In the latter part of October last I met with a very serious accident in alighting from my vehi- cle in this city. In leaving my wagon from the front, I incautiously placed my foot on the mova- ble crossbar to which the swingletrees are at- tached, instead of the fixed bar. When I lifted my other foot from the bed of the wagon, the crossbar moved; I lost my balance, and in endeav- oring to recover, threw myself into the, arms of my coachman, who was on the footwalk to re- ceive me as I might alight. My weight, which is not less than 180 pounds, was too much for him, and he was thrown to the pavement. In some manner which I cannot understand I was turned round and fell with all my weight upon the pave- ment from a height of about three feet. * * * Fortunately my head did not strike the pavement. The concussion knocked the breath out of mjr body, and it was a considerable fraction of a sec- ond before I could have an inspiration of air. Some gentlemen kindly picked me up and assist- ed me into the nearest store. At the expiration of an hour, I was sufficiently recovered to lie ena- bled to call upon my iamily physician, who lived about a square distant, by whom my body was carefully examined. He said that there had been no fracture of ribs or bones, but that I had re- ceived a very severe contusion, the effects of which I would feel for some time at my age. The following sensible remarks of the New York World are cordially indorsed: We have no desire to appear unduly sceptical; but inasmuch as his “serious accident” consisted, by his own account, of a fall from a height of three feet, broken by his being received in the arms of his coachman, and inflicting neither fracture, dis- location, sprain, nor any injury more severe than a “shock” distributed over the entire surface of his right side, it may be permissible to question whether the after results would have been more disastrous and permanent without the bath of blue light. To show that the opinions of this series of articles are seconded by competent scientific authority, the reader is referred to the essays on “The Blue Glass Deception” in the last three numbers of the Scientific American, from which the following quotations are made: To recapitulate in brief, General Pleasonton’# claims, of any superior powers for blue glass on account of the color which it produces in trans- mitted light are, when tested by the result of pre- vious investigations, unfounded. In some in- stances,where it is desirable to reduce the inten- sity of the light, blue glass may be used; but any other mode of shading the light, as by ground glass, thin curtains, etc., would without doubt serve equally as well. The cures produced are ascribable to two causes; first, to the healthy in- fluence of the sun bath, and secondly, to the very powerful influence of the patient’s imagination. There are abundant cases known where imagina- tion has so powerfully affected the body as to cause death. Experiments upon criminals have shown that in one instance, where a person was placed in a bed which, he was informed, had just been va- cated by a cholera patient (but which had not), ho exhibited all the symptoms of that disease. An- other person is reported to have shown all the signs of collapse from loss of blood, from the sup- posititious idea that he was bleeding to death. As regards the animals fattened under the glass, all the circumstances go to show that the result was due to their enforced quiescence, their shelter from the weather and their free exposure to the sun. It is hardly necessary to add that, in our opin- ion, the use of blue-glass, as advocated by General Pleasonton. is devoid of benefit. * * * It has been suggested to ns, by a sceptic in patent blue glass science, that it is difficult to perceive how the blue violet rays, which were already in the sunlight before it was filtered by the glass, can be augmented in their influence by such filtration. If they are thus augmented, as is claimed, then it logically follows that the present compound of sunlight is a very inferior produc- tion, in which certain ingredients serve to dimin- ish the value of the others, and that the Creator has blundered badly in its manufacture. The statement of newspaper correspondents led to a mistake in the second article in as- serting that the general is not pressing his theory or using his patent for purposes of profit. This is not in accordance with the circular of General Pleasonton himself, dated Feb. 12, 1877, and now sent with every copy of his book. It reCouuts, as follows, what can be accomplished by blue glass, and states that he is ready to negotiate for licenses: Spinal meningitis, hemorrhages from the lungs, nervous debility, partial paralysis, rheumatic af- fections of all kinds, iuclusive of gout, have yield- ed to this treatment. * * * As my letters patent cover all these subjects, persons desirous of converting my discoveries into utility as a business, can negotiate with me for licenses therefor in any of the branches of indus- try mentioned herein, as for instances: 1. In treating diseases in hospitals, lunatic asylums, or medical practice by physicians and surgeons as a profession. 