Periodicals Books

When Sir Henry Bessemer, in 1856, made public his great invention, and announced to the world that he was able to produce malleable steel from cast iron without the expenditure of any fuel except that which already existed in the fluid metal imparted to it in the blast furnace, his statement was received with doubt and surprise. If he at that time had been able to add that it was also possible to roll... more...

...PREMIUMS... TO ANY ONE SENDING US 4 NEW SUBSCRIBERS A Pocket Kodak Measures 2-1/4 x 2-7/8 x 3-7/8 inches, makes a picture 1-1/2 x 2 inches, and weighs only 5 ounces. Delivered ready for 12 exposures without reloading. The Lens is of the fixed focus type, and of sufficient length of focus (2-1/2 inches) to avoid distortion. Has improved rotary shutter and set of three stops for lens. The slides for... more...

THE FUTURE OF CHINA. The late reconquest by China of some of her former possessions in Central Asia, and the firm tone in which she is urging her demands upon Russia, in respect of the Kuldja territory, are giving her a prominence as a factor in Asiatic politics which she can scarcely be said to have claimed before. These signs of tenacity of purpose, if not of actual vitality, acquire an additional... more...

MACHINE TOOLS FOR BOILER-MAKERS. We give this week an engraving of a radial drilling machine designed especially for the use of boiler-makers, this machine, together with the plate bending rolls, forming portion of a plant constructed for Messrs. Beesley and Sons, boiler makers, of Barrow-in-Furness. [Illustration: IMPROVED BOILER PLATERADIAL DRILL.] This radial drill, which is a tool of substantial... more...

THE LITTLE TEACHER. I know of a little girl, who, like Mozart, shows a great talent for music, though she is not yet ten years old. Before she could walk, it seemed to be her delight to creep along the floor to the piano, draw herself up so as to touch the key-board, and then strike the different keys. Some of the sounds were pleasing to her, and from some she would start and draw back, as if she were... more...

GUSTAVE TROUVÉ. The accompanying portrait of M. Gustave Trouvé is taken from a small volume devoted to an account of his labors recently published by M. Georges Dary. M. Trouvé, who may be said to have had no ancestors from an electric point of view, was born in 1839 in the little village of Haye-Descartes. He was sent by his parents to the College of Chinon, whence he entered the École des Arts et... more...

Buchnera Viscosa. Clammy Buchnera. Class and Order. Didynamia Angiospermia. Generic Character. Cal. obsolete 5-dentatus. Corollæ limbus 5-fidus, æqualis: lobis cordatis. Caps. 2-locularis. Specific Character and Synonyms. BUCHNERA viscosa foliis lineari-lanceolatis laxe dentatis subglutinosis, floribus pedunculatis, caule fruticoso. L' Herit. Strip. nov. tom. 2. tab. 34. Ait. Kew. V. 2. p. 357.... more...

THE RAPHAEL CELEBRATION AT ROME. The most famous of Italian painters, Raffaele Sanzio, whom the world commonly calls Raphael, was born at Urbino, in Umbria, part of the Papal States, four hundred years ago. The anniversary was celebrated, on March 28, 1883, both in that town and in Rome, where he lived and worked, and where he died in 1520, with processions, orations, poetical recitations, performances... more...

A VISIT TO THE CREUSOT WORKS. Here we are at the great forge (Fig. 1), that wonderful creation which has not its like in France, that gigantic construction which iron has wholly paid for, and which covers a space of twenty-four acres. We first remark two puddling halls, each of which contains 50 furnaces and 9 steam hammers. It is in these furnaces that the iron is puddled. The ball or bloom thus... more...

[1] Iris Persica. Persian Iris. Class and Order. Triandria Monogynia. Generic Character. Corolla 6-partita: Petalis alternis, reflexis. Stigmata petaliformia. Specific Character and Synonyms. IRIS Persica corolla imberbi, petalis interioribus brevissimis patentissimis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. p. 79. Sp. Pl. p. 59. IRIS bulbosa præcox minus odora Persica variegata. Moris. hist. 2. p. 357. XIPHIUM... more...