Writing Tech Brief By HackerNoon

Moreover, the circumstances under which the trials were respectively performed, render the comparison difficult, if not unfair.

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The labors of the judges in this department were much lighter in the last exhibition than in the preceding one, and we are happy to say, were, in our opinion, so far as the award of premiums is concerned, much more fairly performed. The award of two first premiums to two competing engines could scarcely be repeated this time, as there was in reality no competition. The Allen engine was the only important one entered, and of course received the first premium. The engine is, however, one that evidently could have competed favorably with those previously exhibited.

We are in receipt of advanced sheets of the judges' report pertaining to the critical examination of this engine, being a record and account of experiments performed under the supervision of Washington Lee, C. E. The experiments were very comprehensive, and comprised approved tests, of each important detail, usually made by expert engineers.

The report is too voluminous for reprint or even for condensation in our columns. In looking it through, we are satisfied that the experiments were accurately made, and that the engine exhibited great working efficiency and economy.

As the engine has been recently illustrated and described in our columns, we deem it unnecessary to dwell upon the details of its construction. The water test of the previous exhibition was employed, the water being this time measured, with indisputable accuracy, in a tank, instead of by a meter as before.

For want of self-reliance and decision of character, thousands are submerged in their first essays to make the voyage of life.

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Self-reliance, conjoined with promptitude in the execution of our undertakings, is indispensable to success. And yet multitudes live a life of vacillation and consequent failure, because they remain undetermined what to do, or, having decided that, have no confidence in themselves. Such persons need to be assured; but this assurance can be obtained in no other way than by their own successes in whatever they may attempt for themselves. If they lean upon others, they not only become dissatisfied with what they achieve, but the success of one achievement, in which they are entitled to but partial credit, is no guaranty to them that, unaided, they will not fail in their very next experiment.

For want of self-reliance and decision of character, thousands are submerged in their first essays to make the voyage of life. Disappointed and chagrined at this, they underestimate their own capacities, and thenceforward, relying on others, they take and keep a subordinate position, from which they rise, when they rise at all, with the utmost difficulty. When a young man attains his majority, it is better for him, as a general rule, to take some independent position of his own, even though the present remuneration be less than he would obtain in the service of others. When at work for himself, in a business which requires and demands foresight, economy, and industry, he will naturally develop the strong points of his character, and become self-reliant.

If less than this amount of air is supplied, the carbon burns to monoxide instead of dioxide and its full heat value is not developed.

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Combustion may be defined as the rapid chemical combination of oxygen with carbon, hydrogen and sulphur, accompanied by the diffusion of heat and light. That portion of the substance thus combined with the oxygen is called combustible. As used in steam engineering practice, however, the term combustible is applied to that portion of the fuel which is dry and free from ash, thus including both oxygen and nitrogen which may be constituents of the fuel, though not in the true sense of the term combustible.

Combustion is perfect when the combustible unites with the greatest possible amount of oxygen, as when one atom of carbon unites with two atoms of oxygen to form carbon dioxide, CO2. The combustion is imperfect when complete oxidation of the combustible does not occur, or where the combustible does not unite with the maximum amount of oxygen, as when one atom of carbon unites with one atom of oxygen to form carbon monoxide, CO, which may be further burned to carbon dioxide.

Kindling Point—Before a combustible can unite with oxygen and combustion takes place, its temperature must first be raised to the ignition or kindling point, and a sufficient time must be allowed for the completion of the combustion before the temperature of the gases is lowered below that point. Table 30, by Stromeyer, gives the approximate kindling temperatures of different fuels.

Photographs of him by Mayall were recently presented to the Society of Telegraph Engineers and the American Society of Telegraphers at Philadelphia.