2. In purifying the vitiated atmosphere in pub- lic schools, halls of legislation, etc. 3. Increasing domestic animals for sale. 4. In rearing poultry and other birds for sale. 5. In rearing fishes of various kinds for sale. 6. In the cultivation of flowering plants and ornamental plants to be matured in winter. 7. In horticulture for food. Specific licenses can be procured from me, with directions for the use of my discoveries, and for the proper kinds of glass to be used. This change in the general’s idea of reaping profit from his theory will not probably lead many shrewd Yankees to take any stock in the patent until he explains its curious and contradictory workings in regard to pigs and insects. It is interesting to read the first sentences of the circular of the general. After giving the long title, he says— The above is the title of the most remarkable book that has ever been published in any country —in any age. This is the boldest of assertions, but it is nevertheless true, for it deals with every subject that concerns the life and health and prosperity of the human race in every part of our globe. Some might wish to affix other adjectives to this “remarkable” work, but intelligent read- ers must have anticipated this, and so must be closed this review of the general’s book. It has been a task requiring some expendi- ture of time and thought. But the reading of the volume has given amusement and caused many a healthy laugh. The studies neces- sary to treat the subject properly have led to a new perusal of many interesting books on light, heat and color, and fixed hi the mind more firmly the results of scientific investiga- tions. It has revealed anew the truth of the fol- lowing beautiful saying of Sir John Herscliel in one of his lectures: “A ray of light is a world in miniature, and if I were to set down all that experiment has revealed to us of its nature and constitution, it would take more volumes than there are pages in the manu- script of this lecture.” If these humble efforts and essays have not tired the patience of readers, and have given them but a portion of the satisfaction en- joyed in performing what was felt to be a duty, the writer will retire with feelings not at all typified or colored by the subject which has been considered. NOTES ON GENERAL PLEASONTON'S BOOK. BY THOMAS GAFFIELD. [For the Transcript.] It is pleasant to know that the blue-glass discussion has led so many invalids, probably for the first time, to test the long and well- known healing efficacy of the sun s beneficent light and heat. Even with a large proportion cut off by blue glass, many will be aided and some restored to health, the loss by the blue screen being sometimes made up by the pres- ence of a strong faith and a warm and vivid imagination. Until this class of the commu- nity is supplied with what is called “the med- icated glass,” the glass-makers and dealers will be busy, and no words here written can have the effect to stop their demands. But there are others who have not this strong faith and imagination. There are cases also of failure to be cured, which are not re- corded in the newspapers. And occasionally a word is spoken like that of the St. Paul physician, who prescribes as follows: “Blue glass, one part; faith, ten parts; mix thor- oughly, and stir well until all the common sense evaporates, as the presence of a minute quantity will spoil the mixture; if the prepa- ration be not strong enough, add more faith.” But no sarcasm is necessary, and no con- troversy need be made, with facts related of wonderful cures under the influence of “the associated blue and sunlight.” But a knowledge of all the circumstances connected with each case would in many in- stances remove or modify auy feelings of won- der. On the seventeenth page occurs one well illustrating this remark, and showing that a state of convalescence, or approaching recovery, has often much to do with the cases of complete restoration to health. After stating the particulars of a certain case, the general goes on to say— I addressed a note to the attending physician in this case, asking from him a statement of the case, with its diagnosis, etc. From his reply I make the following extract, viz.: “Mrs. H. had been sick some two or three weeks with ex- cessive spinal irritation amounting to partial paralysis of the right side, with intense neuralgia from the occiput down to the foot, including the right arm. Inis condition was greatly improved before the blue glass was used. She was almost free from pain, but nervous irritation remaining at this time, I made use of the galvanic