Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-03

total of values in the last four years show
ing a marvelously rapid gain. Thus, II
1884 the total values, neglectlng nuctua
tons, were S413, 600, 600; in 1885, S42S,
600. 900; in 1886, S465, DOC. 600; in 1887
S542, 600. 600. Nor is the advance limited
in relation to a few of our products. Pig
iron, silver, lead, quicksilver, gold, build
ing stone, and the greater part OF the Other
products to the total number of A, show 6
similar advance in the value OF thell
products.
The production of gold, however, appears
to be in an unstable condition. In 1884 II
amounted. in round numbers, to $50, DOC, 600.
in 1885, to S3l, OO0, 600; in 1886, $685. 600, 900,
while in 1857 it fell off to S33, 600, 900. There
are reasons to fear that the next year will
show a more considerable decrease. The
value of petroleum, as well as the total
quantity produced, seems also TO be In an
unsatisfactory condition. Thus, in 1886
the value was about S20,0e0 600, while In
1887 it fell off to below S19, 600, 900, though
the quantity produced exhibits a considera-
bic increase. Natural gas, which in 1882
was valued at only S215,00 in 1856 at
about $40, OOO, 900, in1SS7 rises to SIG, OO0, 600,
being estimated at only s., 000, 600 less than
the value of petroleum.
COAL DUST FUEL.
It appears from a recent number of
Science that a very promising effort is now
making toward the long-desired end of
burning coal in a pulverized form. The
present method of burning our fuels of
every description is extremely wasteful. A
considerable part of the carbon remains in
the ash. If the combustion is forced as it
is in the locomotive, another large portion
escapes in the form of cinders through the
chimney. 1t has long been a question with
inventors to secure some means whereby the
fuel can be burned in the form OF afine dust,
so that each particle would be surrounded
by the oxygen necessary for its complete
combustion. 1t is impossible to give in
this place the details of this process, but the
most important point is gained by means of
the modern method of pulverizing known as
the cyclone system, which, in a very simple
way, secures the division of the fuel into
the finest dust. The system is very simple.
Within a closed vessel there are two fans,
shaped like the screw propeller of a vessel.
These revolve near each other but in oppo-
site directions, and with high velocity. The
result is very powerful; opposing currents
OF air are generated, which drive the par
tieles of coal against each other, and rub
them into q fine powder. This dust is then
fed into the fire box in such a manner that
it becomes intimately mixed with the air,
which is only admitted in sufficient quanti-
ties to secure complete combustion.
This Limitation in the amount of air is an
admirable feature in the invention, for it
avoids the strong draft, which, as is well
known, bears most of the heat up the Chin
new. 1t is asserted by an apparently criti-
cal and disinterested observer that the saw
ing in the burning of fuel on this system
may amount to as much as as per cent of
81 Gno1 aopeup,n5 ond mo -, aar+oip
cases, if used, spare a vet greater amount of
waste. In old-fashioned steam engines,
such as were in use in the middle of this
century, it required about 10 pounds of coal
each hour to develop one horse power of
energy. In the modern system CT condens-
ing engines, using steam extensively, a
horse power is generated with less than two
pounds per hour. If now this new Macauly
process of burning pulverized fuel may be
made really available we may hope to bring
the expenditure of coal down to about one
half a pound per hour. In this case we
shall have won a great economic victory,
&perhaps the most precious of all such gains
made in the time of our generation, for we
shall have reduced the cost of fuel in the
generation of power to about one-fourth Of
the old expense.
SAVING COAL.
1t is impossible to see the vast advan-
tages which may accrue to the public from
such a change in the basis of our power
engines. While the immediate effect NAV
be to enhance the profits of capitalists, and
we may hope also to the inventors, the re-
mote effects indeed, not very remote-will
be to cheaper the cost of all our conditions
OF life which depend upon the expenditure
of energy. Moreover, it bids fair to dimin-
ish the curse of smoke, which now menaces
the greater part of the manufacturing cities
in world, an evil which bears not only on
the continuity of life, but seriously affects
the physical condition of the population.
Furthermore, it will spare our seriously
taxed coal beds. Such a series of inven-
tions may prolong the duration of our coal
fields, and enable us to look to them for
1000 wears as a sourse of power, while
otherwise, in the existing increase of our
drafts upon them, they bid fair in good part
to disappear within 200 wears.
In a recent communication to the Paris
Academy of Medicine, DR.. Laborbe has
treated of the toxic effects of alcohol. He
states that the diseases produced by such
stimulants amounted to atleast one-fourth of
all the maladies which occur among the
French. He fnds, moreover, that a large
part of the substances used to give flavor
and perfume to alcoholic liquors are, appar-
emily, deadly to dogs and other animals on
which he has tried his experiments. The
number of these substances so used in the
compounding of liquors is very great, and as
they nearly all appear to be of a highly poi
sonous nature, 1t seems reasonable to con-
clude that a great many forms of a stimulant
beside absinthe are extremely deleterious.
DR.. Fodor has recently been making some
interesting experiments as to the effect which
the blood has on the destruction of poison
Gus micro-organisms which find their wav
into it. A summary of his paper occurs in
q recent humber Of the Medical Record.
From thiSwe extract the following points:
He has shown that even where we inject
hundreds Of millions of non-poisonous bac-
terra into the blood they completely disap-
pear in a few hours. Thus the bacilli which
are supposed to produce typhoid disappear
in a short time. In certain cases, however,
the terminating elements of these bacilli
survive the action of the blood, implanted
in the organs, and thus produce the disease.
These researches make it seem not improb-
able that the blood itself, far from be-
ing as our ancestors deem it the agent of
disease in contagious maladies, really
operates toward the publication of the body,
and that it is only from the incompleteness
of its task that the disorders take place.
ENCOURAGING INVENTORS.
In a recent number of the Engineering
and Mining Journal there is a brief edi-
torial concerning 'the encouragement of in
vention among workmen." The writer notes
the recent introduction bv Mr.. j. G. Bales,
of the Spiral Weld Tube Company, of a
piau to encourage his men in contriying in