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This ingenious man, whose inventions in connection with the electric telegraph entitle his name to be held in grateful remembrance, died in January last at the new Home for Incurables at Broomhill, Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, Scotland, and on Saturday his remains were interred in the burying ground in the neighborhood of that town known as the Old Aisle Cemetery. Mr. Bain, who was about sixty-six years of age, was a native of Thurso. He was the inventor of the electro-chemical printing telegraph, the electro-magnetic clock, and of perforated paper for automatic transmission of messages, and was author of a number of books and pamphlets relating to these subjects. Sir William Thomson, in his address to the Mathematical Section of the British Association at its meeting in Glasgow last year, said: "In the United States Telegraphic Department of the Great Exhibition at Philadelphia, I saw Edison's automatic telegraph delivering 1,015 words in 57 seconds. This was done by the long neglected electro-chemical method of Bain, long ago condemned in England to the helot work of recording from a relay, and turned adrift as needlessly delicate for that." Mr. Bain was stricken by paralysis, and suffered from complete loss of power in the lower limbs. For some time he had received a pension from the government, obtained for him, we believe, through the instrumentality of Sir William Thomson. Mr. Bain was a widower, and has left a son and daughter, the former of whom is in America, and the latter at present on the Continent. Photographs of him by Mayall were recently presented to the Society of Telegraph Engineers and the American Society of Telegraphers at Philadelphia.—The Engineer.

The substance to be tested is heated in a solution of caustic lime and oxide of lead in glycerin.

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H. Vohl recommends the following as the best method of detecting sulphur in organic compounds: The substance to be tested is heated in a solution of caustic lime and oxide of lead in glycerin. The latter is prepared as follows: One volume of distilled water is mixed with 2 volumes of pure glycerin and heated to boiling; freshly prepared slaked lime is added, little by little, until it is saturated. Freshly precipitated hydrated oxide of lead, or moist litharge, is added in excess, and the liquid allowed to boil gently for a few minutes, then tightly corked and left to cool, after which the clear liquid is decanted from the sediment into a glass vessel that can be tightly corked. If into this solution be introduced and heated any organic which contains sulphur, like hair, feathers, horn, albumen, and the like, it will at once turn black from the formation of sulphide of lead. The great delicacy of this test is evident from the fact that, when pure wheat bread is boiled with this reagent, it turns yellow at first and then dark gray in consequence of the presence of sulphur in the gluten of the bread.

The three manometers are filled to the same level with mercury, the quantity being adjusted by means of a pipette.

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The young student of physics occasionally has difficulty in grasping the laws of pressure in fluids. His every day experience has taught him that a push against a solid body causes it to push in the same direction, and he often receives with some doubt the statement that pressure applied to a fluid is transmitted equally in every direction. The experiments ordinarily shown in illustration of this principle prove that pressure is transmitted in all directions, but do not prove the equality of transmission, and in spite of all the text books may tell him, the student is apt to cling to the idea that a downward pressure applied to a liquid is more apt to burst the bottom than the side of the containing vessel.

N. B.—The Numbers are made up to the present year for the Papers, but only to 1827 for Members of the Council.

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I had intended to have printed a list of those persons to whom the Royal Society had in past years awarded the Copley medals, and the reasons for which they were given; but having applied to the Council for permission to employ an amanuensis, to copy those awards, either from the minutes, or from the volumes of the Philosophical Transactions, I was surprised at receiving a refusal. I confess it appeared to me, that as a whole, those adjudications did us credit, although I doubted the propriety of many individual cases. As, however, the Council seem to have had a different opinion, and as I had made the application through courtesy, I shall decline printing a list, every individual portion of which has been already published in many ways, although the whole has never been printed in a collected form.

This metaphor is not recommended for imitation.

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*15. Emphatic words must stand in emphatic positions; i.e. for the most part, at the beginning or at the end of the sentence.* This rule occasionally supersedes the common rules about position. Thus, the place for an adverb, as a rule, should be between the subject and verb: "He quickly left the room;" but if quickly is to be emphatic, it must come at the beginning or end, as in "I told him to leave the room slowly, but he left quickly."

Adjectives, in clauses beginning with "if" and "though," often come at the beginning for emphasis: "Insolent though he was, he was silenced at last."