battery, which she thought did her a great deal f good. I think it was some two or three days after that the blue light was used. She says that she took it about twelve times altogether, from a quarter to a half hour each time. You can draw your own conclusion if there was any benefit derived from blue light.” * * * It is known that, although fifteen years have elapsed since the general commenced his experiments, few, if any, institutions in Philadelphia, or any part of the world, have put his theory into practice. The experiments of Dr. Ponza in Italy in the treatment of the insane cannot be quoted in this connection. Dr. P. used colored glasses entirely, unassociated with colorless glass, and he placed his patients in apart- ments whose walls were also colored. The effects were clearly those of a mental charac- ter only; for, according to accounts pub- lished, he had equal success with different patients with glasses of different colors, with red, violet and blue. These experiments, however, have not, to our knowledge, yet been so numerous or decisive as to lead to their repetition or general adoption else- where. General Pleasonton’s patients use thedirect sunlight minus the considerable portion which is cut off by blue glass, and when they are cured, they are cured undoubtedly by the beneficent and wonderful inflence of ite gen- ial warmth and heat, seconded by an equally strong faith and a warm and vivid imagin a tion. Good medical authority assures that many wonderful cases are on record, especially of nervous diseases, which have been cured sim- ply by the effect of the imagination, or the ex- ercise of faith in the skill of a physician, or the efficacy of certain nostrums. Any intelli- gent member of the medical profession will indorse this assertion. The following is in- serted from a scientific journal, to show the force of the imagination: The Thermometer as a Curative Agent. The following, from the London Student’s Journal, shows what healing power the thermometer, as- sisted by the imagination, may have: “A young woman, who was convalescent, and whose tem- perature had long remained normal, had a slight relapse, which she attributed to having had ‘no glass under her arm for a week.’ A man suffering from acute rheumatism, obstinately refused to have his temperature taken any more, ‘it took too much out of him; it was drawing all his strength away.’ A man had been in the habit for some time of having his temperature taken daily under his tongue, with a thermometer that had just been doing severe duty in the axillae of other patients. One night a brand-new thermometer was applied to his mouth; next day he declared he was not so well, and said ‘the glass was not so strong as usual; he felt at the time the taste was different, and it had not done him so much good.’ ” It would be easy to occupy column after column, giving cases to match and overmatch all the wonderful cures cited by the general and his followers. Readers are simply re- ferred to their physicians and their books. In regard to the many cases cited, of cures of baldness under blue glass, the best medical authority assures “that hair lost by illness almost always, if not always, returns when health and strength are restored.” The general states as a most remarkable case, his own recovery by a few blue and sunlight baths from the effects of a fall in simply stepping out of his vehicle. The vivid imagination of the general is never more completely revealed than in the curiously minute particulars given by himself in a let- ter to the New York Mail of Jan. 29. A few sentences are quoted to show the nature of the accident: THE BLUE-GLASS MANIA. ii. concerning corporal punishment. We think that fond mothers and loving children will object to this theory: Solomon, the wisest of men, has left, as one of his legacies to mankind, the maxim, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” Now let us ex- amine this. When children were misbehaved, were destructive in their inclinations and conduct, rebellious to authority, and were otherwise troublesome to parents or others having the charge of them, Solomon being a keen observer of effects, recommended per- sonal chastisement with the rod, and natural- ly attributed their better deportment after the punishment to the fear of t.1 e child of its repetition, and perhaps with greater severity. This was possibly a natural conclusion on his part, at, the age in which he lived, and may be so considered even at the present time, ' but there is another explanation, more philo- sophical and more scientific. It is as follows, Adz.: When people are in good health, they are usually cheerful, in good humor with themselves, and amiable to those around them; they do not think of or attempt to per- petrate mischief to others, their electricities are in equilibrium, and they deport them- selves properly. Now let one or other of their