directly through the stratum of air, but more especially at the two poles, where the currents of vapor carried by winds converge and are condensed. According to Mr. De la Rive the aurora of the 29th August was a natural consequence of the great drought which had prevailed over the continent. The dryness of the air had prevented the positive electricity from neutralizing itself directly with the negative of the earth. From this accumulation of electricity there finally took place towards the polar regions a discharge much more intense and much more rapid than usual, which constituted the brilliant aurora in question. A fact which tends to show that the aurora is an electrical and not a magnetical phenomenon, is furnished by the ozonometrical observations made by Mr. Perigny, at Versailles. From the 28th of August to the 2d of September, he found the air to contain a quantity of ozone, relatively large, and more abundant by night than by day. Human Remains in the Drift.-For the last twenty years it has been known that axes of flint, evidently wrought by human skill, were found in beds of the drift at Amiens, associated with the bones of extinct species of animals. This discovery, made by a learned antiquary, Mr. Boucher de Perther, had been regarded as doubtful, and it was supposed that sufficient precaution had not been observed in conducting the explorations. Recent discoveries made in a cavern at Brixham, near Torquay, in England, however, recalled attention to the observations of Mr. Perther, and Mr. Prestwich, with several other geologists, accordingly visited Amiens in order to make the excavations necessary to decide this important question. Every precaution was of course taken to prevent errors or deception, and Mr. Prestwich could find nothing at Abbeville, but at Amiens he was more fortunate; one of his companions, Mr. Flower, in examining a bed of gravel at six meters from the surface, and evidently undisturbed, extracted with his own hands a fine axe, more than five inches long. After this Mr. Prestwich having been informed that a similar discovery had been made in 1737, at Haxne, in Suffolk, visited the place, and learned that some years since wrought flints were still found in abundance, although rare at present. He however succeeded in finding two axes, similar to those of Amiens, but of less perfect finish. An analogous fact has just been verified by French geologists, who have found these axes in Picardy, associated with remains of Elephas primogenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Equus fossilus, and an extinct species of Bos. The conclusion from all these facts is that man was cotemporaneous with these several species of large animals now lost, and known to us only by their fossil remains. Curare in the treatment of Tetanus.-This important question has elicited much discussion at the Academy, and many contradictions and differences of opinion. In 1850, Mr. Claude Bernard showed that the curare, or arrow poison, acts by paralyzing the system of motor nerves; following up this observation, an Italian physician, Villa, of Turin, made in 1854 a series of experiments, in the course of which he showed that curare exerts upon the nervous system an action so completely antagonistic to that of strychnine, that the two poisons may be neutralized by each other. Dr. Villa having been attached to the French hospitals during the late war, was induced to apply the curare in the treatment of three cases of trau matic tetanus one of which recovered. It was the case of a soldier wounded by a ball in the right foot. The curare dissolved in water was applied to the wound, with the effect of diminishing the pain and suspending temporarily the tetanic spasms, which, however, returned. After fifteen days of this treatment the patient left the hospital completely cured. The experiments of Mr. Villa have been repeated in the hospitals of Paris; but as yet only a single case of cure has been reported out of several failures; the experiments, however, continue. According to a letter from Sir Benj. Brodie, of London, to the Academy of Sciences, the application of curare as a specific against tetanus, was unsuccessfully made upon horses at London in 1815, by Dr. Sewell, professor at the Veterinary College. Such are the principal facts in the question as far as yet made known.* The new alloys of Platinum.-We recall the interesting researches of Messrs. Deville and Debray on this subject only to mention their industrial applications. Hitherto it had been supposed that the presence of iridium impaired the quality of platinum, but the labors of Deville and Debray have shown that on the contrary alloys of these two metals may be prepared which are greatly superior to pure platinum, presenting greater strength and rigidity, and resisting better both heat and acids. Thus the alloy containing 21-3 of iridium is highly malleable and scarcely attacked by aqua regia. As the quantity of iridium is less, the alloy becomes softer, and one containing 10 or 15 per cent. is peculiarly fitted for chemical vessels. These alloys are now largely wrought in Paris; retorts for the manufacturers of sulphuric acid have been made, having the strength and rigidity of rolled iron. Messrs. Deville and Debray are at present making some trials at the French mint, for the Russian government, to determine the fitness of the new alloys for coinage. They have found that those containing 20, 10, 7 and 4 per cent of iridium, take the impression of the dies with great perfection. The same is true of the natural alloy, which is obtained by directly fusing crude platinum, and retains only the iridium and rhodium in combination with the platinum, the other metals having been removed by volatilization or oxydation. The platinum workers of Paris are now manufacturing and selling the new alloys, and, contrary to the wishes of the discoverers, are exacting higher prices than for pure platinum. Rifled Cannon.