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scorbutics in vast quantities where they were needed, and by its ministrations to the sick and wounded, and its stores of cordials, medicines, delicacies, and clothing, has powerfully aided in restoring the disabled to service. The assistance thus rendered to the medical department of the Government, with which the Commission has ever acted in perfect harmony, has saved many thousands of lives, and rendered the army far more effective, than it otherwise could have been.

A brief comparison of the medical statistics of the British army in the Peninsular war, in the war with Russia, and in times of peace, with those of the army of the United States during the present war, will show conclusively the beneficial results of the strict attention paid to hygiene in the latter.

The average annual mortality in the British army during the Peninsular war was 165 men out of every thousand. Of these 113 died by disease or accident, and 52 by wounds received in action. From 1803 to 1812 the average annual death rate of the entire British army abroad, was 80 per 1,000 ;-71 by disease or accident, and 9 by wounds in action. This, it should be remembered, was in a veteran army composed, not of raw recruits, but of men hardened to exposure by years of service, a class of men far less liable to illness than raw recruits, just from the farm, the store, or the workshop. In July, August, and September, 1854, the British army in the Crimea lost at the rate of 293 men per thousand, per annum. During the next three months, October, November, and December, the loss was at the annual rate of 511 to every thousand, 443 of which was by disease. In January, 1855, the mortality was at the rate of 1,174 to every 1,000 -equal to the entire destruction of the army in ten months, and 1,143, or 97 per cent. of this loss was by disease. During the first three months of that year the death rate was 912 out of every thousand, and 98 per cent. of it from disease.

During the entire campaign of 2 years, April, 1854, to June, 1856, the annual death rate was 232 per 1,000, of whom 202 were from disease, and only 30 from wounds received in action. In other words, during the campaign

ILLINOIS. A short session of the Legislature of Illinois was held during the year, which attracted some attention by the manner in which it was brought to a close. A resolution for fixing a day for final adjournment passed the Senate, and was sent to the House for concurrence. In the House it was amended by the insertion of another day. In this amendment the Senate refused to concur. Under this state of facts, Gov. Yates sent the following message to the Lower House:

I

of 21 years, 582 of every thousand men died from disease or wounds and 505 of every thousand from disease.

According to the Register General's report for the year 1861, the mortality among the home troops of Great Britain in that year was 91.24 in every thousand, in a time of peace, and among the troops abroad, the mortality from sickness averaged 100 in every thousand.

In the armies of the United States from April 15th, 1861, to May 18th, 1862, the entire death rate was 53 per 1,000, per annum, of which only forty-four per cent. or less than one-half was from disease or accident. Dur ing the year and eight months which have since ensued, the loss from wounds in battle has been very large, and during a portion of the time there has been a large percentage of sickness from typhoid fever, diarrhea, dysentery, small pox, &c., but the death rate has not reached the ratio of the first year. On the 30th of June, 1863, there were in the general hospitals 91 men for each 1,000 of the army, and in field hospitals, 44 out of every thousand, making in all 135 of each 1,000 sick or wounded, of whom 110 were cases of sickness, and 25 of wounds or casualties. This far surpasses the British army even in time of peace. In 1861, the British troops in China had, in southern China, 283 out of every 1,000 constantly sick, and in northern China 205 out of 1,000. Among the Home troops, the admis sions into hospital were 1,025 of 1,000 mean strength, and 545 of every 1,000 were constantly sick. The careful weeding out of incompe tent surgeons and inefficient nurses, the material improvement in the ambulance service, and the admirable construction of the new hospitals, in respect to temperature and ventilation, have during the past year exerted a powerful influence, notwithstanding the terribly destructive battles of the year, in dimin ishing the mortality, and promoting the recov ery of the sick in the army, and though the recurrence of great battles must necessarily increase the death rate, there is reason to believe. that with the resources of medical art, and of a boundless philanthropy, it will continue to be smaller than in any great war of ancient or modern times.

STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. To the General Assembly of the State of Illinois: Whereas, on the 8th day of June, 1863, the Senate adopted a joint resolution to adjourn, sine die, on said day, at 6 o'clock P. M., which resolution, upon being submitted to the House of Representatives on the same day, was by them amended by substituting the 22d day of June, and the hour of 10 o'clock A.M. which amendment the Senate thereupon refused to concur in ;

Whereas, the Constitution of the State contains the following provision, to wit:

SEC. 13. Art. 4. In case of disagreement between the

of the same.

two Houses with respect to the time of adjournment, the Governor shall have power to adjourn the General Assembly to such time as he thinks proper, provided it be not a period beyond the next constitutional meeting Whereas, I fully believe that the interests of the State wil be best subserved by a speedy adjournment, the past history of the present Assembly holding out no reasonable hope of beneficial results to the citizens of the State, or the army in the field, for its further continuance;

Now, therefore, in view of the existing disagreement between the two houses in respect to the time of

adjournment, and by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution aforesaid, I, Richard Yates, Governor of the State of Illinois, do hereby adjourn the General Assembly, now in session, to the Saturday next preceding the first Monday in January, A.D.

1865.

Given at Springfield, this 10th day of June, A.D. 1863. RICHARD YATES, Governor.

After the reading of this message, the minority or Administration party withdrew from the House, thus leaving the majority, or Opposition, without a quorum. Being rendered powerless for the further transaction of business, the majority entered upon the records a protest against the action of the governor, and informally left their seats. Gov. Yates was elected in November, 1860, for a term of four years. The Assembly, and one half the Senate, thus adjourned, were elected in November, 1862.

The Supreme Court of the State consists of a chief justice and two judges, and the matter came before that body in four cases, designated "mandamus cases, as follows:"

Four cases, in various forms, were pending, the object of which was to obtain a decision establishing the legal existence of a corporation' called "the Wabash Railroad Company;" and they were prosecuted by those in the interest of the supposed corporation.

Whether the supposed corporation had a legal existence depended upon whether a bill of the last session of the Legislature to incorporate it had become a law; and this, in one view of the case, depended upon another fact, namely: whether that session continued ten days, Sundays excepted, after the 10th day of June, when the bill went to the Governor for his action thereon. The records upon which the parties submitted the case admitted, in effect, the following facts:

That on the 10th of June the Governor issued his proclamation adjourning the session-that thereupon there ceased to be a quorum in either house. That on the 10th and 11th the pay-rolls of the session were made out under the supervision of the two houses, certified to by the respective Speakers of Senate and House, transmitted to the Auditor for payment of the members, and that the members generally went before the Auditor, receipted the pay roll, received their pay and departed for their homes. That from the 11th to the 23d of June, the halls of the two houses were vacant and locked, the members having departed to their homes without any indication of intention to return, or to resume legislation, and that on the 23d two senators net in the Senate hall, and three representatives in the hall of the House, and assumed legislative powers by, among other things, meeting and on the morning of the 24th adjourning the session to January,

1564.

Under the Constitution, a less number than a quorum-two thirds—may adjourn from day to day and compel the attendance of absentees, but a quorum only can exercise the powers of a General Assembly.

A memorandum of the decisions was made by

the judges and properly filed, which was as follows:

of Public Accounts and the People on the relation of The People on the relation of Keyes vs. The Auditor Harless vs. The Secretary of State.-A peremptory mandamus in the above case is refused, Judges Walker and Breese holding that the proclamation of the Governor, acquiesced in by the General Assembly, terminated the session on the 10th day of June. Separate opinions will be filed early in January next. December 11th, 1863,

47 to 13, relative to the order of Gen. Burnside, For the action of the Assembly, by a vote of suppressing the Chicago "Times" newspaper, see FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.

At this session, the Legislature elected W. A. Richardson a senator in Congress. The vote was: for W. A. Richardson, 66; Richard Yates, 37.