electricities be in excess, immediately their dis- positions become changed; no longer amiable, they see evrery thing and person through a disturbed medium; they become sullen, cross, crabbed, quarrelsome and disagreeable; the least disappointment ruffles them, and they proceed to behave ill. Now with children, Avhen the rod is applied vigorously to their persons, the friction produced by the blows evolves electricity of the kind necessary to restore the healthy electric equilibrium of their bodies. When that is reestablished there jsanend of the trouble; they become amiable and gentle. This salutary method of correcting “les enfans terribles,” has greatly fallen into disuse in our times, from the ot’erweening maternal instinct of mammas, which is horri- fied by the cries of the suffering little ones, and hence they decry against it. This puu- ishment is also well adapted to the adult hu- man animal, if we are to believe a statement recently made in some of the London news- papers. It seems that the British Parliament, within a few years past, had reestablished corporeal punishment with the cat-o’- nine-tails at a whipping post for a cer- tain class of criminals, whose crimes had become alarmingly numerous. Since the reintroduction of the whipping post and its accompanying punishment, these crimes liaATe almost ceased to exist. Let other people profit by the example. To show that no trouble need arise from a scarcity of blue glass, avc quote from’ the patent specifications, Avln'ch show us that any one of three colors will answer, and also that screens of any kind Avill produce good results: I prefer, as a transmitting medium for the electric rays of the sun, blue class, violet and indigo; but I do not confine myself to the use of gjass, as the sun’s transmitted rays conArey these colors through other media, producing in degree the same results. That the general acknowledges the value of “blue curtains” as producing even more re- markable effects than blue glass, will be seen by the following quotations. It will be notic- ed that Commodore Goldsborough refers to the general’s experiments on domestic ani- mals. Is it improper to ask if he referred to the experiment with the pigs? I Avill also relate to you what I imagine to be another remarkable circumstance liaAdng relation to this subject. On the 29t.h of January, 1872, the wife of one of the gentlemen on the station gave birth pre- maturely to a very small child, which weigh- ed at the time only three and a half pounds. It was very feeble, possessing apparently but little vitality. It so happened that the* win- dows of the room, in which it AAras born and reared, were draped %vith blue curtains, through which and the plain glass of the win- dows, the sunlight entered the apartment. The lacteal system of the mother was greatly excited, and secreted an excessi\re quantity of milk, while at the same time the appetite of the child for food was greatly increased, to such an extent indeed, that its mother, not- withstanding the inordinate flow of her milk, at times found it difficult to satisfy its hun- ger. The child grew rapidly in health, strength and size; and on the 29th of May, 1872, just four months after its birth, when"I saw it, be- fore 1 left Mound City, it weighed twenty- two pounds. Whether this extraordinary result was the effect of the associated blue and sun light, passing through the curtains and glass of the windows, or not, I do not profess to deter- mine, but I give you the facts of the case, which are in complete harmouy in their de- A7elopments with the results of the experi- ments on domestic animals that you your- self have made. With great regard, I remain, very truly, yours, John R. Goldsborough. ' It will be seen from this statement that this child bad grown 18% pounds in four months, or 4% pounds per month, and con- sidering its apparently slight hold upon life, at its birth, we may unite with the commo- dore in believing it to be “a remarkable cir- cumstance.” On another page, he reiterates his surprise with additional suggestions. We submit their value to our friends of the medical pro- fession, although it seems to us that they as- sume too much: In the case of the child whose premature birth occurred at the naval station at Mound City, in Illinois, Commodore Goldsborough was informed by its mother, a short time since, that it had continued 'o impro\7e in health, size and A'igor since the commodore had last seen it, and that it was then a per- fect specimen of infantile development. The case of this child, described by Com- modore Goldsborough. is a very remarkable one, for, having been prematurely born, it may be presumed that its organization was not as completely developed as it would have been had it fulfilled the entire period of its gestatiou—and consequently it would seem that the associaton of the blue and sun light had repaired all the