1813, for which service he afterward received the naval war-medal. In the Spanish Navy, which he subsequently joined, he rose to the rank of post-captain, and during the revolutionary troubles of 1820-23 was remarkable for his conservative and royalist opinions. When Ferdinand VII. was arrested by the Cortes and thrown into prison at Cadiz, Don Francisco Merry proposed to run in his ship and carry the King off in triumph to Gibraltar; but the intention became known, through some oversight or folly on the part of the King himself, and Don Francisco, who had gone to Seville to make certain arrangements with reference to the affair, was astounded to read in the revolutionary official journal the entire details of the plot, together with his own name as that of the prime mover. He managed to rejoin his ship in disguise, and when the King reentered Madrid Don Francisco was, on the occasion, created a Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Charles III. METALS. Resonant Alloys.-Prof. Benjamin Silliman, of Yale College, has devised a method for imparting resonance to pewter, white-metal, britannia, and similar alloys. As now manufactured these alloys are notoriously deficient in resonance, giving when struck only a dull, leaden sound. Whatever degree of resonance or ring the ingots or casts of the alloys may possess is entirely destroyed by the mechanical processes of rolling or lamination, of spinning and striking up, by which means the products of this industry are chiefly brought into the desired forms during their manufacture. Many attempts have been made to impart this desirable quality of resonance to such wares by changing the proportion of their ingredients, and otherwise, but hitherto without success. The new process consists in submitting the manufactured wares to the action of a regulated and well-determined temperature, just short of the melting-point of the alloy, for a brief but measured time. By this simple process all vessels of whatever form or dinension, and all other articles of the class of metallic alloys named, are endowed with the resonance so justly esteemed, but hitherto wanting in these wares.

In applying the invention. a bath or vessel is provided of capacity sufficient to accommodate the largest articles to be treated. It may be made of copper or iron, as may be most convenient, and must be provided with an easily-regulated source of heat, such as is found in a good gas-furnace. This bath may be filled with either paraffin or a heavy mineral oil, freed in manufacture from all the lighter oils of low boiling-point, and capable of withstanding a temperature of at least 500° Fahr. without boiling. The temperature of this bath must be raised to about 220° Cent., or 428° Fahr., and then more gradually to about 230° Cent., or 446° Fahr.—that is, just below the average melting-point of britanniametal.

In every case it is essential that the expert using this invention should determine, by the thermometer, the exact melting-point of his own alloy, and also its temperature of solidification. These two points being experimentally determined, the bath should be kept within, say, 10° Fahr. of the melting-point of the alloy, and the articles to be treated immersed therein for a brief time, which will vary with their size and weight. For small and rather thin pieces fifteen to thirty seconds is a sufficient time. For larger articles of greater weight, like urns, soup-tureens, etc., the time may be safely extended to a minute or more. Articles thus treated lose part of the density imparted by the mechanical pressure of rolling, etc., but do not become porous like the cast articles. They also acquire a sensibly increased stiffness or temper, enabling them the better to stand rough usage.

The

New Iron-Making Process.-A new process, the invention of Mr. G. Lowthian Bell, having for its object the production of malleable from pig iron, has been brought to public notice during the past year. The process is carried on in the Bessemer converter, or Martin-Siemens furnace, and consists mainly in taking iron from the converter or the furnace, adding spiegeleisen, and placing it in a puddlingfurnace, whence it issues puddled iron. process is also specially intended to facilitate the working of iron in rotary puddling-furnaces. Crude iron by preference from the blast-furnace is submitted directly to the action of a current of air, by means of the Bessemer converter. The extent to which this operation has to be carried will depend on the quantity of silicon contained in the pig-iron. When this amounts to from 14 to 2 per cent. five minutes' exposure to a blast of 15 to 20 pounds on the square inch will suffice.

When the metal has been sufficiently blown it is run direct into the rotary puddling-furnace, and puddled. Instead of stopping the blowing operation while the iron contains sufficient carbon for puddling, the blowing may be carried further, and the carbon afterward replaced by adding spiegeleisen or other pure cast-iron rich in carbon.

It often happens that the relative quantities of silicon and phosphorus in pig-iron are such that before the former can be sufficiently oxidized, the carbon it contains is burned off to an extent which interferes with the subsequent operation of puddling. In such a case the iron in the puddling-furnace "comes to nature" before the phosphorus is properly acidified and removed by the oxide of iron always present. When, therefore, it is desired to obtain malleable iron as free as possible from phosphorus it is found useful to prevent the too rapid expulsion of the carbon by blowing into the converter along with the blast carbonaceous matter, such as ground coke, charcoal, or other similar substances; or, as already explained, the carbon may after blowing be replaced by