ernment, in accordance with previous pledges, agreed that the South African Republic should take over the administration of Swaziland, native rights and customs being safeguarded and burgher rights conferred upon British settlers. This convention provided for the incorporation of Swaziland into the Transvaal, subject to the assent of the Queen-Regent and Council. There was a draft organic proclamation_drawn up, which the Queen-Regent and the Swazi chiefs showed no signs of accepting; on the contrary, they sent a deputation to England to protest against the establishment of Boer rule and to offer their allegiance to Great Britain. An alternative arrangement was then embodied in a convention signed by Sir Henry B. Loch as High Commissioner and President Krüger on Dec. 10, 1894. This provided that, without the incorporation of Swaziland into the South African Republic, the Government of the South African Republic shall have and be secured in all rights and powers of protection, legislation, jurisdiction, and administration over Swaziland and its inhabitants, subject to the following conditions: That King Ungwane, or Ubunu, shall be recognized as paramount chief and exercise the usual powers in so far as they are consistent with civilized customs and law; that his private revenue shall be regularly paid over to him; that the management of the internal affairs of the natives shall be in accordance with their own laws and customs, including their law of inherit ance, administered by their own chiefs, and the natives guaranteed in the occupation of land now in their possession and all the grazing and agricultural rights to which they are now entitled; and that no hut tax shall be imposed for three years, and in no case a higher tax than the Swazis in the Transvaal pay. The convention secures to all white residents the right to become naturalized as full burghers of the South African Republic, and forbids the sale of liquor to natives. No railroad is to be constructed by the Transvaal Government beyond the eastern boundary of Swaziland until the conditions shall be arranged in a further convention. The territory known as the Little Free State becomes a part of the South African Republic. The new convention denied the right of formal annexation, but at the same time it abrogated the proviso requiring the consent of the Swazi nation to the occupation of the country by the Transvaal. It was unanimously ratified by the Transvaal Volksraad on Feb. 13. The Swazi Queen having formally refused to sign the organic proclamation, the new treaty went immediately into operation. A proclamation was issued on Feb. 21, 1895, announcing that the Government of the South African Republic would take over the administration of Swaziland from that day. T. Krogh, the Boer representative on the joint committee of administration, was appointed Administrator. Gen. Joubert proceeded with troops to Bremersdorp to carry out the arrangements and install the young king as paramount chief. The party hostile to the Boers began to arm themselves and erect fortifications. A state of lawlessness and terror ensued. The Boers refrained from active measures, awaiting the decision of the king, who wavered between opposite counsels until he was

convinced that the English Government could not be moved. Then he submitted and was crowned as paramount chief at Imbabane on March 11. But later he renewed his protest and appealed anew to the British Government to make good the assurances of independence made to the late King Umbadine by Sir Evelyn Wood. He wanted to have the concessions by which Umbadine had alienated land, minerals, revenue, and administration investigated by a royal commission. When the Government of the Transvaal offered himn £1,000 a month he refused to receive any money from the Boers, and threatened war and bloodshed if they attempted to impose their administration upon the Swazis, who would recognize no government except that of the Queen of England.

Native War.-A fresh dispute arose in the spring with the Makatese tribes settled upon the reservation in the Zoutpansberg district. In May Paramount-Chief Magato expelled the Government commission that had been sent to settle the difficulty and massed his warriors in the different strongholds. Gen. Joubert called out a commando of several thousand Boers and native allies to attack first the lesser chief Magoeba, who had risen in open rebellion. Magoeba's kraal was captured and afterward he and his followers were surrounded in the forest. The artillery shelled their camp, and then the Swazi allies took it by assault. The rebel chief was among the killed. The commando was dismissed then, leaving the difficulty with Magato to be settled by negotiation.

Portuguese South Africa.-The Portuguese possessions south of the Zambesi are organized as the province of Lourenço Marques, which forms with Mozambique the state of East Africa. There are 57 miles of railroad from Delagoa Bay to the Transvaal frontier. Outside of the district of Lourenço Marques the country has been conceded to the Inhambane Company and the Mozambique Company.

