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[page 193:]
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A CHAPTER ON SCIENCE AND ART.
————
CONJECTURAL DISCOVERY
OF A NEW PLANET. —
By
means of glasses just invented by count Decuppis, an observer is
enabled
to look at the sun without any inconvenience from its rays — the disc
appears
of a perfect whiteness, and all the firmamental objects have an equal
distinctness.
By the aid of his new glass, the count lately observed on the face of
the
sun a small black spot, entirely free from penumbra, and of perfectly
spherical
form, which had advanced upon the disc, describing an arc of about
seven
minutes. Repeated observations convinced him that it had, in the
meantime,
advanced towards the sun's limb, as much as two minutes and thirty
seconds.
Presently it disappeared. All astronomers will agree in supposing the
object
a small planet, hitherto undiscovered, and passing over the sun's disc
at the period of survey. Its perfectly round figure, its blackness, the
smallness of its diameter, its motion, and the absence of penumbra
fully
warrant the conjecture. The event is one of the highest importance in
an
astronomical, or indeed in any point of view. A twelfth world has been
added to our system. It will no doubt receive the name of its
discoverer,
Decuppis.
———
THE ROYAL
GEORGE.
— The submarine operations in respect to this ship have been
unsatisfactory
but full of interest. Col. Pasley has concluded his labors for the
present,
but will resume them about the first of June. The wreck is said to be
enveloped
in total darkness, and completely imbedded in mud. Some means may
perhaps
be suggested by which light can be diffused below. Lanterns have been
tried
to no purpose. The divers assert that even on the brightest days of
summer,
when the sea is perfectly calm, they can scarcely see an inch before
them.
During the experiments, 12,940 pounds of powder have been consumed.
More
than one hundred tons of the wreck have been recovered, and placed in
the
dock-yard at Portsmouth, with five brass and six iron guns; and all
expenses
have been more than paid by the value of the articles recovered. The
advantage
to the anchorage is beyond calculation.
———
THE PYRAMIDS.
— A discovery has been made, in the neighborhood of these monuments, of
a great number of apartments and cavities communicating with each
other;
also, at a distance of many miles of desert, of the foundation of
decayed
pyramids, whose very granite blocks are dissolved to dust. Who
shall
tell the vast antiquity of these remains? The pyramids which stand firm
to-day about Cairo are universally admitted to be four or five thousand
years old. There must be something wrong yet about our chronology.
———
SINGULAR SCIENTIFIC
ERROR. — In the infancy of rail-road
speculation,
the engineers resorted to a thousand laborious contrivances with a view
of overcoming an obstacle which had no real existence. It was assumed
that
the adhesion of the smooth wheels of the carriage upon the equally
smooth
iron-rail must necessarily be so slight, that if it should be attempted
to drag any considerable weight, the wheels would only be whirled
round,
while the carriages would not advance. A patent for an invention to
remedy
this fancied inconvenience was actually taken out by Mr. Blenkinsop, in
1811.
———
IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE DAGUERREOTYPE. — Numerous
improvements
have been lately made in the beautiful art of photogeny. The baron
Seguier
has exhibited an instrument constructed by himself, with many ingenious
modifications, having for their objects a diminution in size and
weight,
and a simplification, in other respects, of the entire apparatus.
Several
of the conditions which have been announced as required for the success
of the process, may be dispensed with. It is probable, now, that the
operations
of the art may be rendered practicable in the open country — even those
nice and delicate ones which, at present, seem to demand protection
against
too strong a light. An objective glass has been constructed by M.
Cauche,
with the view of redressing the image obtained in the Daguerreotype;
this
image is now presented reversed, a circumstance which has the bad
effect
of destroying all vraisemblance. The Abbé Moignat has
been
endeavoring, in conjunction with M. Soleil, (a name quite á
propos,)
to introduce the light of oxy-hydrogen gas as the principle of
illumination
to the objects intended to be represented. M. Bayard is said to have
fully
succeeded in taking impressions on paper. Mr. Fox Talbot, in England,
has
also done this.
In America, we have by no means been
idle. It has
been here ascertained that instead of the costly combination of glasses
employed by M. Daguerre, a single Meniscus glass produces an exact and
brilliant result. We have also found that we can do without the dilute
nitric acid in photogeny, as well as in lithography. The process is
thus
greatly simplified; for the use of the acid has heretofore been
considered
one of the nicest points in the preparation of the plate. When
unequally
applied, the golden color is not uniform. Now, it is only necessary to
finish the polish of the plate with dry rotten stone, well levigated
and
washed, using dry cotton to rub it with afterwards. [page
194:]
We made the iodine-box, too, much shallower than does M. Daguerre. With
is box, from fifteen to thirty minutes exposure of the plate was
required
before the proper color was produced. Four inches will be deep enough;
and there should be a tray, an inch deep, fitting into the bottom of
the
box. Upon this tray the iodine is to be spread, and then covered with a
double thickness of fine gauze, tacked to the upper edge of the tray —
supports being fastened in each corner of the box, at such height as
will
admit of the plate being lowered to within an inch of the gauze.