*15 a. Unemphatic words must, as a rule, be kept from the end of the sentence.* It is a common fault to break this rule by placing a short and unemphatic predicate at the end of a long sentence.

"To know some Latin, even if it be nothing but a few Latin roots, is useful." Write, "It is useful, &c."

So "the evidence proves how kind to his inferiors he is."

Often, where an adjective or auxiliary verb comes at the end, the addition of an emphatic adverb justifies the position, e.g. above, "is very useful," "he has invariably been."

A short "chippy" ending, even though emphatic, is to be avoided. It is abrupt and unrhythmical, e.g. "The soldier, transfixed with the spear, writhed." We want a longer ending, "fell writhing to the ground," or, "writhed in the agonies of death." A "chippy" ending is common in bad construing from Virgil.

*Exceptions.*—Prepositions and pronouns attached to emphatic words need not be moved from the end; e.g. "He does no harm that I hear of." "Bear witness how I loved him."

*N.B. In all styles, especially in letter-writing, a final emphasis must not be so frequent as to become obtrusive and monotonous.*

*15 b. An interrogation sometimes gives emphasis.* "No one can doubt that the prisoner, had he been really guilty, would have shown some signs of remorse," is not so emphatic as "Who can doubt, Is it possible to doubt, &c.?"

Contrast "No one ever names Wentworth without thinking of &c." with "But Wentworth,—who ever names him without thinking of those harsh dark features, ennobled by their expression into more than the majesty of an antique Jupiter?"

But commonplace subjects must be illustrated by metaphor that is commonplace.

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1. Use words in their proper sense.

Write, not "His apparent guilt justified his friends in disowning him," but "his evident guilt." "Conscious" and "aware," "unnatural" and "supernatural," "transpire" and "occur," "circumstance" and "event," "reverse" and "converse," "eliminate" and "elicit," are often confused together.

This rule forbids the use of the same word in different senses. "It is in my power to refuse your request, and since I have power to do this, I may lawfully do it." Here the second "power" is used for "authority."

This rule also forbids the slovenly use of "nice," "awfully," "delicious," "glorious," &c. See (2).

2. Avoid exaggerations.

"The boundless plains in the heart of the empire furnished inexhaustible supplies of corn, that would have almost sufficed for twice the population."

Here "inexhaustible" is inconsistent with what follows. The words "unprecedented," "incalculable," "very," and "stupendous" are often used in the same loose way.

3. Avoid useless circumlocution and "fine writing."

"Her Majesty here partook of lunch." Write "lunched."

"Partook of" implies sharing, and is incorrect as well as lengthy.

So, do not use "apex" for "top," "species" for "kind," "individual" for "man," "assist" for "help," &c.

Of the charges themselves I shall offer no opinion, but entreat every member to judge for himself.

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An examination into some charges brought against one of the twenty-four candidates, mentioned in a note as having their names suspended in the meeting-room of the Royal Society, at one time, has caused a printed pamphlet to be circulated amongst the members of the Society. Of the charges themselves I shall offer no opinion, but entreat every member to judge for himself. I shall, however, make one extract, which tends to show how the ranks of the Society are recruited.

EXTRACT FROM A PRINTED LETTER FROM A. F. M. TO J. G. CHILDREN, ESQ. DATED, 22, UPPER BEDFORD-PLACE, MARCH 13, 1830.

"When I wished you to Propose me at the Geological Society, you asked me why you should not propose me also at the Royal Society; and my answer was, that it was an honour to which I did not think I could aspire; that my talents were too insignificant to warrant such pretensions. Many days passed, and still you pressed me on the subject, because your partiality made you think me deserving of the honour; but I resisted, really through modesty, not that I did not covet the distinction, until something was said of my paper on the meteoric mass of iron of Brazil, which was published some years ago in the Transactions of the Royal Society; when you insisted on proposing me, and I assented gratefully, because I was and am desirous of being a Fellow of the Royal Society, if I can be supposed worthy of having my name so honourably enrolled."