tent has been taken out for preparing wooden vessels to hold petroleum or benzine, by filling the pores of the wood with paraffine; and it is very probable that barrels lined with it might be used, with certain precautions, to contain acids, &c., in place of the present expensive and fragile glass carboys. The crude paraffine can be manufactured and delivered in Canada at 10 or 15 cents a pound, and afford a fair profit to the refiner. It is not difficult to purify, and there seems to be no good reason why it should not be thrown into the market purified, either in mass or as candles, at 20 or 30 cents a pound, instead of 50 to 75 cents, its present price, in which case it would soon supersede all other candles.

Point Gaspé.-There is another point in Canada, to which allusion. has heretofore been made, which has recently attracted attention as a promising oil field. This is near Point Gaspé, on the Atlantic Ocean, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence.

Public attention was first drawn to this by the geological report of Sir Wm. E. Logan, published by government in 1863. At page 402, of this report, he says: "There is still to be described the Greenstone dyke, connected with the southern anticlinal at Tar Point. This dyke is of a dark grey color, weathering to a rusty red, and is traversed by numerous horizontal and vertical joints, and abounds in large and small druses. These cavities are filled with petroleum. This, in some instances, has hardened to the consistence of pitch. The peculiar odor of this substance, which has given the name of Tar Point to the locality, may be perceived at a distance of fifty yards.

Two petroleum springs occur along the line of this anticlinal. One of these is on the south side of the St. John's River, about half a mile above Douglastown. Here the oil oozes from the mud and shingle of the beach. The other is on a small branch of Silver creek, six or seven miles from Gaspé basin. The rock adjoining the dyke is a sandstone, but it is not improbable that here, as in Canada West, the source of the oil may be in the fossiliferous limestone beneath.

About a mile and a half south-east of Gaspé basin is found a layer of inspissated petroleum, resembling on a small scale the gum beds of Enniskillen, while to the eastward the soil is saturated with petroleum. Many other indications in the same neighborhood are enumerated.

The fossiliferous limestone spoken of belongs to the Lower Helderberg group, which lies at the summit of the Silurian rocks, and below the corniferous, the oil-bearing rock, of the Enniskillen region. It is about 2000 feet in thickness, and is frequently impregnated with petroleum, the surface of the country is mountainous, and deep valleys, both longitudinal and transverse, frequently occur.

No wells having yet been sunk in this region, it cannot yet be placed among the oil-producing districts; but the indications are certainly sufficient to warrant the sinking of a few wells to test the matter, for the very advantageous location of the region as regards the European market, and the abundance of wood for both barrels and fuel, would make a well of but small yield very profitable.

After the reading of this paper some questions were asked and answered as follows:

Prof. Rogers.-I would like to ask Mr. Rand whether there are any indications in this region of a material which might serve the purpose of asphalt. That which comes from Cuba has been used for a great variety of purposes, but has been restricted in its application by the expense of getting it; but in engineering operations it is an important and valuable material, and if it occurs in the oil regions in the West, it will be a source of great revenue to the people. I was not aware that it was found in this country till petroleum was discovered. Mr. Rand.-My only personal knowledge of it has been in connexion with the gum beds of Canada West. This material is closely allied to asphalt, but whether it could be obtained pure from vegetable matter, I question. I would ask how the asphalt of Nova Scotia would compare with that of European or Cuban?

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Prof. Rogers. I have not seen the material itself, and dont know how it compares with that which is used in Europe, which is the Swiss asphalt, which occurs there in the limestone formations. It has been used in making roads, by breaking the rocks quite small, then heating it, and, while hot, laying it on the road-bed prepared with gravel, and rolling over the whole heated iron rollers; these rollers are heated by the roadside in furnaces provided for that purpose. It has been found that the material has been rendered sufficiently soft to adhere very well to the road. This mode of road-making is a great deal cheaper than the regular asphalt road, and much more durable, and can be repaired much more easily. In repairing, all they have to do is to place some more heated material where required, pass the redhot roller over it, and it forms a neat, durable road. Asphalt has been used for roads in France for many years, and in Paris, and the pavements in front of the Bourse, opera houses, and theatres are all of asphalt, which makes a very smooth road, curiously enough, not slippery. This article has also been used in covering the backs of arches to prevent the percolation of water and the formation of incrustations found on the interior of almost all the railway arches.