The native inhabitants are in a chronic state of revolt against the Portuguese authorities, who endeavor to protect the loyal and industrious tribes against the impis of the slave-hunting and predatory Kaffirs. The chiefs Mahazula, Zihlahla, and Gungunhana rebelled against Portuguese authority in August, 1894, and harried the loyal tribes, attacked the Portuguese outposts, and raided the immediate vicinity of the town of Lourenço Marques. The British South Africa Company, which pays tribute to Gungunhana, offered the assistance of its troops to keep that chief in check, but the offer was declined. In the beginning of January, 1895, Mahazula made another raid on the Matollag at Delagoa Bay. The Portuguese, having received re-enforcements from Europe and Angola, began their advance a fortnight later. They tried to surround Mahazula and Zihlahla and marched up the Incomati river against Mariqueen, being joined by their native allies and supported by gunboats on the river. On Jan. 29 they defeated the rebels on the right bank, and drove them back in disorder as far as Mariqueen. On Feb. 2 the enemy entered their camp at dawn, treacherously displaying a flag of truce, and began to assagai the sleeping soldiers, killing 9 whites and 20 Angolans, and wounding a large number

before the troops formed a hollow square and repelled the natives with the aid of Maxim guns, killing 150. The troops burned kraals and occupied Maraqueen and other positions on the Incomati, but made no farther advance until the rainy season was over. A large proportion of the soldiers who were sent out from Portugal in the preceding October had died of fever; nevertheless 1,500 officers and men volunteered for the service and sailed for Lourenço Marques in March and April. The operations on the Incomati river were brought to a successful issue. The whole left bank was in the hands of the Portuguese by the middle of May up to Macaneta, where the chief Mahasul made a last, ineffectual stand. Military posts were established at Maraqueen and Incanhine and an armed police was organized. Mahazula retired with his men into Gungunhana's country.

The delimitation of the frontier between the Portuguese territory and the Transvaal was completed at the beginning of the year by a joint commission, of which Senhor Ennes was the Portuguese member. The dispute with the British South Africa Company in regard to the boundary of Manicaland has been referred to the arbitration of Italy.

German Southwest Africa.-The German possessions of Damaraland and Namaland, though 340,000 square miles in extent, have not more than 200,000 inhabitants. There were 1,200 resident whites in 1894. The protectorate is administered by an Imperial Commissioner. The supply of water is deficient, except in Damaraland, where there are good grazing grounds. The cost of the administration for 1894-'95 is set down in the budget at 1,027,000 marks, of which the 27,000 marks are raised locally and the rest contributed by the imperial treasury. The German commander, Major von François, had a force of 224 white soldiers in 1894. successful attempts have been made to land goods at the mouth of the Swakop river. Valuable guano deposits were discovered in 1895 at Cape Cross, near Walfish Bay.

Un

CARRIAGES, HORSELESS. The great horseless-carriage race from Paris to Bordeaux and return made in the spring of 1895, in which 4 people were conveyed in what the French call a voiture automobile a distance of 750 miles in time that made the average for the distance 16 miles an hour, at once turned the attention of all interested in the improved methods of locomotion, of which the bicycle has been a fore runner, to this method of getting over the ground without the use of man's universal friend, the horse. It appears that the application of steam has only temporarily settled the question of transportation. Horseless carriages have been used successfully in Paris for several years. Among the reasons that might make horseless carriages popular in the United States are the excessive cost of keeping horses, the cost of labor, and the same difficulties experienced in keeping a coachman that one encounters in his experience with domestic help. The principal reason against the adoption of the horseless carriage here so readily as in Europe is the condition of the roads. In England and France the roads are excellent; here they are the chief source of regret for bicyclists, pedestrians, drivers, and every

body else that is compelled to use them. Then, too, the uneven formation of the country is against the use of a vehicle propelled by a motor, as unless a motor of tremendous power is provided there is always difficulty in climbing hills.

A horseless carriage resembles an ordinary carriage without shafts, except that it is somewhat more solidly built, and on closer examination it can be seen that it is furnished with what looks like the compartment under a dogcart, for the power, and has a handle in front of the driver's seat, by which it is steered. The horseless carriages first made themselves popular in Paris, that city of smooth and almost level pavements. At first their owners did not dare to trust themselves far; but soon with experience came confidence, and the journeys were extended to Versailles and St. Cloud instead of being limited to little trips about the Louvre and along

R

DOUBLE-CYLINDER MOTOR FOR HORSELESS CARRIAGE.

the Champs Elysées. It was found, too, that in point of speed and in ease in making journeys they were far ahead of those drawn by horses.