The number of State banks is twenty-five, the securities of which are: Illinois, 6 per cent., $974,660; United States 5's, $8,000; North Carolina 6's, $2,000; total, $984,600. Circulation, September, 1863, $833,146. Six National Banks were established in 1863, viz. : 1 at Cairo, capital, $50,000; 1 at Chicago, capital, $250,000; 1 at Monmouth, capital, $50,000; 1 at Danville, capital, $50,000; 1 at La Salle, capital, $50,000; 1 at Rock Island, capital, $100,000; total, $550,000.

The number of public schools in the State at the close of 1862 was 9,811, the number of scholars 516,037, and the number of persons in the State between five and twenty-one years of age, 613,014. The amount paid for teachers' wages was $1,315,686. The amount of the school fund was $4,973,842. The number of students in the Normal University was 291. There is a State institution for deaf mutes at Jacksonville, having about 240 pupils; also an insane hospital at the same place, having 302 patients; also an institution for the blind, having 64 pupils.

The number of men furnished by the State to the army up to the beginning of 1863, was as follows: infantry, 119,404; cavalry, 16,917; artillery, 3,999; total, 140,320. No draft for men was made during the year, and the quota of the State was completed by volunteers. The liberality of the State in furnishing men and providing for them has been great.

A novel plan was adopted for the supply of the city of Chicago with water. It consisted in constructing a tunnel some distance under the bed of Lake Michigan for some miles from the shore, by which pure water could be obtained. The plan contemplates the sinking of octagonal cribs eighty feet in diameter, with central spaces, say thirty feet in diameter, leaving an average of twenty-five feet thickness to the crib around the shaft. In the central space, protected by the crib from the action of the waves, it proposed to sink iron cylinders nine feet in diameter, by the pneumatic process. The outmost shaft would be constructed with reference to its becoming the inlet for the water. The others might be removed to such a depth as not to interfere with navigation.

It is proposed to construct the cribs in still water, plank their bottoms and sides watertight for several feet up, fill them with as much stone as they can safely carry, tow them to their places, and sink them by letting water into their bottoms, and then to fill them up as promptly as possible to their tops, with stone previously provided. Cribs of this shape and size it is thought would be stronger, and better calculated to resist the action of storms, than cribs of the same width and construction placed in a stright line. The shafts are to be air-tight iron cylinders, jointed together in sections of six to ten feet, and nine feet in diameter. The estimated cost of excavation and masonry for the tunnel is $143,000, or $13.54 per lineal foot; and for the tunnel complete, $307,552.

The investigations are based upon facts acquired by boring for an artesian well on the lake shore, where it was found that about twenty feet below the surface a clay formation commences, which continues upward of one hundred feet further. Wherever the investigation has been made, the bottom of the lake, where the water is more than twenty feet deep, is found to be clay.

In conducting the investigations two large scows, with all the necessary apparatus on board, were towed to the proper locality, and there secured by four anchors. In the space between the boats, a two-inch gas pipe is lowered, and rests upon the surface of the earth, the top being two or three feet above the surface of the water. The auger is then passed down through the pipe, and worked by two men: the pipe being held in place by others. Both the outside pipe and the auger are length. ened, as circumstances may require, by the addition of joints or sections, which are readily screwed on. The pipe and auger are drawn out and lowered, by means of a derrick about 25 feet high, with rope and tackle. Up to the present time three localities have been ex

amined. The first three fourths of a mile from shore. Here the water was 23 feet deep, with a bed of four inches of sand. They penetrated 30 feet deep, and found nothing but blue clay. The second locality was 13 miles out. Here the water was 31 feet deep, with about the same depth of sand. The auger sunk 30 feet with the same result. The third, and the last locality is about 2 miles due east from the water works. Here the water was 36 feet deep, clear and cool. The earth was penetrated 30 feet below its surface. The surface is covered a foot in depth with a mixture of sand and soft, marshy clay. After penetrating six or eight feet, the clay becomes thick, and is harder the deeper it is penetrated. It is of a bluish slate color, of very fine grain, with little or no grit, and would probably make excellent brick. It is apparently fine enough for pottery ware. The clay is of about the same character the entire depth, wherever the borings have been made. ILLUMINATION. The following, as among the more important results developed during

the year past, in respect to the nature of ma terials for illumination, and the modes of their preparation and use, are deserving of notice:

Approximate Chemical Constitution of Bitu mens, Solid and Liquid.—From an article entitled "Contributions to the Chemical and Geological History of Bitumens, and of Pyroschists or Bituminous Shales" ("Amer. Jour. of Science," March, 1863), by Prof. T. S. Hunt, we extract the following, in relation to the chemistry of bitumens:

The solid bitumens (asphaltum, etc.), in appearance often resembling some forms of bituminous coal, are distinguished from the latter by their being almost or entirely fusible, and by their solubility in benzole and bisulphide of carbon. Their chemical composition varies much, being representable by formulæ ranging from C24 H22 00.3-that of an elastic bitumen from Derbyshire (Johnston), to C24 H14.6 O2— that of an asphalt from near Naples (Regnault). Five analyses of bituminous coal made by the latter chemist, yield from C24 Hạ О0.9 to C24 H10 O3.3; while the mean composition of several analyses of coal, by Johnston, was C11 H2, with from O2 to O. The asphalts are thus seen to approach in composition the bituminous coals.

In the conversion of woody fibre into the successive stages of peat, lignite, and bituminous coal, the abstraction of variable proportions of water (HO), carbonic acid (CÓ1), and marsh gas (C, H.), may give rise either to hydrocarbons like C., He, which represents idrialine (a hydrocarbon with minimum of H), and the basis of most bituminous coals; or like C He, which is the approximate formula of the hydrocarbons of many asphalts; or like C I24, which approximately represents crude pe troleum (apart, of course, from water that may be intermixed with it). Anthracite, which is nearly pure carbon, and petroleum, which is (among natural bodies) carbon with a maximum of hydrogen, stand as the two extremes in the process of coal-formation.

Chemical Constitution of American Petro leum.-M. Schorlemmer has examined the refined but still composite coal oil known as kerosene, obtained by distillation of cannel coal at low temperatures. He finds it to contain a series of homologous hydrocarbons, their gen eral formula being CnlIn+2, and which may be regarded as the hydrides of alcohol radicals. The oil, which boils below 120°C., contains the four hydrides

C10 II, hydride of amyl, boiling at 9°C.
C12

66

66

hexyl, heptyl octyl.

65°C.

95°C.

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Cie H18= Precisely the same products were found by the analyst in American rock oil, or petroleum. He states that in this both benzole and toluole exist, but that these are present in larger proportion in cannel-coal tar. He purified the oils by strong nitric acid, which leaves the greater part unattacked, but removes the ben

zole and toluole; then, after washing, drying over caustic potash, and distilling with sodium, the four hydrides above given were obtained, as from coal tar.

MM. Pelouze and Cahours have also examined the American petroleum; and they, too, find that it consists essentially of compounds which are homologous with marsh gas, the lowest term of the series obtained by them being the hydride of butyl, C. H10, which passes into the state of vapor at a little above 0°C., while the highest term yet studied is Cao II. From these hydrides the authors have obtained the corresponding chlorides, and, in many cases, the alcohols. They consider it probable that paraffin is a mixture of still higher terms in the series. But their results contradict those of M. Schorlemmer, in relation to benzole and toluole, the presence of which in petroleum they explicitly deny.

In the "Scientific American" (New Series), vol. viii, p. 171, an abstract is given of a process recently patented by Mr. W. W. Tindall, of Liverpool, for the deodorizing of petroleum, and other mineral oils; and in the same journal, vol. ix, p. 133, an account of Prof. E. V. Gardner's new method of refining the same oils. The number of readers, however, to whom the details of these processes would prove of interest, is extremely small.

Supposed Sources of Petroleum in certain Oil-bearing Strata.-Mr. T. S. Ridgeway, geologist and mining engineer, having surveyed the oil district of Oil Creek, Penn., states, as a result of this examination, his conviction that the petroleum of this district is not produced from the coal fields, since in that case it would have had to flow up hill into the oil basin. He says: "Petroleum found in bituminous coalbasins no doubt originates from beds of coal; **but it is my opinion that the petroleum of the Oil Creek valley is the result of the decomposition of marine plants."

