The following details of my experiments will, I trust, clearly prove this curious production of oxide of carbon:

1. If over a mercury trough 100 cubic centimetres of oxygen are introduced under a bell jar, together with pyrogallic acid and potash, although the greatest portion of the oxygen is rapidly absorbed, still, whatever number of hours the substances are left in contact, there will always remain a certain residue incapable of further absorption, and on examining this residue, it will be found to burn with a blue flame, and to be converted thereby into carbonic acid, which compound is easily characterised.

2. If two litres of oxygen, free from any trace of carbonic acid, are made to pass through a solution of pyrogallate of potash, placed in Liebig's bulb apparatus, and from thence over carefully prepared oxide of copper, heated to a dull red heat, carbonic acid will be found to issue from the apparatus, and can be collected and weighed.

3. If an unabsorbed portion of gas remaining in the receiver (Experiment No. 1), be brought into contact with a solution of protochloride of copper, dissolved in hydrochloric acid or ammonia, the residue will be absorbed, which is an additional characteristic property of oxide of carbon, as indicated by M. Le Blanc.

4. If one volume of this residual gas be introduced into a eudiometer, and after being mixed with one volume of oxygen the mixture be exploded by an electrical spark, it is found that half the volume of oxygen employed has disappeared, and that the volume of carbonic acid formed is equal to that of the oxide of carbon introduced into the eudiometer.

As to the quantity of oxide of carbon produced during these experiments, it depends, firstly, upon the concentration of the pyrogallate employed, and secondly, upon its neutral or alkaline state,-the minimum being with the acid liquor, and the maximum with an alkaline.

In taking the mean of ten distinct experiments, I found that 100 volumes of oxygen gave two volumes of oxide of carbon, but in some instances, the proportion was as high as 4 per cent.

The production of oxide of carbon also occurs when atmospheric air is substituted for oxygen, only the oxide of carbon is so much diluted by the nitrogen that its presence cannot be detected by several of the above methods. But if, on the other hand, several quarts of air, carefully deprived of carbonic acid, are passed through an alkaline solution of pyrogallate or gallate of soda, and from thence over some heated oxide of copper, carbonic acid will be found issuing from the apparatus, and can be easily characterised, and even weighed.

It is no doubt owing to the difficulty of detecting a small quantity of oxide of carbon, when diluted with nitrogen, that the presence of that gas has not been observed before by chemists, who have employed Chevreul's and Liebig's method of analysing the atmosphere.

M. Boussingault having observed the presence of a light carburetted hydrogen in the residuum which he obtained in analysing the gases which were produced by vegetation under water, and under the influence of solar rays, I made careful and repeated efforts, with the object of detecting it, but failed to do so. I therefore suspect that this gas was the result of decomposition of some of the organic substances present in his experiments.

VOL. XIX.

F

A paper was read, "On an apparatus for measuring tensile strengths, especially of fibres," by Mr. CHARLES O'NEILL, F.C.S.

THE apparatus consisted of a cylindrical metallic vessel to hold water, and provided with a cock at bottom. Within this vessel was inserted a hollow cylinder of glass or metal, closed at the lower end, and so weighted as to float vertically in stable equilibrium with a portion out of the water. Upon its upper end it carried a hook or clamp, to which the fibre to be tested was fixed. A fixed bracket supported another hook or clamp for holding the other end of the fibre. nected to the floating cylinder was the short arm of a rocking lever, the long arm of which passed over a graduated scale. A vessel was also provided to receive water drawn from the cylindrical vessel.

Con

When using the apparatus, it was nearly filled with water, and the fibre to be tested was properly secured to the clamps, and then drawn taut. Water was now allowed to flow slowly from the cylindrical vessel until the weight of the descending float broke the fibre. The quantity of water drawn off being ascertained, from it the strain put upon the fibre was calculated; the indications of the long arm of the lever being also noted, in order to show the stretch, and also to give the elements for a correction to be made upon the quantity of water drawn off. Stops and guides served to keep the floating cylinder off the sides of the vessel, and prevented it falling too far upon the rupture of the fibre.