One of the most important questions in connection with the practical employment of the horseless carriage related to the power_that should move it. The race from Paris to Bourdeaux settled this, for all four of the prizes were won by voitures equipped with the motor that utilizes petroleum as a fuel. Steam, electricity, and naphtha were easily outstripped as a motive power by petroleum; for what was wanted was not a great power, but a handy and convenient one. Steam could easily furnish all the power wanted to propel a horseless carriage, or anything else, up even a Vermont hill; but the employment of steam is always somewhat clumsy, and there is oil and a boiler, a hot fire, escapes of vapor, an engineer, and various other inconveniences which it was desirable to avoid. A

steam carriage was made to compete in the ParisBordeaux race, but it weighed several tons, and its very strength militated against it. An electric horseless carriage was also got up for this race. This weighed several tons, and was impracticable. The race referred to definitely settled it, then, that one of the necessities of a horseless carriage is that it must be comparatively light. With petroleum there is no necessity for either an engineer or an electrician to be always in attendance when it is desired to take

one in most successful use in this country so far, is the motor that has been most successfully applied to the service of launches. This is a petroleum motor, which produces its power by a series of explosions in a cylinder or hot box, brought about by the mixture, at a certain temperature, of air and gas. The downstroke of the piston draws a current of hot air into the carburetor attached to the motor. The temperature of this current causes generation of vapor from gasoline contained in the carburetor and

a trip, as the knowledge necessary to enable one to take entire charge of a petroleum motor is so slight that it is not a matter for serious consideration. Petroleum has the further advantage of not having any of the inconveniences of steam, such as blow or waste pipes, a boiler, or a furnace, or the friction resulting from the exercise of such power as steam exerts, and the consequent need of constant oiling, while there is absolutely no danger of explosions.

The Motor. The prize-winning motor of the Paris-Bordeaux and return races, and the

its entry into the cylinder. Between the carburetor and the cylinder a cold-air pipe is attached to the suction pipe, which is opened or shut by an admission valve. It needs a certain proportion of air and vapor to secure an effective explosive mixture, and, by opening the admission valve more or less, the proportion of this mixture is regulated. The upstroke of the piston forces the explosive mixture into the platinum tube attached to the explosion chamber above the cylinder. The platinum tube is heated by a small lamp, the only fire used. This flame ig

nites the explosive gas, thus creating a sudden expansion of it, which forces the piston down again. The second upstroke in the cylinder exhausts the expanded gases through a pipe opened by a valve at every second stroke only. The exhaust pipe is opened at the rear of the carriage, and the motion carries any disagreeable odors away from the occupants of the vehicle. The double-cylinder motor is the kind most employed. To start the motor a little crank must be turned half a dozen times, sometimes as much as half a minute, to enable the machine to begin its explosions. This constitutes the only serious objection to it. The motor has no explosive force on hand, and requires no safety valve, like steam. When a motor is stopped or shut off it is dead, and there can be no effort on its part until half a dozen turns of the crank have sucked in a mixture of gas and air to begin over again a series of explosions in the cylinders. The efforts that are being made by inventors to do away with the disadvantage mentioned may be appreciated, when it is said that in the large motors of this kind for use in mills and like heavy establishments the engines of 100 horse power obtain the start by the use of several smaller engines. Of course it would be futile to attempt to start by hand an engine of 100 horse power. The smallest of these engines is not too large to be started by hand. This smallest engine, as soon as it has got its own power, in turn sets the second one, and that starts the main

machine.

Hitherto it has been necessary to carry on a journey in one of these horseless carriages at least a barrel of water for cooling the cylinders. A new device, by which a smaller quantity will be sufficient, consists of an arrangement by which the water used to cool the cylinders is recooled almost as soon as it is used, and then made to play its part over and over again. The quantity of fuel used is not worth making any effort to reduce, as it is only a pint of petroleum an hour to each horse power. Three horse powers was the capacity of the winner at the last Paris race. The most successful of the devices thus far for doing away with the inconvenience in starting the machine is a contrivance, now popular in Paris, of a gearing by which, when the carriage is stopped for a few minutes, a small wheel takes the power and continues the engine in motion, but with the power not applied to the wheels of the wagon.