-The invention of these guns appears to be due to a former captain of artillery, Mr. Tamisier, who was in 1842 charged with the course of instruction in musketry at Vincennes, where he applied himself with great assiduity to the study of various questions connected with his profession, with results which have contributed very much to the improvement of the system of musketry instruction in the army and in the arms of precision. After studying the effects of elongated projectiles in rifles and muskets, Mr. Tamisier was led to construct a rifled mortar, with cylindro-conical shells. The duke of Montpensier, then colonel of artillery, at once saw the importance of this new project, and after causing many experiments to be made, ordered at his own expense, in 1847, the construction by Capt. Tamisier of elongated balls and shells. These however were not tried until 1850, from which time up to 1853, Mr. See experiments on two new varieties of South American arrow poison by Drs. Hammond and Mitchell, Am. Jour. Med. Sci., July, 1859, (this Jour. [2], xxviii, 303). Tamisier continued his experiments at Vincennes and at La Fère. The first experiments were made at Vincennes, on the 15th of July, 1850, when it was shown that rifled six-pounders with elongated projectiles, carried much farther and with greater exactness than ordinary guns of smooth bore. On the 14th August, 1851, Capt. Tamisier repeated his experiments at the polygon at Vincennes, before the President and the Minister of War. A six-pounder rifled with three grooves projected balls of five kilogrammes to a distance of 1500 meters with a charge of only 700 grammes of powder. The government then ordered further experiments to be made, which were conducted at La Fère, a fortified place in the Department of the Aisne, where greater secrecy could be secured than near Paris. The trials were there made by Col. Trenille and by Col. Virlet, now directors of the School of Artillery at Metz, and led to a complete solution of the problem, so that the army of Italy was able to bring into the field more than 200 rifled guns of a calibre of 84 millimeters, requiring for service and transport only two-thirds the men and horses hitherto necessary, and carrying balls of four kilogrammes 3500 meters with such precision that at this distance they would all fall in a rectangle of 80 meters in length by 40 meters in breadth. Acclimatation. In our last letter we spoke of a number of Arabian camels, which the Society of Acclimatation had procured in Algeria, to be introduced into Brazil. We learn that they were safely landed there after a voyage of 28 days. Photo-Chemical Researches: Persistent Activity of Light.-In this Journal for March, 1859, p. 257, we have described the beautiful experiments of Niepce de St. Victor, upon the persistence of the effects of insolation. According to Mr. Laborde, the curious results obtained by Mr. Niepce are due not to radiation, but to a veritable emanation from the card-board, which has been impregnated with tartaric acid, and exposed to the sun-light. The principle subsequently evolved from this cardboard, which acts upon sensitive paper prepared with a silver salt, is, according to Mr. Laborde, no other than formic acid. This is well known to be a product of the oxydation of tartaric acid, especially when in contact with peroxyd of lead. He found that a concentrated solution of tartaric acid mixed with peroxyd of lead, and placed in a dark place, evolved vapors which reddened litmus and discolored prepared paper after a very short time. There is, then, in the case of insolated tartaric acid, an emanation and not a radiation; but Mr. Niepce obtained similar results with nitrate of uranium spread upon porcelain and insolated, in which case it is not easy to conceive of an emanation of vapor. However this may be, the facts announced by Mr. Niepce remain, and the only difference of opinion is as to their interpretation. Maritime Canals.-Besides the canals proposed at Panama and Suez, the question of one between the Caspian and the Black Sea is now being discussed in Russia. The construction of such a canal was ordered by Peter the Great, after having been commenced a century before under the Sultan Selim II, upon the suggestion of his Grand Vizier, Mohammed Sokolli, who was for Turkey what Colbert was for France. The canal was commenced in 1569, and during two years there were employed upon it 5000 janissaries and 20,000 prisoners. The canal now projected will unite the Don and the Volga, the first of these falling into the sea of Azof, and the second into the Caspian, near Astrachan, at a point designated on the maps as Tzaritsin. The two rivers are separated by a distance of only 55 kilometers. The importance of a canal which will connect the Caspian with the Mediterranean will readily be seen, and it must at the same time be confessed that it will be much more easily executed than the tunnel under the channel proposed by Mr. Thornè de Gamond, since the canal, being exclusively on Russian soil, will be a question for