Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1847-05-06
The Discoveries Of rs46.

We apprehend that there can be no douJ,
that the year 1916 will be memorable 10 the
end Of time, for the remarkable extensions, or
new applications of human knowledge. which
will come before future historians as rendering
,llusrious lis narrow limits. Most evident i,
it that we are now living in the days predicted
by the Hebrew Prophet when " many shall
run 10 and fre:- and knOulsdge shall be iacreas.
ed"
|. Foremos, among these may be placed the
use of ether, inhaled for the facilitating surgi-
cal operations. Like all other appliances Of
this kind, it meets with failures aud even with
evil results in few cases. Bat for one fatal
result and five failures we have five hundred
instances of vast benefit, in many Of which, be-
vond all doubt, lives hare been saved which
would otherwise have been lost. Without de.
scribing il as infalIible, or in all cases safe or
to be relied on, there can be no doubt that this
discovery has conferred vast benefits on man-
kind.
2. The substitution OF a new explosive ma
terra, 1.-The gun-cotion. in place Of gun-pow-
der, is another remarkable event The extent
of its utility is not yet ascerlained. Whether
it will be largely adopted ia warfare j. suilI
point upon which no decided opinion bias been
formed. But OF its greaI utility in all blasting
and mining operations, mol the slightest doubt
can exist. Ii is both cheaper and more pow
erfu than n-powder; aud the absence Of
smoke gives i. decisive advantage. There
can remain no question. that in all worSs OF
this description. The new agent will rapidly
supersede the old lone.
3. The third discovery Of 1916 is perhaps
even of greater importance than either of the
former. We allude 10 the lately paleu'ed pro-
cess of smelling copper by means of electricity
The effect of this change will be quite prudI-
gous. 1t produces. in less than two days what
the old process required three weeks to effect.
And the saving of fiIel is so vast, that in Swan
sea alone the smeliers estimate theif annual
saving in Goals in no less than five hundred
thousand pounds. Hence it is clear that the
price of copper must be so enormously reduced
as TO bring it into use for variety Of purposes
from which its cost al present excludes it,
The facility and cheapness of the process,
too will enable the ore to be largely smeIted
on the spot. The Cornish mine-proprielors are
anxiously expecting the moment when they
can bring the ore which lay in the mine yes
lerday, in state TO be sent 10 market to-Inot.
row j; and this at the very mouth of The mine.
In Australia also, the operation Of this dscOre-
ry will be of the utmos, importance. Ten lhou-
sand tons of copper ore were sent from Austria
liza TO England last year 10 be smel'ed at Swan.
sea; and the result was 900 tons of copper.
But Australia in future will smelt her own
copper, by SO hours process saving all this
useless freight of the $500 tons of refuse and
saving also the old and expensive process. In
very few years Australia will send 10 market
more copper than is now produced by all The
rest of the world, But if our future penny pie
ces are TO bear any proportion 10 The reduced
cost and value Of the metal, they must be made
of the size Of dinner-plates.