The principle upon which this apparatus works is so simple, that it hardly requires explanation. At the beginning of the operation, the weight of the tube is wholly supported by the water: by drawing off the water, the support is very gently removed, and the weight thrown upon the fibre. The relation between the actual weight put upon the fibre, and the weight of water drawn off, will vary for every different dimension of the containing vessel and floating cylinder; but in regularly shaped vessels it will always be in the direct ratio of the sectional areas of the floating vessel; and the difference between this and the sectional area of the containing vessel, i.e., in cylindrical vessels, the sectional area of the ring of water surrounding the floating cylinder.

This apparatus has several advantages: the strain is put on in the most gradual manner, without jerks or shocks; it can be put on at any rate per minute or hour, and there are hardly any assignable limits to either its power or delicacy. By the smaller floating cylinder a strain of 0.0002 grain can be measured, and by increasing the size of the apparatus, a strain of a hundred tons could be put on with the most perfect gradation,

Mr. O'NEILL also read a paper, entitled, "Experiments and observations upon cotton."

The author began to make experiments upon the chemistry of cotton dyeing, but found himself compelled to abandon experiments upon manufactured cotton, and to come down to the primary fibre or hairs of cotton.

He made numerous experiments upon seventeen samples of cotton,

suplied to him from reliable sources, and compared their physical and chemical properties.

He gave about 400 experiments upon the length of cotton hairs, measured separately, by a simple process, which he fully described, and exhibited a diagram upon an enlarged scale, showing the mean, maximum, and minimum lengths of the seventeen qualities of cotton experimented upon.

The author determined the tensile strengths of the hairs of the various qualities of cotton by means of the apparatus described in the previous abstract, and gave in a series of tables, the breaking weights in grains of every hair tested, with remarks upon them.

LONDON ASSOCIATION OF FOREMEN ENGINEERS. December 5, 1863.

MR. JOSEPH NEWTON, ROYAL MINT, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

DEATH OF MR. TEMPLETON.

Ir had been arranged that Mr. STANLEY would read a paper on "A substitute for the slide link motion," but although that gentleman had prepared the paper in question, together with models and diagrams for illustrating it, he was too seriously indisposed to attempt the task, and the reading was therefore postponed.

The Chairman took the opportunity of directing the attention of the society to the painful circumstances which had attended the death of the well-known author of many mechanical and scientific works— William Templeton. It was needless, he said, for him to expatiate upon the claims which Templeton had upon the mechanical communities of this and other countries. His books were recognised as text books; and his scientific memoranda as guides to all mechanics. His works had been translated into several European languages, and had gone through many editions. The booksellers, however, had reaped the rich fruits of his labours, and his widow inherited honour-and destitution! As Templeton had been an honorary member of that association, Mr. Newton thought that a small sum-they could not afford a large one-should be voted from their funds, for the benefit of his widow; and that, in addition, a voluntary subscription should be opened on her behalf. It might not be improper to furnish some brief notes in reference to the life and career of William Templeton; and possibly, through the scientific press-public attention would be drawn to the widow's destitute state.

:

Templeton was born at Caltrine, Ayrshire, on the 8th of February, 1796. He was the father of a large family-namely, seven sons and three daughters of these, six of the sons were unfortunately dead. Templeton was for five years a chief engineer in the royal navy, and after leaving the service, was for one year located in the island of Java. The intense heat of the climate induced failing health, and leaving Java, he next went to Australia. While there he superintended the erection of the breakwater at Port Elliot, and wrote a small work,

entitled The Commercial Prompter. On returning home from Australia he devoted his time to the cultivation of scientific literature. His principal works were-The Millwright and Engineers' Pocket Companion; The Steam Engine Popularly Explained; Mathematical Tables; The Workshop Companion; Practical Examinator; The Engineers', Millwrights', and Machinists' Practical Assistant, and others of a like character. The poor author died in London, on the 12th of August last, aged and destitute.

