The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-21 00:00:00

,f R, 0 YA,L, SOCIETY.

• At the lest-meeting of this NUtfieil, Protestair Bell,
vice-president, in the chair. The following extract of a
letter, from Dr. Vogel to Colonel Sabine, was read.
Dr. Vogel is engaged in a scientific expedition in Cen-
tral Africa. The letter is dated Mouzuk, October 14,
1853 :

" You will receive, through the Foreign-office, a packet
of astronomical, meteorological, and magnetical obser-
vations made on the way from Tripoli, and since my
arrival here. My instruments are almost all in good
condition, although their cases have been split from the
effects of heat and dryness, notwithstanding their double,
and in some instances triple, leather protection. I saw
the great .comet for the first time on the 23d Aug., but
others had seen it three days earlier. Its necleus was
very bright, resembling a star of the first magnitude,
with a distinctly defined disc of the apparent diameter
of Jupiter. The tail made an angle of 86 deg. or 87
deg. with the horizon, inclining to the north. It was a
single tail, with almost precisely parallel sides. Its
length was 10 deg. on 25th August, 12 deg. on the 26th,
and 15 deg. on the 27th and 29th of August. I have
repeatedly seen here the apparent fluctuations in the
position of stars which is spoken of in the third volume
of Cosmos, and have sent the particulars of my observa-
tions to Baron von Humboldt. There is no regular rainy
season at Mouzuk ; but slight showers occur sometimes
in the winter and spring; seldom in the autumn. A heavy
rain is considered a great calamity, as it destroys all the
houses, which are built of mud dried in the sun. It also
kills the date trees, by dissolving the salt which exists
in large quantities in the soil. About 12 years ago above
12,000 date trees perished in the neighbourhood of Mou-
zuk on account of rain which continued for seven days.
The prevailing winds are south and east, the strongest
generally west or north-west. I have seen whirl-
winds two or three times pass through the town, a phe-
nomenon which was common in the desert, between
Bencoloud and Mouzuk. All the whirlwinds which I
observed turned in the direction from east by north ;
and west to south. In Decomber, and during the first
half of January, the thermometer falls at sunrise at
Mouzuk as low as 42 deg. ; and in places exposed to
the wind water freezes during the night. At Sakna I
could not find any one who could remember having seen
snow. At Tripoli we had heavy dews at night, and I
observed the same until we had passed a small chain of
mountains fifteen miles north of Sakna. From thence
we had no dew, and it was often impossible to obtain
the dew point with Daniell's hygrometer. In the desert
the thermometer generally rose till four p.m., from the
sand (which was-sometimes heated to 140 deg. at one
p.m.) giving out its heat: Earthquakes are sometimes
felt. Shooting stars were observed in great quantities
(about forty an hour) on the 7th, Bth, and 31st of July ;
very few on the evenings of the 9th, 10th, and 11th of
August, averaging 15 an hour, mostly coming from Cas-
siopea and Ursa Minor. They were very numerous on
the Ist, 2d, and 3d of October."
A paper was read, " On the amount of Acid, Sugar,
and Alcohol in Wine, Beer, and Spirits," by Dr. Bence
Jones, F.R.S. The author states that all the wines,
beer, agd spirits which he examined were furnished to
him by parties of the highest respectability, and thus all
the samples experimented on were genuine. The method
which he adopted for testing the amount of acid was as
follows :—A standard solution of caustic soda was so
prepared that each division of a graduated tuba con-
tained 0.15 of a grain of caustic soda. A thousand grain
bottle was filled with the fluid to be examined, it was
weighed at 60 deg. Fahrenheit, and the quantity of test
alkali necessary for neutralisation was determined by
Clarke's test paper. The same method was followed
throughout all the experiments, and the general results
may be thus stated :

In a quantity of sherry equal in bulk to 1,000 grains of
water, the quantity of acid was equivalent to from
1.95 grs. to 2.85 grs. of caustic soda.

In Madeira
gr-
to 3.6
Claret
• Port
Burgundy 2.55 to 4.05
Champagne 2.40 to 3.15
Rhine wine
Moselle 2.85 to 4.50
Brandy 0.15 to 0.60
Rum • 0.15 to ' 0.30
Geneva 0.07 to
Whiskey 0.07 to
Bitter ale 0.90 to 1.65
Porter
Stout 1.35 to 2.25
Cider 2.85 to 3.90
The result of the examination of the samples for sugar
was that, out of 18 samples of sherry and other wines,
no Sherry, Port, Madeira, or Champagne wan found
that did not contain sugar ; and the author met with no
Claret, Burgundy, Rhine, or Moselle, excepting only
one sample of Sauterne, which was not free from all
traces of sugar. In hard cider no trace of sugar was
found, whilst in all kinds of ale, porter, and stout, much
sugar was present. Usually spirits contain no sugar,
but one sample of genuine French brandy had cane sugar
added to it. The results of the examination of the
samples for the amount of alcohol correspond very nearly
with those obtained by Mr. Brande and others in the or-
dinary distillation process. The discrepancies were
found to exist in Burgundy and Claret, which have less
alchohol. The sherry was stronger • the port not so
strong ; the Marsala weaker, and the ruin and porter
much stronger than formerly.