Two large firms in Paris are very busy supplying the demand for horseless carriages. One makes carriages with wooden spokes, while the other produces vehicle with the steel spokes that characterize the bicycle. It was one of the latter, carrying 4 persons, that won the special prize in the great French race. The 750-mile journey was made by a wagon carrying 2 persons in forty-eight hours and fifty-three minutes. A factory for the manufacture of horseless carriages has been established at Steinway, Long Island, near Astoria.

CHEMISTRY. Chemical Theory.-Prof. Raphael Mendola, opening the chemical section of the British Association with an address on the progress of chemical science, remarked that the recognition of the quantivalency of carbon by Kekule in 1858 was the beginning of the

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recent development of chemical science. The conception of the valency of the atoms was broached by Frankland in 1852, and shortly after that time the course of discovery began to concentrate itself in two channels: one following the physical side, and the other carrying the tide of discovery arising from the valency doctrine and its extension to the structure of chemical molecules." The two channels are at present fairly parallel and not far apart. We have one class of workers dealing with the physics of matter in relation to general chemical properties, and another class of investigators concerning themselves with the special properties of individual compounds and classes of compounds with atomic idiosyncrasies. The workers of one class are differentiating, while their colleagues are integrating. Both methods are necessary for the development of the science; and there is no antagonism, but co-operation. The success attending the application of the doctrine of valency to the compounds of carbon has helped its extension to all compounds formed by other elements, and the student of the present day is taught to use structural formulas as the A B C of his science. The doctrine in its present state is empirical, but we can hardly doubt that a physical reality underlies it. There is something to be reckoned with besides valency. The great desideratum of modern chemistry is a physical or mechanical interpretation of the combining capacities of the atoms. The services of the doctrine of Valency, however, in the construction of rational formulas, especially within the limits of isomerism, have been incalculable. The doctrine underwent a prolific development through the introduction of the stereochemical hypothesis in 1874; and renewed vitality was given it by the conceptions of tautom erism and deomotropy, formulated by Laar in 1885, and by Paul Jacobson in 1887. Å more recent development of structural chemistry is the conception of certain ideal complexes of atoms which we consider to be the nucleus or type from which the compound of known constitution is derived. In some cases these types have been shown to be capable of existence; in other cases they are still ideal. The parent compound has sometimes been known before its derivative, as in the case of ammonia and the organic amines and amides; and in other instances the derivatives were obtained before the type was isolated, as in the case of the hydrazines, which were characterized in 1875, and the hydrazo compounds, which have been known since 1863, while hydrazine itself was only first obtained in 1887. This theory is also capable of almost indefinite extension. The present position of structural chemistry may be summed up in the statement that we have gained an enormous insight into the anatomy of molecules, while our knowledge of their physiology is as yet in a rudimentary condition.

The theory is sustained by Dr. T. L. Phipson that the atmosphere was originally of nitrogen only, and the free oxygen which now forms part of the air we breathe is entirely the product of plant life extending over countless ages-not that plants were the creators of oxygen, but that they were the means by which Nature has placed free oxygen gas in the atmosphere of the

earth. Paleontologists generally admit that the lowest forms of plant life were the first to make their appearance; on these, of course, would have devolved the function of preparing an atmosphere fit for the existence of animals. The author has again, in experiments carried on during the summer of 1894, confirmed his hypothesis that the lower forms of plant life are precisely those which produce oxygen most rapidly and most abundantly. Between green plants, which are essentially anaerobic, and the more perfect animals, beings which are just as essentially aërobic, there exists a vast intermediate class presenting more or less the characteristics of both, such as the various organized ferments, fungi, bacteria, etc., which represent the gradual transformation of the anaerobic cell into the aërobic cell under the influence of the gradual change of medium-that is, the constantly increasing amount of free oxygen in the atmosphere since the earlier geological ages. An experiment is described by the author in which green unicellular algæ, bottled and exposed to the sunlight every day at a temperature of from 43° to 63° F., produced oxygen at a rate represented by 420 gallons a year, or 42,000 gal lons in a century.