Prof. Hunt, in the communication above mentioned, states that it is in the Lower Devonian (Corniferous) limestone that, in this country, the greatest amount of petroleum occurs; and he considers that, although the Higher Devonian sandstones in New York and Pennsylvania are often impregnated with the oil, so that these, along with higher strata, supply the oil-springs of those States, yet the real source of the oil in these strata may be in the Lower Devonian,-this, as he thinks, being undoubtedly the case in regard to the petroleum of Western Canada.

In certain townships on the northern shore of Lake Erie, coralline beds and those in which certain shells appear, are found filled or impregnated with petroleum. Speaking especially in reference to the township of Bertie, opposite Buffalo, Prof. Hunt says: "The facts observed at this locality appear to show that the petroleum, or the substance which has given rise to it, was deposited in the beds in which it is now found, at the formation of the rock. We may VOL. III.-83 A

suppose in these oil-bearing beds an accumulation of organic matters, whose decomposition, in the midst of a marine calcareous deposit, has resulted in their complete transformation into petroleum, which has found a lodgment in the cavities of the shells and corals immediately near. Its absence from the unfilled cells of corals, in the adjacent and interstratified beds, forbids the idea of the introduction of the oil either by distillation or by infiltration. The same observations apply to the petroleum of the Trenton limestone; and if it shall hereafter be shown that the source of petroleum (as distinguished from asphalt) in other regions is to be found in marine fossiliferous limestones, a step will have been made toward a knowledge of the chemical conditions necessary to its formation."

Transportation of Petroleum, or other Liquids. Mr. S. J. Scely of Brooklyn, N. Y., has patented a railway car for the purposes just indicated. The body of the car is of corrugated or other sheet iron, and, in order to secure the greatest strength of the materials, is made in the form of a cylinder. Thus, the car-body is in effect a large cylindrical tank, on wheels, and into which the liquids to be transported are directly introduced. Opening from the bottom of the cylinder, are a series of pipes, furnished with cocks and flexible branch pipes, so as to allow of drawing off the contained liquid into several barrels or other vessels at once; while the arrangement of pipes is ordinarily protected by their being enclosed within boxes, through doors in which access can be had to the former when occasion requires.

Comparison of Illuminants in reference to Lighting Power, Cost, and Products.—In a lecture before the Royal Institution, February, 1863, Prof. E. Frankland presented the results of certain comparisons of various illuminating materials largely in use in England. He stated that, for economy, brilianey, and intensity of light, the kerosene (in England called " paraffin") and rock oils take the first place. The following are, in brief, the results of the comparisons referred to:

I. ILLUMINATING EQUIVALENTS.-Kerosene oil, 1 gallon, equivalent to 1.26 galls. American petroleum; to 18.6 lbs. paraffin (solid) candles; to 22.9 lbs. sperm candles; to 27.6 lbs. wax candles; to 29.5 lbs. composite candles; and to 39 lbs. tallow candles.

II. COMPARATIVE COST.-To produce an amount of light equal to that of 20 sperm candles, burning each at the rate of 120 grs. per hour, for 10 hours, the cost of various materials consumed was as follows: wax, 7s. 240.; spermaceti, 6s. 8d.; paraffin candles, 3s. 10d.; tallow, 2s. 8d.; sperm oil, 1s. 10d.; rock oil, 7d.; kerosene oil, 6d.; ordinary coal gas, 4d.; cannel gas, 3d..

III. CARBONIC ACID and HEAT-generated per hour by various illuminating agents, each burned in such quantity as to give the light of 20 sperm candles:

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The great liability, however, of kerosene and other similar and highly carbonaceous oils to escape in part unconsumed into the air of rooms, in which such materials are burned, constitutes one serious objection to their general use; since through pre-occupation of mind in those using it, or through carelessness, this result, with serious contamination of the air, must often occur. In this connection it should be remarked that, the highly dangerous disease known as "spotted fever" (cerebro-spinal meningitis), which has appeared at intervals in different parts of the country, having recently broken out in very fatal form at Long Branch, N. J., Dr. Sayre, one of a committee of physicians who visited the place and examined the cases of fever, names as among the predisposing causes to it the habit in many families of burning kerosene through the night in bedrooms, with the lampwick put down. Consequences of this practice, to state them somewhat more fully than Dr. Sayre has done, must be the vitiation of the air of the room, not only with unconsumed oil-vapors, but with the gas produced by combustion, and often also with some smoke or soot.