It has an extensive use in engineering, and it is desirable to have it accessible in large quantities in this country. The Cuban material is quite expensive, and that which comes from Switzerland must also be from the distance which it must travel to reach this country.

Mr. Rand.-I presume the largest quantities of that kind are found in California.

Mr. Chase. What is the difference between the gum beds and the asphalt?

Mr. Rand.-The asphalt is a resinous substance, breaking with a clean fracture. The gum beds do not seem to have this pure resinous appearance, but are very much mixed with vegetable matter, so much so that it is not a sample of true asphalt. It is a mixture of the inspissated petroleum with vegetable fibres, twigs, grasses, and other matters, and seeming to have been a slow accumulation on the surface of the ground.

The thanks of the society were then tendered by the President to Mr Rand, after which was read in its order the

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

Civil and Mechanical Engineering.—We would call attention, in the first place, to several papers of great ability, which have appeared in certain journals, and which, though too extensive in their scope for a full notice in this place, are well worthy the examination and study of those among our members who may be interested in the subjects handled.

The first of these is a paper read before the London Institution of Civil Engineers, March 14, by Mr. J. W. Barzelgette, on "The new System of Drainage in London, the general Principle and History of Construction." (Newton's London Journal of Arts, vol. xxi, page 287.) The second is a paper read before the same society by Daniel Miller, Esq., on "Structures in the Sea without Coffer-dams.'

This essay treats chiefly of such structures when made of "beton or concrete, i.e., a mixture of hydraulic lime and broken stone or

the like.

Among the remarkable applications of this material enumerated, we find the construction of the government docks at Toulon. In this case, great troughs, as large as the proposed docks, were formed of beton deposited in the sea and allowed there to harden. When the sides of these were finished above the water line, they were emptied by pumps, lined and finished within with stone, and provided with caissons at what were intended to be their entrances, after which the parts of the beton wall in front of these caissons were removed, leaving the docks complete.

Again, at Genoa, the mole was extended by the use of "beton,” thrown into the sea from baskets, behind a light boarding to give it shape.

Yet again, at Algiers an immense breakwater was constructed of beton, in blocks of about 30 tons each, some formed "in situ" by filling wooden cases without bottoms, and removing the case when the interior material had set, and others made on land in similar cases and "launched" into the sea when finished. These blocks, after many years' exposure, show no signs of "wear," even at their angles and edges.

It is further stated that the Pont de l'Alma over the Seine, is built (arches as well as piers) of this material. (See Civ. Eng. and Arch. Journal, May, 1865, page 133.)

Lastly, we would call attention to the article on "The Treatment of Cast Iron in the Foundry," which will be found in full at another page of this Journal.

A bridge is proposed to carry the Great Western Direct Railroad across the Severn, which will be the largest bridge yet built. Headway, 122 feet; longest span, 600 feet, (150 feet more than the Menai bridge.)

As much as 40 tons of rust have been removed from the Menai and

Conway bridges, in cleaning their tubes. This does not speak well for their durability.

On account of unexpected difficulties, it is now computed that the Mount Cenis tunnel will occupy ten instead of five years in its execu

tion.

Self-moving steam rollers are now used in Paris to consolidate the macademized roads, with a saving, it is stated, of 60 per cent. as compared with the ordinary rollers drawn by horses. The whole machine weighs 17 tons. This weight bears upon two cast iron rollers, so geared as to turn in a circle 45 feet in diameter.

There are now running in Paris 143 of Lenoir's gas engines. One of these is also in this city and will be exhibited before the Institute at the next meeting, (i. e., in September.)