Chemical Physics. The behavior of gases in electrification and the influence of moisture in their combination was discussed in the chemical section at the recent meeting of the British Association. Prof. J. J. Thomson exhibited experiments showing the connection between chemical charge and electrical discharge through gases. The gases were confined under pressure in glass bulbs which were exposed to electrical action. As each spark passed between the poles of the machine a rapidly alternating current was set up in the coil, and hence by induction in the gas. Moist oxygen gave a vivid incandescence, followed by an afterglow or phosphorescence on removing the bulb from the coil. With the dry gas, incandescence did, not take place; it could, however, be started in the dry gas by a brush discharge, and, if once started, continued under the influence of the current. With air the phenomenon is reversed; damp air does not glow, dry air does. By making use of two coils, in one of which was a beaker of fairly strong sulphuric acid, and in the other a bulb containing moist oxygen, the presence of the acid was shown to prevent the incandescence in the bulb, indicating that the conductivity of the gas was much greater than that of the acid. As the glow is only given in gases forming polymeric modifications, it is suggested by the author that the drops of water present may act as conductors, causing the original molecules to dissociate. With gases this preliminary dissociation can be brought about only by the expenditure of a large amount of energy. Alcohol vapor will act similarly to water, and it becomes of interest to study other solvents. Mr. Brereton Baker followed with experiments on the influence of moisture on chemical changes. He showed that ammonia and hydrochloric acid when dry do not combine. Tubes were exhibited containing dry sulphur trioxide and cupric oxide and dry sulphur trioxide and lime side by side without acting upon one another. He has obtained analogous results to those of

Prof. Thomson by using vacuous tubes, into one end of which a platinum wire was fused, and which contained a small quantity of mercury; on shaking the tubes in a dark room incandescence took place in those containing moist oxygen. This is less if nitrogen is present, and ceases if the gas is dry. For the explanation of these results, Mr. Baker is inclined to the physical view of the matter suggested by Vernon Harcourt rather than to the chemical one proposed by Dixon. He has long believed in an electro-chemical theory of combination; hence he considered it desirable to ascertain whether molecules capable of combining are at different potentials, and whether the difference of potential increases as they are brought nearer to the point of union; and whether the conditions that affect chemical change affect in the same direction the passage of the electric discharges. Experiments were performed which showed that mixed gases can be partially separated by the attraction of their molecules for oppositely charged plates. Hence it seems probable that the molecules themselves are charged. Moreover, experiment showed that the electric discharge takes place more readily in moist than dry air; and, further, that the electric glow obtained by shaking mercury in different rarefied gases gradually diminishes as the gas is dried by phosphorous pentoxide, and finally disappears. Hence the author concludes that in the presence of moisture electric discharge is affected in the same way as chemical combination. If it can be regarded as proved that substances which are capable of chemically combining are electrically charged, the great significance of this result is obvious.

Attention is called by Dr. G. E. Quincke to the fantastic forms assumed by combinations of alkalies and oleic acid when brought into contact with water. Oleic acid with a little alkali, or containing an acid oleate of an alkali in solution, forms in much water hollow spheres, globules, and foam, with walls of liquid oleic acid. The hollow spaces are filled with aqueous soap solution. When more water is added, the walls are covered with a solid skin of the acid oleate, which may then become quite liquid again by decomposition into liquid oleic acid and aqueous soap solution. The periodic flow of soap solution at the surface separating liquid oleic acid and water produces vortex motions, which may be made evident with methylene blue or other coloring matter. More hollow spheres and bubbles of oleic acid are formed, which are arranged by the capillary forces on the larger bubbles in definite positions, such as straight lines, circles, and ellipses. An analogy is pointed out in Dr. Quincke's paper between this arrangement and the configuration of various small portions of the stellar universe, such as parts of Orion, Virgo, and Coma Berenicis, and Plateau's experiments with weightless oil spheres illustrative of the generation of the solar system is recalled. The author also emphasizes the fact that the protoplasm of the organic world shows a structure and motion similar to those of oil foam with liquid or solid surfaces.

The critical temperature of hydrogen has been determined by M. Olzewski to be -234.5° C., and its boiling point -243.5° C., or —406·3° F.