MISCELLANY.
United States Board for testing Iron and Steel.—We have already (in the July number of the Monthly) called attention to the researches proposed to be made by the United States Board for testing Iron and Steel, and recur to the subject in order to stimulate those of our readers who may be in possession of facts bearing on the inquiry to communicate with the chairmen of the various committees into which the board has been divided. These committees are fifteen in number. The committee on abrasion and wear, chairman, R. H. Thurston, has to examine and report upon the abrasion and wear of railway wheels, axles, rails, and other materials. Another subject of investigation by this committee is the wear of tools under the various conditions of workshop practice. The committee on armor-plate, chairman, Lieutenant-Colonel Q. A. Gillmore, U.S.A., will make tests of armor-plate, and collect data derived from experiments already made to determine the characteristics of metal suitable for such use. A. L. Holley is chairman of the committee on chemical research, whose duty it is to plan and conduct investigations of the mutual relations of the chemical and mechanical properties of metals. The committee on chains and wire-ropes, whose chairman is Commodore L. A. Beardslee, U.S.N., is charged to determine the character of iron best adapted for chain-cables, the best form and proportions of link, and the qualities of metal used in the manufacture of iron and steel wire-rope. The committee on corrosion of metals, W. Sooy Smith, chairman, is to investigate the subject of corrosion of metals under the conditions of actual use.
The committee on the effects of temperature, chairman, R. A. Thurston, will investigate the effects of variations of temperature upon the strength and other qualities of metals. That on girders and columns will arrange and conduct experiments to determine the laws of resistance of beams, girders, and columns, to change of form and to fracture. Two committees on iron, wrought and cast, chairmen, Commander Beaslee and Lieutenant-Colonel Gillmore, will examine and report on the mechanical and physical properties of wrought and cast-iron. The committee on metallic alloys, chairman, Prof. Thurston, is to make experiments on the characteristics of alloys and to investigate the laws of combination. That on orthogonal simultaneous strains, chairman, W. Sooy Smith, will experiment on such strains with a view to the determination of laws. W. Sooy Smith is also chairman of the committee of physical phenomena, who will investigate the physical phenomena accompanying the distortion and rupture of materials. The committee on reheating and rerolling, chairman. Commodore Beaslee, will observe and experiment on the effects of reworking metals; of hammering as compared with rolling, and of annealing metals. A committee on steels produced by modern processes, A. L. Holley, chairman, will investigate the constitution and characteristics of steels made by the Bessemer, open-hearth, and other modern methods. Finally, the committee on steels for tools, chairman, Chief-Engineer D. Smith, U.S.N., is directed to determine the constitution and characteristics and the special adaptations of steels used for tools. Each of these committees has issued a circular, more particularly defining the researches in which it is engaged; they can be obtained from the secretary of the board, Prof. Thurston, Stevens Technological Institute, Hoboken, New Jersey, or from the respective chairmen.
Stanley's Expedition.—Letters have been received by James Gordon Bennett, of this city, from Henry M. Stanley, commander of the expedition fitted out for the exploration of the interior of Africa by the proprietors of the New York Herald and the London Telegraph. The letters were written at a village called Kagehyi, on the extreme southern shore of Victoria Niyanza. The expedition reached that point on February 27, 1875, after an arduous march of 103 days from the sea-coast. There were in the expedition, as soldiers and carriers, over 300 men, all native Africans except five, the commander and four Englishmen. For the first 175 miles Stanley followed Livingstone's route nearly due west, but, having reached
