SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6510, 7 January 1882, Page 3

SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP.

(By Salvia.) " What cannot art and industry perform "When science plans." —BEATTir. There recently appeared in this journal an account of the death of three men who had incautiously entered a large vat in which a deadly gas had accumulated. Such cases are, unhappily, not rare. The Brewers' Guardian says:—• It is our painful duty to have to record from time to time fatal accidents in breweries arising from want of ordinary precautions being taken before men are allowed to descend into wells or fermenting vats. In wells there is always a natural evolution of carbonic acid gas, both from the water at the bottom the well, and from fissures in the rock into which the well is bored. In fermenting vats carbonic acid accumulates from the fermentation which has taken place in them, and even when the wort has been drawn off, the gas will remain in the vat unless precautions are taken to remove or disperse it. In spite of its high specific gravity and the well-known law of diffusion, carbonic acid gas will remain at the bottom of a closed vessel for a considerable period. It has been asserted by some that carbonic acid is not in itself poisonous, but that animals immersed in it die simply from want of oxygen; this is not correct, for carbonic acid exerts a direct poisonous aotion when respired. Pure air consist* of about one part of oxygen and four parts of nitrogen, but if the latter gas be replaced by oarbonio aoid, an animal placed in such a gaseous mixture will instantly expire, proving that carbonic acid has not the harmless properties of nitrogen. It has been proved that as little as 5 per cent of carbonic acid in air will affect birds in two minuteß and kill them in half an hour, and it has also been proved that a very small excess of oarbonio acid will bring on an apoplectic fit in persons subject to this diseaie. Even aerated waters have been known to cause giddiness and intoxication when drunk too freely, and the rapid intoxicating effects of sparkling winea are probably due to some extent to this constituent. The instinctive effort to withdraw the face from the surface of a fermenting wort has been experienced by every brewer, and is due to the irritation of the throat produced by the gas, and whioh causes the glottis to rapidly olobo itself. It is a very common and wise precaution to lower a burning candle into a well or vat before allowing a workman to descend, but even this is not a sufficient test, of seourity, for a candle will burn in air whioh contains ten or even twelve per cent, of carbonic aoid—a quantity more than sufficient to cause immediate death to Borne persons. The disastrous aooidents which have ocourred ought to lead principals of breweries to take every precaution to proloct the lives of their workpeople. The candle tent is a most useful one, but too much reliance should not be placed on it j no man should be allowed to enter a fermenting vat without help being at hand, and care should be taken that the aperture through which the vat is entered is largo enough to allow of a speedy exit in case of aooident. In clearing a vat of oarbonio aoid, advantage should be taken of the heaviness of this g&B 5 by having an opening in the bottom of the vat the gas will rapidly pour out like a liquid, and in this way the largest vat may be quiokly and completely cleared of all carbonic aoid. :-.ICK.'M3 itiepiMSJ 8M193R

'Xhe Philadelphia Record says:—Tho work of laying the conduit for the underground telegraph system on Market street has now proceoaed as far as Eleventh east from the publio buildings, and work is progressing at the rate of half a square a night. The conduits have 20 separate chambers. Each ohambor has a capacity for 60 wires, and connection is made by means of manholes, which are located at each square. The increasing interest in teohnioal instruction in England is shown by the fact that more than 2500 students were taught in the classes of the London Oity and Guilds Institute last sossiou. The third examination of the Institute was held lately at 115 centres. Out of 1663 candidates 895 passed in oue, and 65 in two subjoots. The number of papers examined this year by the Institute was 1766, of whioh 484 were for outßide students. During a recent cruise of the British reserve squadron, a trial was made of the new sea messenger invented by Mr Julius Van Jenborgb, of Portsmouth, England. The " messenger " oonsists of a vetsel pointed at each ond, three feet six inches in length, made of copper, and lined with oork and composition to resist external pressure. The innor case will carry a weight of sixty pounds, and is designed for the conveyance of letters and other papers from wreoked or disabled vessels. The messenger was thrown over from the Heroules flagship in latitude 56.49 W., longitude 41 1., on July 24. It was pioked up on August 18 by a fisherman off Banstholmen, Jutlaud, and, although it had

' been twenty-five day* in the water, and bad travelled about 1420 miiei, it was quite uninjured. ! An English statistician has lately brought i out the following faofc, which, it it olaimed, u a discovery and a fit subject of legislation. It appear* that 107,000 men, women and children hare lost their lire* or boen injured in English mine* and factories, or railways, and by boiler accident* daring the four years preceding 1877, and on this basis, it is estimated that half a million of workmen will lose their lives in ten years—3oo,ooo in mines, 70,000 on railways, and 180,000 in factories. Another writer sets the figures at a full million, 100,000 persons per annum in England air ne, killed from causes in connection with the industrial occupations in which they are engaged. As much as six-tenths are ascribed to mining accidents. This aggregate is sufficiently appalling, and ought to be enquired into in this country as well i»s in England, but it is difficult to preterit)* efHoient legislative Tfieaeures to meet, the case. It is probable v that the diff union of technical knowledge among all classic of labourers and artisans, and especially 'j ho foremen and managers of industrial establishments, would do more than laws, not only to decrease the number of violent deaths, but to ameliorate the sanitary condition of all establishments where tools or machines of any kind are used. The well lighted, well aired, and roomy workshop or factory, moreover, promotes the production of more and better products than can be expected from dark, damp, and dingy cellars and crowded, ill-ventilated, dirty shops in densely packed neighbourhoods. Even the dismal mine may be much improved by the electric light and more efficient ventilating appliance*, and the natural result is more safety, better health, and a greater yield, so that once understood no thoughtful manager will need to be driven by law into the adoption of sanitary means.