Electro-Metallurgy.
[Jour. Frank. lnst., negative constituent of the electrolyte must be in constant contact with the electro-positive anode; and the electro-positive constituent of the electrolyte must be in constant contact with the electro-negative cathode. Otherwise, other and improper constituents take part in the operation and energy will be absorbed or uselessly expended. T(~ avoid this condition, which takes place when the electrolyte is motionless, owing to the decrease of the amount of the proper constituents at the electrodes due to the action itself, a constant circulation of the electrolyte must be kept up; and the more rapid this is the greater the speed of the electrolysis, or the less the strength of the electrolyte requires to be.
But I see that my allotted time has been much exceeded and therefore I must bring my remarks rapidly to a close. I have been able only to glance at some of the principles and practices of this great art which may be said to be scarcely in its infancy. As I contemplate its future I see in this great means of producing and utilizing a form of energy which we call electricity, a great aid not only to the metallurgist but to the chemist in his researches and analyses. We have seen that by its aid we determine the affinities of one material for another. We may compose and decompose many compound substances. The chemist's m~ is but this. I see that he can produce his metals and his salts by this action, and in many cases much more cheaply than by the various processes of substitution he now employs. And before many years we will not only see extensive electro-metallurgical establishments for the production and working of metals, but we will also see, side by side with them, their legitimate branches, electro-chemical establishments for the production of chemicals, dye-stuffs, etc.
But a short time ago it would not pay to do these things by the expenditure of zinc and acid. Now the grandest concrete production of the physicist, the dynamo-electric machine, furuishes us with means for conserving energy to industrial lmrposes, marvellously, effectually and cheaply. I drank you for your kind attention. GER~[ANY.--Some Berlin capitalists are about establishing, near that city, a Japanese colony of forty workmen and their families, in accordance with the plans of a Japanese architect. There will be workmen in metals and in lacquer, ceramists, painters, enamelers, silk weavers, etc., all working according to the methods of their native land. The public will be admitted to study the various processes employed by the workmen.--La Nature, May 31, 1884.
JAPANESE COLONY IN
C.