The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-05-16
The LaTn + Ersun EXPLOSIONS.

ullde "a PlOusH In Green W1cn street.. New
\ ork, last November, wounding several
persons and Blowing out the front of
the Wyoming Hotel; and also another
IN San Francisco; latel u, causing the,
death OF eight or more persons, and
damage Of properly to the value Of
1900 ,O00, Glycerine is the sweet prin-
clple ct oil and is extensively used for
the purpose Of toilet but it has now
received an application Of rather an I'M
expected nature. III ls47 4 pupil OF
N. Pelouse's, m. Sobrero, discovered
that glyeerine, when treated with nitric
acid, was converted into higly explo-
sive substance, which he called nitro
glycerine. It is oily, heavier than wa
ter, soluble in alcohol or ether, and
acts SO powerfully on the nervous sys-
TEN that a single drop placed on the tip
OF the tongue will cause violent head
ache, which will last for several hours.
The liquid seems to have been almost
forgotten by chemists, and it is only
now that M. Nabie, a Swedish engineer,
has succeeded in applying it to very
important branch Of his namely,
blasting. From q paper addressed BY
him to the Academy of Science, we
hear that the chief advantage which
this substance, composed of one part of
glycerine and three parts Of. nitric acid,
possesses, is THAI it requires much
smaller hole or chamber than gunpow-
der does, the strength of the latter be-;
ing scarcely one-tenth of the former.
Hence, the miners work, which, accord
ing to the hardness Of the rock, repre-
sents five to twenty times the power of
the gunpowder used, is so short that the
cost of blasting is often reduced by
fifty per cent. The process is very
easy. If the chamber of the mine pre-
sents assures, it must be lined with
clay to make it water-tigkt; this being
done, the nitfo-glycerine is poured in
the water after it, which, being the light
er liquid remained at the top. A slow
match with a well charged percussion
cap at one end then is introduced into
the nitro.glycerine. The mine may be
sprung by lighting the match, there
being no need Of talnping. On the 18th
of June last, three experiments were
made with this new compound in the
open part Of the tih mines of Altenburc
in Saxony. In one oftheses chamber
thirty-four millimeters in diameter was
made perpendicular in a dolmitic rock,
sixty feet in length, and at distance
offourteenfe etfrom its extremity, which
was vertical. AT debth of eight feet a
vault filled wifi clay was found, in CON
sequence of which the bottom of the hole
was tamped, having a depth of seven
feet. One litre and half of nitro-gly-
cerine was then poured in lit occupied
five feet; match and a stopper were
then applied, as stated and the mine
sprung. The effect was so enormous as
to fiss'ue fifty feet in length, and an
other twenty feet. 1s
The blasting oil, or nitro-glycerine of
Mr.. Noble, is a chemical compound of
six equivalents of carbon, five equiva-
Tents of hydrogen, three equivalents Of
oxygen, and three of nitric acid, express
ed scientifically by the formula 81
~ Cs HIS Os On O5)s,
Particulsfiy<it is composition of
seventy-five per cent. of nitric acid and
twenty-five per cent. of glycerine oil.
A scientific calculation of the volume
of-gases, developed by the combustion
of this compound and the combustion
Of good gunpowder, proves that nitro
glyceaine, compared with gunpowder,
possesses thirteen times its power when
volumes are compared, and eight times
its power for equal weight. Therefore,
where eight pounds of gunpowder are
wanted, one, pound of nitro-glycerine
will be sufficient to produce the same
effect. III ri
THE STATES WHERE NEGROES VOTE.
The Albany Argus, in comprehen-
sive statement of the existing condition
of this question in different States, de-
MES the truth of an assertion lately
made by Worcester paper, that ne
groes vote in Massachusetts, on paying
poll tax.
There are only two States in the Union
where the negrois allowed to vote with
out property qualification. They are
Vermont and New Hampshire, the for
mer of which has eighty negro voters
and the latter one hundred and ninety.
In Massachusetts every voter must,
within two years, have paid State or
county tax, unless excused from taxa
ton. x ~
In Rhode Island a voter must own
real estate of one hundred and thirty
four dollars in value, or of the clear
yearly value of seven dollars over any
ground rent. ~
Acolored person is not allowed to vote
in New York unless he has resided in
the State, three years, and is freeholeer
in value of two hundred and fifty dol
lars and paid taxes thereon. sa5
Massachusetts, which does not at home
allow any man to vote who has not
! paid State or county tax directly-for
they all pay Indirectly very DESTROYS
that the Southern States shall allow ne
groes to vote without such dlscrimina-
ton. She goes in for universal black
suffrage at the South, while denying it
to her poor whites at home. This is
Massachusetts, philanthropy, or her pref
erence for negroes over whites.
WHAT WRITINGS REQUIRE A STAMP.
We publish the following for the ben.
eft of our readers. There are few Of
us who have not or will have cause to
stamp instruments Of writing of some
kind.
LIST. Instruments of writing dated be
!. co,.o. Oa+al,o,. oeQ a ~, not .rou1lir RI