At the conclusion of these remarks, Mr. William Blackett, machinist, of Southwark, explained the very painful circumstances attending the last hours of Mr. Templeton, and confirmed the President's statement as to the present sad condition of his widow. On the motion of Mr. W. Ross, it was agreed to devote the sum of £5 from the funds of the Association for the relief of that lady, and at the same time to open a subscription on her behalf. Finally, a committee was appointed, to receive contributions to that end. The members of that committee are-Mr. W. Ross, of Messrs. Rennie's, Holland-street, Blackfriarsroad; Mr. John Ives, of Messrs. Grissell's, Regent's Canal Iron Works; and Mr. Sanson, of 20, Cannon-street, City, all of whom will be happy to receive any sums, large or small-in postage stamps or otherwise to be held in trust for the widow Templeton.

It may be hoped that, throughout the country, there will be a generous response to the appeal of the Committee of the London Association of Foremen Engineers. Few men have rendered more practical assistance to the mechanical men of the kingdom than William Templeton; and his family, therefore, should obtain substantial marks of sympathy at their hands.

Scientific Adjudication.

COURT OF CHANCERY.

November 6th, 1863.

(Before Vice-Chancellor Wood.)

CURTIS and others v. PLATT and others.

THIS was an action brought by Messrs. Curtis and Co., the large machine makers of Manchester, against Messrs. Platt, the well-known firm of Oldham, for the infringement of a patent granted to Mr. Wain, for "improvements in certain machines for spinning and doubling cotton and other fibrous substances, of the kinds commonly known as mules and twiners," bearing date the 10th of November, 1854, and subsequently assigned to Messrs. Curtis. The case is a very important one, not merely from the interest involved, but by reason of its being the first in which the Court of Chancery has, under the new regulations, taken cognizance, ab initio, of a dispute arising out of the construction of the specification of a patent, and adjudicated on the case

without the intervention of a jury; and also from the construction put upon the legal bearing of provisional specifications, which construction bears out the interpretation put on deposit papers by the Court of Queen's Bench, in the appeal case of Willis and Davison.*

In order to explain the nature of the question in dispute, as brought out by viva voce evidence, and render intelligible the condensed report, given below, of the learned Judge's able decision, it may be desirable to give a brief statement of the operations or functions of spinning mules, and to contrast the several mechanical arrangements which were brought under the consideration of the Court.

The mule, in which the finer numbers or qualities of yarn are spun (the coarser being produced in the throstle) works on a somewhat different principle from the throstle, the latter spinning continuously, while the spinning in the mule is intermitted by the winding up on to the cop of the spun yarn. Thus there is first a given length of yarn, termed a "stretch," spun by the mule, and then this given length is wound upon the spindle, and so on alternately. The mule consists essentially of two parts,-the headstock, which is stationary, and the carriage, on which the spindles are mounted. This carriage runs on rails, and alternately advances towards, and retreats from, the headstock, in which are mounted the rollers for delivering the rovings to be spun. The main operations are these:-The rollers are caused to revolve, so as to deliver the rovings to the spindles when their carriage begins to retreat; and the spindles, at the same time revolving rapidly, effect simultaneously the elongation or drawing and the twisting or spinning of the fibrous cord. The carriage, when it has run out, remains stationary for a short time, and the rollers cease to give off the material: the spindles, however, still revolve. This produces a given length of spun yarn, which has now to be wound upon the spindles. For this purpose the carriage is run in towards the rollers, the spindles are turned in the reverse direction, and the winding on is effected, after which similar operations are repeated for another stretch. These are the leading movements of the mule, to effect which certain changes in the operation of the mechanism were required, and it was the means for obtaining these changes which formed the matter of dispute between Messrs. Curtis and Platt.

The first self-acting mule which came into practical operation was that described in the patent of Mr. Richard Roberts, dated 1834, a leading feature in which was the manner of obtaining the changes above alluded to, and, with some slight modifications, the same plan is now most generally used. The method was simply this-a shaft was introduced, upon which was mounted a number of cams representing the changes to be effected-such cams being placed at different radial lines, so as to come into operation consecutively; but as irregular intervals were to elapse between each change and consequently action of the cams, it was necessary to give an irregular, intermittent motion to the shaft on which they were mounted, and that the times of such intermittent motions should be governed by other parts of the machine. Roberts employed two pulleys,-one with spaces upon its periphery, so that when such spaces were opposite the tangent of the other pulley no motion would be communicated to the cam shaft; but when a change

* See the Judgment on this case, Vol. XV., p. 177, New Series.