Scientific American, Volume XLIII., No. 25, December 18, 1880 | Page 2

York.
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NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1880.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 259.
For the Week ending December 18, 1880.
Price 10 cents. For sale by all newsdealers.
PAGE I. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.--Frager's Water Meter. 3 figures.-- Vertical section, horizontal section, and plan 4119 Transmission of Power to a Distance.--Wire ropes--Compressed air--Water pressure.--Electricity 4120 The Livadia at Sea 4120 The Herreshoff Launch 4121 New Steering Gear. 2 figures.--Steam steering gear for Herreshoff launch 4121
II. TECHNOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY.--Glucose 4126 American Manufacture of Corn Glucose 4126 The Conversions--Starch--Dextrine.--Complete glucose 4126 Depreciation of a Glucose Factory 4126 The Fire Risks of Glucose Factories and Manufactures 4126 Glucose Factory Fires and Ignitions 4127 The Hirsh Process. By Adolf H. Hirsh--Improvement in the manufacture of sugar from Corn 4127 Time in the Formation of salts. By M. Berthelot 4127 An Old Can of Preserved Meat By G. W. Wigner 4127 Chemistry for Amateurs. 6 figures.--Reaction between nitric acid and iron.--Experiment with Pharaoh's serpents.--Formation of crystals of iodide of cyanogen--Experiment with ammoniacal amalgam.--Pyrophorus burning in contact with the air.--Gold leaf suspended over mercury 4128 Carbonic Acid in the Atmosphere. 2 figures 4129 On Potash Fulling Soaps By W. J. Menzies 4129 Photography of the Invisible 4134
III. ELECTRICITY. LIGHT, HEAT, ETC.--Exhibition of Gas and Electric Light Apparatus, Glasgow 4125 Electric Light in the German Navy. 1 illustration. Armored Frigates Friedrich Karl and Sachsen.--Dispatch Boat Grille, and Torpedo Boat illuminated by Electric Light 4130 Interesting Facts about Gas and Electricity.--Gas as Fuel.--Gas for Fire Grates 4130 A New Electric Motor and its Applications. 6 figures. Trouve's New Electric Motor 4131 On Heat and Light. By Robert Ward 4131 Photophonic Experiments of Prof. Bell and Mr. Tainter. By A. Bregult 4132 Distribution of Light in the Solar Spectrum. By J. Mace and W. Nicati 4132 Mounting Microscopic Objects 4132 New Sun Dial. By M. Grootten. 1 figure 4132 Antoine Cesar Becquerel, with portrait 4132
IV. HYGIENE AND MEDICINE.--On the Etiology of the Carbuncular Disease. By L. Pasteur, assisted by Chamberland and Roux. An extremely valuable investigation of the nature, causes, and conditions of animal plagues 4133 Report on Yellow Fever in the U. S. Steamer Plymouth. By the Surgeon-General in U. S. Navy 4134 Fuchsin in Bright's Disease 4134
V. ART, ARCHITECTURE, ETC.--Artists' Homes. No. 7. Sir Frederick Leighton's House and Studio. 10 figures. Perspective, plan, elevation details, etc. 4121 Initials by Eisenlohr and Weigle, in Stuttgart. Full page 4123 Suggestions in Decorative Art. 1 figure. Reserved part of a Great Saloon. By H. Penox, Paris 4124 Great Saloon (Text) 4124 Cologne Cathedral The Historical Procession 4124 Suggestions in Decorative Art. 1 figure. Mantlepiece in Walnut. By E. Carpenter 4125
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ONE MORE NUMBER.
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FIRES--CAUSES AND PREVENTION.
It is estimated that the total annual losses of insured property by fire, throughout the world, average nearly two hundred million dollars. Add to this the annual destruction of uninsured property, and we should probably have a total amounting to quite double these figures. How great the loss, how severe the tax upon the productive industry of mankind, this enormous yearly destruction amounts to, will come home to the minds of most readers more directly if we call attention to the fact that it just about equals the value of our total wheat crop during a year of good yield. And it is a direct tax upon productive industry everywhere, because, although here and there a nominal loser, fully insured, has only made what is sometimes called "a good sale" to the companies holding his risk, this is only a way of apportioning the loss whereby the community at