>>> YOU ARE VIEWING A 200 LINE SAMPLE OF EBOOK# E00826 <<< TITLE: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 288 AUTHOR: VARIOUS EBOOK: E00826 (O'Briens Book Cellar) [Illustration] SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 288 NEW YORK, JULY 9, 1881 Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XI, No. 288. Scientific American established 1845 Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year. Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year. * * * * * TABLE OF CONTENTS. I. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS--Dry Air Refrigerating Machine. 5 figures. Plan, elevation, and diagrams of a new English dry air refrigerator Thomas' Improved Steam Wheel. 1 figure The American Society of Civil Engineers. Address of President Francis, at the Thirteenth Annual Convention, at Montreal. The Water Power of the United States, and its Utilization II. TECHNOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY.--Alcohol in Nature. Its presence in earth, atmosphere, and water. 6 figures. Distillatory apparatus and (magnified) iodoform crystals from snow water, from rain water, from vegetable mould, etc. Detection of Alcohol in Transparent Soaps. By H. JAY On the Calorific Power of Fuel, and on Thompson's Calorimeter. By J.W. THOMAS Explosion as an Unknown Fire Hazard. A suggestive review of the conditions of explosions, with curious examples Carbon. Symbol C. Combining weight. 12. By T. A. POOLEY Second article on elementary chemistry written for brewers Manufacture of Soaps and their Production. By W. J. MENZIES The Preparation of Perfume Pomades. 1 figure. "Ensoufflage" apparatus for perfumes Organic Matter in Sea Water Bacteria Life. Influence of heat and various gases and chemical compounds on bacteria life On the Composition of Elephant's Milk. By Dr. CHAS. A. DOREMUS. Comparison of elephant's milk with that of ten other mammals The Chemical Composition of Rice. Maize, and Barley. By J. STEINER Petroleum Oils. Character and properties of the various distillates of crude petroleum. Fire risks attending the use of the lighter petroleum oils Composition of the Petroleum of the Caucasus. By P. SCHULZENBERGER and N. TONINE Notes on Cananga Oil. or Ilang-Ilang Oil. By F. A. FLUeCKIGER. 1 figure. Flower and leaf of Cananga odorata Chian Turpentine, and the Tree which Produces It. By Dr. STIEPOWICH. of Chios, Turkey On the Change of Volume which Accompanies the Galvanic Deposition of a Metal. By M. E. BOUTY Analysis of the Rice Soils of Burmah. By R. ROMANIC, Chemical Examiner, British Burmah III. PHYSICS AND PHYSICAL APPARATUS.--Seyfferth's Pyrometer. 7 figures.--Pyrometer with electric indicator.--Method of mounting by means of a cone on vacuum apparatus.--Mounting by means of a sleeve.--Mounting by means of a thread on a tube.-- Mounting by means of a clasp in reservoirs.--The pyrometer mounted on a bone-black furnace.--Mounted on a brick furnace Delicate Scientific Instruments. By EDGAR L. LARKIN. An interesting description of the more powerful and delicate instruments of research used by modern scientists and their marvelous results The Future Development of Electrical Appliances. Lecture by Prof. J. W. PERRY before the London Society of Arts.--Methods and units of electrical measurements Researches on the Radiant Matter of Crookes and the Mechanical Theory of Electricity. By Dr. W. F. GINTL Economy of the Electric Light. W. H. PREECE'S Experiments Investigations On the Space Protected by a Lightning Conductor. By WM. H. PREECE.--5 figures Photo-Electricity of Fluor Spar Crystals The Aurora Borealis and Telegraph Cables The Photographic Image: What It Is. By T. H. MORTON. 1 figure.--Section of sensitive plate after exposure and during development Gelatine Transparencies for the Lantern An Integrating Machine. By C. V. BOYS.--1 figure Upon a Modification of Wheatstone's Microphone and its Applicability to Radiophonic Researches. By ALEX. GRAHAM BELL,--2 figures IV. ARCHITECTURE.--Suggestions in Architecture, 1 figure.