Burners for Kerosene Lamps.-The forms of burners and chimneys for kerosene and coaloil lamps are already very various; and they are generally so familiarly known that on this head little in the way of novelty is to be expected. It has been desirable to have, especially for chandelier, hall, and bracket lamps, if not for all others, where the use of a chimney is necessary, some arrangement by which the wick can be trimmed and lighted without disturbing the chimney or shade. Mr. Homer Wright, of Pittsburg, Pa., has accomplished this end by the invention of a burner with a door in one side, a projection from the inner side of the door and hinged to the front of the wick tube, causing, when the door is opened, by means of a slot arrangement, the wick tube to be at the same time lowered and inclined so that its upper end protrudes through the opening, when it can be trimmed or lighted, and as simply returned to its place.

The inconveniences and expense of glass chimneys for kerosene lamps have led to many attempts to produce for such lamps cheap and simple burners without chimneys. The principle of these is generally that of simply extending upward the brass or other metallic tube arrangement which ordinarily surrounds the burner, or forms the cap of the lamp, the burner being carried up to a proportional height, so that the base of the flame shall be but little below the level of the summit of the tube; the latter being at the same time freely perforated or mainly open below, and some

times also at the sides near the flame, so as to secure an indraught and current of air: the tube of the burner thus becomes itself a short chimney, but mainly placed below, instead of around and above the flame. Among the best known of these, and the most effective, are the so-called "Savage" burner (patented 1802); the "star" burner (J. Edgar-1863); and the burner of the "Scoville Manufacturing Company" (patent applied for). Of dealers questioned on this point, one declared that the "star" burner gave the largest clear flame, without risk of vapor or smoke; another gave preference in the same particulars to the “Savage" burner. But all agreed that these burners are in use very inferior for their purposes to the glass chimneys; that with them a large free flame cannot be obtained, without its smoking and throwing off unburned oil-vapors into the room.

Apparatus for Testing the Explosive Points of Coal Oils.-The subjects of the danger of explosion in the burning of coal or rock oils, including kerosene, and of the need of a standard vaporizing point, oils ranging below which shall not be allowed for sale, were considered at some length under ILLUMINATION, in the preceding volume. The need of some convenient and tolerably accurate test of the explosive point of these oils is obvious.

At first, most dealers simply placed a small quantity of oil in a saucer or other open vessel, dipping in it a thermometer bulb, applying heat, and then by repeated application of a lighted match or taper finding the temperature at which explosion would take place. But, besides the rapid escape or even blowing away of the vapor from over the liquid in this mode, it has other imperfections; and it almost neces sarily gives the exploding point higher than it really is-thus deceiving the purchaser.

At least three forms of apparatus for testing more accurately the exploding point of os have, within the past two years, been invented in this country, the last two of which appear to be those now chiefly in use. The invention of Mr. John Tagliabue, of New York, consists of a small upright, hollow, cylindrical support, having an opening in the side and below, for introducing a gas-burner, or alcohol lamp; while within the support, above, is a small waterbath, set within which again is a cup open top to receive the oil to be tested; into the oil at one side, by a convenient clasp, the bulb of a small thermometer is inserted, while just above the oil a taper is supported-this is to be lighted when the experiment is commenced. The oil being placed in the open cup, and very slowly heated by the lamp-removing the latter at times, if the temperature rise too fast, so as to receive for a while the heat only from the water-bath and metals-the temperature at which the oil throws off a vapor that mixed with air explodes is considered to be determined by a slight explosion or "puff," which usually extinguishes the taper. Heating a few degrees

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