engineers, with which politicians will have no concern. For the last thirty years, it has been proposed to make a sea-port of Paris by a ship-canal leading from the Channel; the introduction of railways caused the project to be for a time abandoned, but it is now again discussed. Among the plans proposed is one which appears in the Ann. des Sciences of the 8th October, 1859. It is intended to excavate at the mouth of the Seine, near Havre, a harbor 1000 meters long and 200 wide, with a depth of 12 meters. The canal, 150 kilometers in length, will follow the course of the Seine, and will have the same depth as the harbor, which will be furnished with gates to preserve the water at a proper height. A double line of railway will accompany the canal, one line serving for passengers and freight, and the other for towing vessels, which will thus make the voyage in four hours. The position and direction of the canal will be such that the west winds, which are the most frequent at Paris, will help vessels in coming up, while the water of the Seine, to be let in by sluices, will aid them, by their current, in descending. The great difficulty in this enterprise will arise from the tunnels required, the total length of which will be from twenty to twenty-five kilometers. These will be vaulted, and with a height of 30 meters by at least 50 meters in breadth. Mr. Piorry estimates that the expense of this work may amount to a billion (1,000,000,000) of francs. Engineers are also occupied with a plan for joining the English Channel with the Mediterranean, by taking advantage of the river Rhone, the Saône, the Yonne, and the Seine. The details of its execution having only a local interest, we spare our readers their recital. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. I. CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS. 1. On two new series of Organic Acids.-HENTZ has studied the action of methylate of soda and similar substances upon chloracetic acid, and has obtained interesting new acids in which hydrogen may be considered as replaced by the deutoxyds of methyl, ethyl, etc. The acid resulting from the action of methylate of soda on chloracetic acid has the formula C6H6O6, which is that of lactic and paralactic acids, but is not identical with either of these. To this acid the author gives the name of methoxacetic acid; it is monobasic, and gives beautifully crystallized salts. The acid itself is easily prepared by decomposing the zinc salt with sulphu retted hydrogen, and distilling the liquid after separating the sulphid of zinc. The boiling point rises gradually till it becomes constant at 198° C., when the acid passes over as a colorless liquid, with a sour smell, resembling that of acetic acid. When monochloracetate of soda is boiled continuously, an acid liquid passes over, which, when saturated with baryta, yields on evaporation a crystallizable salt having the formula of glycolate of baryta. The author proposes for the acid contained in this salt the name of oxacetic acid; it is isomeric, but not identical with the glycolic acid. Its formula is C.HaO6. Ethylate of soda acts violently on monochloracetic acid; the products. of the reaction are chlorid of sodium, and the soda salt of a new organic acid, homologous with the two last described, and which the author terms ethoxacetic acid. This acid is volatile without decomposition and appears to boil at a lower temperature than the corresponding methyl compound. Its formula is C8HSO6. Amylate of soda acts in a similar manner on monochloracetic acid. The new acid formed in the reaction is an oily liquid which has the formula C14H1406. Phenylate of soda, under similar circumstances, yields phenoxacetic acid, as an oily liquid which crystallizes at a low temperature, and distils over without decomposition. The analyses appeared, however, to show that the phenyl alcohol employed contained benzalcohol, and that the product examined was therefore a mixture of the homologous acids C16H8O6 and C18H1006. When the soda salts of organic acids are heated with monochloracetic acid, chlorid of sodium is formed, and new organic bodies which the author proposes to study. It is easy to see that all the acids belonging to the formic series will yield similar new acids with the peroxyds of the alcohol radicals homologous with hydrogen, and that in this manner a very great number of new compounds may be obtained.-Journal für prakt. Chemie, 78, p. 174. Note. According to Kolbe's view, lactic acid is to be regarded as propionic acid, in which one equivalent of hydrogen is replaced by one C6H4(HO2)O2 of HO2, so that its rational formula is H O2. Upon this view the oxacetic acid of Heintz must be identical with glycolic acid, which appears not to be the case. The question may doubtless be decided directly by examining the products of the action of water upon chloropropionic acid, which ought thus to yield lactic acid directly, since we should have the reaction C6H4ClOHO+HO2H=C6H4(HO2)О5HO+HCl. Heintz's acids may be more simply regarded as derived from the formic series by simple replacement of hydrogen by the peroxyds HO2,C2H3O2, C4H502, &c. Dichloracetic and trichloracetic acids ought to yield analogous products in which two or three equivalents of hydrogen are replaced by two or three equivalents of peroxyds which need not be of the same radical. The number of possible acids would thus almost or quite equal that of the ammonias or ammoniums. SECOND SERIES, VOL. XXIX, No. 86.-MARCH, 1860 W. G. |