Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XXXI., No. 787.
Scientific American established 1845
Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.
Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

The Outlook for Applied Entomology.\ue010By Dr. C.V. RILEY, U.S. entomologist.\ue011The conclusion of
Prof. Riley's lecture, treating of the branch of entomology with which his name is so honorably
associated

XI. PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE.—Newer Physiology and Pathology.—By Prof.
SAMUEL BELL. M.D.—An excellent presentation of modern practice in the light of
bacteriology

The central battery ironclad Colbert is one of the ten ships of the French navy that constitute the group
ranking next in importance to the squadron of great turret ships, of which the Formidable is the largest. The
group consists of six types, as follows:

1. The Ocean type; three vessels; the Marengo, Ocean, and Suffren.
2. The Friedland type, of which no others are built.
3. The Richelieu type, of which no others are built.
4. The Colbert type, of which there are two; the Colbert and the Trident.
5. The Redoubtable type, of which no others are built.
6. The Devastation type, of which no others are built.

The Colbert was launched at Brest in 1875, and her sister ship, the Trident, in 1876. Both are of iron and
wood, and the following are the principal dimensions of the Colbert, which apply very closely to the Trident:
She is 321 ft. 6 in. long, 59 ft. 6 in. beam, and 29 ft. 6 in. draught aft. Her displacement is 8,457 tons, her
indicated horse power is 4,652, and her speed 14.4 knots. She has coal carrying capacity for 700 tons, and her
crew numbers 706. The thickness of her armor belt is 8.66 in., that protecting the central battery is 6.29 in.
thick, which is also the thickness of the transverse armored bulkheads, while the deck is 0.43 in. in thickness.
The armament of the Colbert consists of eight 10.63 in. guns, two 9.45 in., six 5.51 in., two quick firing guns,
and fourteen revolving and machine guns.—Engineering.

A compound locomotive, built by the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, has been tried on the Union Elevated Railroad, Brooklyn, N.Y. The engine can be run either single or compound. The economy in fuel was 37.7 per cent, and in water 23.8 per cent, over a simple engine which was tested at the same time. The smoothness of running and the stillness and comparative absence of cinders was fully demonstrated.

In considering the slide valve in its simple form with or without lap, we find there are certain limitations to its
use as a valve that would give the best results. The limitation of most importance is that its construction will
not allow of the proper cut off to obtain all the benefits of expansion without hindering the perfect action of
the valve in other particulars. At this economical cut off the opening of the steam port is very little and very
narrow, and although this is attempted to be overcome by exceedingly wide ports, sixteen inches in width in
many cases in locomotive work, this great width adds largely to the unbalanced area of the valve. The
exhausting functions of the valve are materially changed at the short cut off, and when much lap is added to
overcome this defect, there usually takes place a choking of the exhaust port. You might inquire, why not
make the port wider, but this would increase the minimum amount of load on the valve, and this must not be
overlooked. Then the cut off is a fixed one, and we can govern only by throttling the pressure we have raised
in the boiler or by using a cut off governor and the consequent wastes of an enormous clearance space. You
will observe, therefore, that the plain slide valve engine gives the most general satisfaction at about two-thirds
cut off and a very low economic result. The best of such engines will require forty-five to fifty pounds of
steam per horse power per hour, and to generate this, assuming an evaporation of nine pounds of water to a
pound of coal, would require between five and six pounds of coal per horse power per hour. And the only
feature that the valve has specially to commend it is its extreme simplicity and the very little mechanism