--A pair of English cottages. By A. CAWSTON * * * * * ALCOHOL IN NATURE--ITS PRESENCE IN THE EARTH, WATER, AND ATMOSPHERE. A Chemist of merit, Mr. A. Muentz, who has already made himself known by important labors and by analytical researches of great precision, has been led to a very curious and totally unexpected discovery, on the subject of which he has kindly given us information in detail, which we place before our readers.[1] Mr. Muentz has discovered that arable soil, waters of the ocean and streams, and the atmosphere contain traces of alcohol; and that this compound, formed by the fermentation of organic matters, is everywhere distributed throughout nature. We should add that only infinitesimal quantities are involved--reaching only the proportion of millionths--yet the fact, for all that, offers a no less powerful interest. The method of analysis which has permitted the facts to be shown is very elegant and scrupulously exact, and is worthy of being made known. [Footnote 1: The accompanying engravings have been made from drawings of the apparatus in the laboratory of which Mr. Muentz is director, at the Agronomic Institute.] [Illustration: FIG. 1.--FIRST DISTILLATORY APPARATUS.] [Illustration: FIG. 2.--SECOND DISTILLATORY APPARATUS.] Mr. Muentz's method of procedure is as follows: He submits to distillation three or four gallons of snow, rain, or sea water in an apparatus such as shown in Fig. 1. The part which serves as a boiler, and which holds the liquid to be distilled, is a milk-can, B. The vapors given off through the action of the heat circulate through a leaden tube some thirty-three feet in length, and then traverse a tube inclosed within a refrigerating cylinder, T, which is kept constantly cold by a current of water. They are finally condensed in a glass flask, R, which forms the receiver. When 100 or 150 cubic centimeters of condensed liquid (which contains all the alcohol) are collected in the receiver, the operations are suspended. The liquid thus obtained is distilled anew in a second apparatus, which is analogous to the preceding but much smaller (Fig. 2). The liquid is heated in the flask, B, and its vapor, after traversing a glass worm, is condensed in the tube, T. The operation is suspended as soon as five or six cubic centimeters of the condensed liquid have been collected in the test-tube, R. The latter is now removed, and to its liquid contents, there is added a small quantity of iodine and carbonate of soda. The mixture is slightly heated, and soon there are seen forming, through precipitation, small crystals of iodoform. Under such circumstances, iodoform could only have been formed through the presence of an alcohol in the liquid. These analytical operations are verified by Mr. Muentz as follows: He distills in the same apparatus three to four gallons of chemically pure distilled water, and ascertains positively that under these conditions iodine and carbonate of soda give absolutely no reaction. Finally, to complete the demonstration and to ascertain the approximate quantity of alcohol contained in natural waters, he undertakes the double fractional distillation of a certain quantity of pure water to which he has previously added a one-millionth part of alcohol. Under these circumstances the iodine and carbonate of soda give a precipitate of iodoform exactly similar to that obtained by treating natural waters. [Illustration: Fig. 3.--IODOFORM CRYSTALS OBTAINED DIRECTLY (greatly magnified).] [Illustration: FIG. 4,--IODOFORM CRYSTALS OBTAINED WITH RAIN WATER.] In the case of arable soil, Mr. Muentz stirs up a weighed quantity of the material to be analyzed in a certain proportion of water, distills it in the smaller of the two apparatus, and detects the alcohol by means of the same operation as before. [Illustration: FIG. 5.--IODOFORM CRYSTALS OBTAINED WITH SNOW WATER.] The formation of iodoform by precipitation under the action of iodine and carbonate of soda is a very sensitive test for alcohol. Iodoform has sharply defined characters which allow of its being very easily distinguished. Its crystalline form, especially, is entirely typical, its color is pale yellowish, and, when it is examined under the <<< END OF SAMPLE... (THE FULL EBOOK HAS 268330 TOTAL CHARACTERS) >>>