Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1847-05-29
TILE nIscouERIEs OF 1916.

. hHPAEAGRtd ttAttb tisJlJ Chh bp AO
doubt that the year 1916 viii be memora.
BILE TO the end Of time, for the remarkable
extensions, or new applications, Of human
knowledge, witch will some before future
historians, as rendering ilIustrious It's mar.
row limits. Most evident il It, that we
aro now living in the days predicted by the
Hebrew prophet-when ''many shall run
to and fro; and knowledge shall be incrcas.
cd"
/. Foremost among those may be placed,
the use of ether, inhaled for the facilitating
surgical operations. Like all other ap.
planes of this kind, 1t meets with failures
md gyeas wittf evil results, IN Il NV casos
Htft, for ono fatal result, and FIVE failures
We have five hundred instances Of vast
benefit in many Of which, beyond all
doubt, lives have been saved, which would
otherwise have been lost. Without. des.
cribing 1t as infallible, or in all cases safe,
or TO be relied on, there can be no doubt
that this discovery has conferred vast bene.
fit on mankind.
2. The substitution of u new explosive
material-the gun-coiton--in place of
gtInp0wder, Is another remarkable event.
The extent of its utility is not yet aacer.
tained. Whether it will be largely adopt.
l a - ~ ...4
cd IN warfare Ia still n point on which no
decided opinion has been formed. But Of
its great utility in all blasting and mining
operations, not the slightest doubt can ex.
list. 1t Is both cheaper and more powerful
than gnnpowder; and the absence o fsmoke
gives it a decisive advantage. There can
remain no question, hat in all works Of
this description, the new agent will rapid.
ly supersede the old one.
3. The third discovery of 1916 is per-
haps even ofgreater Importance than either
Of the former. We allude to the lately
patented process for smelling copper by
means of electricity. The effect Of this
change will be quite p~rodigious. 1t pro-
dnces, in less than two days, what the old
process required three weeks to effect.
And the saving of fuel is SO vast, that in
Swansea alone, the smelters estimate their
annual saving in Goals at no less than five
hundred thousand poundsl Hence it is
clear that the price of copper must be so
enormously reduced as to bring it into use
for q variety Of purposes, from which lis
cost Ut present excludes it.
The facility and ~cheapness Of tho pro-
cess, too, will enable the ore to be largely
sme't ted on the spot. The Cornish mine
proprietors are anxiously expecting the
moment when they can bring the ore
which lay in the mine yesterday into a
state to be sent to market to morrow; and
this at the very mouth Of the mine. In
Australia, also, the operation Of this disco.
very viii be Of the utmost Importance
Ten thousand tons Of copper ore were sent
from Australia to England last year, to be
smelted at Swansea ; and the result was
only 1900 tons Of copper. But Australia
in future will smelt her own p by a
.36-hours' process: saving all this useless
of the s40O tons of refuse; and say.
ing also the cost Of the old and expensive
process. In a very few years, Australia
will Esend to market more copper than is
now produced by all the rest Of the world.
if our future penny-pieces are to bear
any proportion to the reduced cost Of the
metal, they must be made Of the size Of
nner.plates.-Glasgow Re(ormer's GQz.