———
ELECTRICAL COPYING.
— The new process of copying metals and other works of art on copper,
by
means of voltaic electricity is an invention of interest and
importance.
In the manufacture of plated articles and other ornaments, it is often
desirable to copy ornamental work, such as leaves, flowers and
arabesque
mouldings, and the ordinary process is very difficult, and therefore
very
expensive. Mr. Spencer's late invention affords a cheap and easy method
of performing what is required. By its means the rich ornaments on
antique
plate, or any similar work, may be copied with entire accuracy — a
perfect
fac-simile being taken in copper, which may then be silvered or gilt.
In
the art of button-making the voltaic action is used with advantage; a
cast
from any pattern of button may now be readily moulded in a few hours,
and
with little labor. Button-makers formerly required two or three sets of
a particular pattern to complete one of which the die was wanting. —
The
whole application of the voltaic action is excessively simple and
certain
— the necessary apparatus may be procured for sixpence.
———
MARBLE LETHOIDE.
— In St. Petersburg, a method has been discovered of giving to the
softest
stone the hardness, and color, and consequently the polish of marble.
The
invention is regarded as of high importance, and of certain
application.
The whole details have not yet reached us — but the process appears to
be analogous to that of the scagliola manufacture. The prepared
substance
is termed marble Lethoide.
———
PNEUMATIC ENGINE.
— Mr. Levi Bissell, of Newark, N. H., is said to have perfected a
pneumatic
apparatus, by means of which to employ the atmospheric air as a motive
power. This design, in its general terms, is by no means new, an its
reduction
to practice has been found expensive. Mr. B.'s seems to be the old
project
— that of constructing pumps at convenient distances on a rail-road of
air-pipe, which latter is to be exhausted of air. What is said in the
papers
about condensed atmosphere, with portable condensers, is probably a
misunderstanding.
———
RED RAIN.
— In Gassendi's "Life of Peiresc," the phenomenon of red-rain
which
has so often excited the wonder of the ignorant, and the attention of
the
learned, is very plausibly accounted for. About the beginning of July,
1608, large drops of what was then generally termed "the bloody shower"
were observed in the vicinity of Aix, upon the walls of villas,
hamlets,
and towns. M. Peiresc had found a chrysalis of a remarkable size and
form,
and had inclosed it in a box. He thought no more of it until, hearing a
buzz within the box, he opened it, and perceived the chrysalis changed
into a beautiful butterfly, which immediately flew away, leaving at the
bottom of the box a red drop of the size of a shilling. As this
occurred
about the time the shower was supposed to have fallen, and when a great
many butterflies were seen in every direction, he properly concluded
that
the drops in question were excrementitious matter voided by the
insects.
Looking more closely, he found the drops seldom upon the upper surfaces
of objects, but generally in cavities where insects might nestle. He
also
noticed that they were to be seen upon the walls of those houses only
which
were near the fields, and not upon the more elevated parts of them, but
merely as far up as the butterflies were accustomed to flutter. The
common
butterfly in England deposits a red fluid very much as described by
Peirsec.
———
INGENIOUS INVENTION.
— A pair of skates, invented by Mr. William Wallace, of Newtown Ardes,
watch-maker, are in the highest degree creditable to that gentleman's
scientific
skill an perseverance. The machinery of this little locomotive is so
arranged
that it is equally serviceable on ice or on a smooth foot-path, (a
flagged
footway, for instance.) It consists of two perpendicular plates of
iron,
with pieces inserted between them, to allow a free rotary motion for
three
wheels, revolving along the extent covered by the foot. These wheels
revolve
in the action of skating, and, with the addition of a horizontal plate
of wood, elevate the sole of the foot above the surface. There is,
also,
a large wheel at the toe-end, with a ratched [[ratchet]] or click-wheel
attached, on the outside of one of the perpendicular plates, for the
purpose
of keeping the one foot from retrograding, while the other is
progressing
forward.
[There is nothing that is very novel
in Mr.
Wallace's
invention; in our boyhood we used a pair of skates made as above
described.
A certain M. Perrine undertook for a wager to skate across the gardens
of the Tuilleries, at Paris, in the month of August, 1829 — he wore
instruments
made in a similar manner to Mr. Wallace's. The Ravel Family have, for
the
last twenty years, used exactly the same sort of skates in one of their
ingenious dramas — The Skaters of Wilma.] — EDS.
G.
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