In a paper read before the London Society of Arts by F. A. Paget, on the Wear and Tear of Steam Boilers," attention is directed to the fact that the shape of a boiler has a great influence upon its durability, in a sense not generally realized. Thus a boiler of an elliptical section will, under pressure, tend to assume a cylindrical form and settle back to its original shape on relief of the strain. The frequent repetition of this action will cause a deterioration of structure, and even a scaling off on the surface at the points of greatest tension. Such an action could not, of course, occur where the section of the boiler was circular. This and other facts mentioned in the essay above noticed, are worthy of attention. (See Mechanics' Magazine, 1865, page 261.)

Our attention has been directed to a machine for breaking hemp, invented by Joseph H. Siddall, of Shoemaker's Lane, Germantown. This machine may be best described as an ordinary hand-breaker, so adjusted that steam or horse power may be applied to give it motion. By this means the excessive labor and exertion which renders hand breaking of hemp an objectionable occupation is avoided; one skilful workman can take the place of many, and the cultivation of this important staple (heretofore greatly discouraged by the difficulty of procuring hands to prepare the crop for market) will be promoted.

Physics.-Light.-In a paper read before the Royal Institute by Balfour Stewart, March 17, 1865, the prevailing ideas concerning the composition of the sun are fully discussed. It is worthy of note, that nearly all the conclusions now reached on this subject rest, upon the evidence which photography has enabled us to educe and to put on record in a permanent manner. The conclusions are briefly as fol

lows:

1st. The existence of an atmosphere around the sun outside of its luminous envelop or photosphere. This is proved by the fact that photographs of the sun are less intense around the edges than in the middle, which is only to be explained on the supposition that an absorptive atmosphere surrounds the sun, causing more loss of power to the rays from the sides which must pierce it obliquely, and thus pass through a great depth, than to those from the centre which penetrate it by the direct and shortest road possible.

2d. That the "flames" or brilliant protuberances seen around the

edges of the moon in a total eclipse of the sun, belong to the central orb and not to the satellite. This was proved conclusively by a series of photographs taken during the eclipse of 1860 by De la Rue and others. In these the flames are shown in the successive pictures, to have suffered gradual occultation, and to have been gradually exposed in like manner by the moving planet, thus clearly being attached to or connected with the sun, and not in any wise related to the moon. These "flames," supposed to be in fact detached portions of the luminous envelop or extensions of the same into the solar atmosphere above mentioned, were also shown to possess remarkable actenic power, their shapes being more developed and better defined on the photograph than to the eye, and one invisible portion producing a distinct image on the sensitive film.

3d. That there are markings of a regular character over the solar disc, called, from their shape, willow leaves, ripples, &c. These are distinctly visible on some photographs by Mr. Nasmyth.

4th. That the spots in the sun are openings in its photosphere through which its relatively dark mass is seen.

This is fully demonstrated by the order in which the spot and its penumbra (the sloping sides of the opening) disappears as the luminary rotates. A series of photographs taken at the Kew observatory exhibit this in a clear manner.

Electricity.-Under this head we desire to draw attention to some plans for modification in the Bunsen battery, which were lately brought under our notice, and the results of certain experiments made in consequence.

In the first place, we here show you an apparatus constructed by T. & J. N. Chester, of New York, and presented by Mr. Fox, of Queen & Co., of this city. It is a medical coil, remarkable in the first place for its small size, but yet more for the peculiar arrangement of its battery. This consists of two little carbon cups one inch and a half in depth and the same in diameter, containing each a zinc cylinder about the size of an average thimble. For exciting liquid, water, containing a few grains of sulphate of mercury, is employed. With this the apparatus will run for several hours, giving a shock as severe as can well be endured. The apparatus is thoroughly efficient, and from its small size (measuring about 6 by 32 by 2 inches) and its avoidance of acids, fumes, &c., very convenient. In the course of experiments made to test its efficiency, several facts were developed which we think worthy of notice.

Mr. Fox pointed out to us the circumstance that the addition of common salt increased the energy and constancy of this battery. A little reflection showed that in that case the sulphate of mercury and salt must change elements, so as to produce sulphate of soda (glaubersalt) and chloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate). These substances might therefore be substituted for those before mentioned, having the advantage that they can be obtained from any druggist, while the sulphate of mercury, can only be had at certain places, not being an article in general use. It was, moreover, found on experiment that