IYSTITUTION OP CIVIL ENGINEERS.

At the last meeting of this society, Mr. J'ames Mea-
dows llendel, president, in the chair, the discussion was
resumed on Mr. Harrison's paper, " On the Drainage of
the District South of the Thames," and was continued
throughout the evening.

The complete system of sewerage introduced at Ham-
burg, since the great fire, by Mr. Lindley, M. Inst.
C. E., was alluded to, as a good instance of the efficiency
of the plan of flushing sewers, even in very flat districts,
and with syphon dips, when there existed a head of water
like that from the Alster lake, which was 13 feet above
the high-water mark of the Elbe. The culvert through
which the river Froome passes beneath the float, and
flows into the Bristol river, was also described, and from
these and other examples of the advantages of flushing
sewers, that system was urged to be preferable to the
labour and expense of pumping up from depths below
low water the ordinary sewage contents, without
dealing with the rain water falling during thunder-
storms, which it was contended could not bo raised by
any amount of steam power which could be practi-
cally adopted. In fact the employment of steam power
for pumping out the sewage was opposed on the grounds
of the constant expense, and the liability to stoppage
from accidental causes. It was also argued that tne
drainage of fen lands by steam power was not ana-
logous, as the fen water-courses were so large as to
form reservoirs, whence the pumps lifted the water.
in a given, but lengthened period of time ; and even
then, not so as to avoid such back flooding as could not
be admitted for town drainage. The best systems pro-
posed were stated to he the interception of the highland
waters, the carrying away* by gravitation all the con-
tents of the sewers which could be discharged into a
low point of the Thames by natural means; and re-
sorting to pumping only for such portions of the metro.
polis as were too low, for any other system. Such, it
t was contended, was the plan which had been proposed
by Mr. J. R. M'Clean, to the Commissioners of Sewers,
in 1849 ; and in a review of the systems proposed by Capt.
Veitch, the late Mr. Forster, and Mr. Bazalgette, the ac-
cordance with and deviations from the original plan were
pointed out and commented on. The necessity for provid-
ing against any chance of flooding the basements of the
houses, by allowing the main sewers to become filled and
beunderpressure, wasinsisted on. Doubts were expressed
as to the possibility of obtaining sufficient velocity to scour
out such main sewers as those proposed to be flushed
from the Thames, and having their outlet at Greenwich.
The question of pipe drains and brick sewers was again
entered upon, and it,appeared that experience confirmed
the previous impressions, of the applicability of the pipes
to house drainage only, when they had rapid fall and were
of sufficient area, but that nothing could be relied upon
for street sewers, except brick constructions sufficiently
large to permit access within them ; they should also be
permeable, so as to act as drains in conveying away the
land water from the district which they traversed. It
was stated, that in Lambeth there were spots which
about 25 years since were full of water, but which at
present, during the summer, were found to have been
.thoroughly dried by the action of the sewers passing
through or near them. It was urged that the question
of the proper outlet for the sewerage could only be
fixed by careful investigation of the period during which
the matter remained suspended, and the distances it
travelled up and down the river with the ebbing and
flowing tides. The experiments already made on this
point did not appear to be received as authority. In
treating the questions of detail, it was shown that the
brick sewers never, practically, became elongated cess-
pools, as bad been asserted ; that there was really
greater scouring power in an egg-shaped sewer than
in a pipe drain ; that the alleged smooth interior
of the pipes was illusory, as their joints were more
liable to occasion stoppages than the joints of the
hrickword ; that the interior of • the latter did, prac-
tically, soon become covered with a slimy matter,
which aided the flow, and that deposits rarely occurred,
except when the sewers were too flat and too small.
As to the question of cost, it was shown that the state-
ments of the comparative expense of the metropolitan
and of the country drainage works, as published "by
authority," must be received with caution ; the cases
were not analagous, from the impossibility of comparing
the duots made to convey sewage one quarter of a mile,
with those intended to convey the cumulative proceeds
of many miles of dwellings. The mere difference of the
cost of labour between London and the country would
preclude comparison as to the expenses of works ' • and
the local difficulties of cutting under ground in large
cities must be taken into consideration.

,The discussion occupied so much time, without any
definite point being arrived at that it was decided to ad-
journ the further consideration of the question until the
evening of Tuesday, Jan. 10, 1854, when it was hoped
the members and visitors would come prepared to argue
the best mode of attaining the general drainage of the
two districts north and south of the Thames, on ascer-
tained principles, and with due regard to the questions
of practicability and expense.