deficiencies in its organ- isms existing at its birth. If all be true that is claimed, ought not our houses and hospitals to be draped with blue curtains, ami the rush for blue media be to the dry-goods houses rather than our old as- sociates .in trade, the glass dealers? Blue curtains certainly ought to go up as well as blue glass. Below we givre an interesting enunciation of the formation of the diamond, \Adiich must be new to our townsman, Mr. Morse, and his friends in Amsterdam: The diamond, about Avhose origin so much mystery has always existed, it is likely, is tie product of the decomposition of carbonic acid gas in the higher atmosphere by electri- city, liberating the oxygen gas, converting it into ozone, fusing the carbon, and by the in- tense cold there prevailing,’ which is of oppo- site electricity, crystallizing the fused car- bon, which is precipitated by its gravity to the earth. A new and most unique argument in favor of temperance is given below. It changes a man’s electricity from negative to positive: The sexes are oppositely electrified—hence • their mutual attraction for each other. Now give them the same electricities, and mutual repulsion im*’7>caicltf.iv results. Let us pon- tier awhile on this subject. Every one must have observed in the press of this country, al- most daily, and in every part of it, accounts of the most outrageous, cruel, and in some cases of diabolical attacks of men upon wo- men, and occasionally of women upon men, generally when they bore toward each other the relation of husband and wife. When they have been first acquainted with each other, their electricities being opposite, they were mutually attracted to each other, their ac- quaintance grew into esteem, and ripened into affection and love, and they became man and wife. The animal system develops elec- tricity, magnetism and heat in its functional actions—the kind of electricity and magnet- ism are dependent upon the habits of life, the diet, the occupation and association of the in- dividual. When these are similar similar elec- tric and magnetic conditions of the body will result. It has been shown that the negative or masculine electricity of the man is reversed, and becaines positive like that of the woman under the excitement of alcoholic stimulants—in other words, for the time being the man becomes a woman, and is converted into the only thing which the British Parlia- ment, in all its great potentiality, could not do, viz., make a man a woman, or a woman a man. This, alcoholic stimulants have al ways done, and are now doing every day. When this change in the condition of his electricity has occurred, his attributes be- come feminine; he is irritable, irrational, ex- citable by trivialities, and when opposed in his opinions or conduct, becomes violent and outrageous, and if, in this mood, he meets his wife, whose normal condition of electricity is like his present condition, positive, they re- pel each other, become mutually abusive, en- gage in conflict and deadly strife, and the newspaper of the next day announces the verdict of the coroner’s jury on the case. How many such instances are occurring daily in almost every part of our extended country; and who would expect to find the discovery of the moving cause of all these terrible crimes in the perspiration of the criminal? And yet science has shown that the metamor- phosis of a man into a woman by changing the negative condition of his electricity into the positive electricity of the woman, with all its attributes, is disclosed by the charac- ter of his perspiration, superinduced by the use of alcoholic stimulants! It is noticeable that he calls man’s elec- tricity negative, whereas on another page he calls it positive. He has peculiar theories about the sun and planets. No heat comes from the sun, ac- cording to the following. The sun is a mag- net: T! e sun, the planets, the stars and all the bodies that stud the expanse of heaven are doubtless all magnets, to which magnetism was imparted when the Creator uttered in Heaven the words without parallel in sublim- ity, “Let light be made.” This then is the origin of all the physical forces of the uni- verse. Let us consider for a moment the na- ture of heat, and it will be apparent that ter- restrial heat cannot be directly derived from the sun. The tendency of heat is always to ascend into the atmosphere, when it is derived from combustion on the surface of the earth, or from radiation within it. The flame of a can- dle is vertically upward, on every part of the earth’s surface, when the air is still. The effort of heat is to depart from its source with a rapidity proportionate to the intensity of the combustion. This is a repellent force—at the same time from its being associated with positive electricity, it is attracted to the up- per atmosphere by its negative electricity, always associated with cold, which is op- posed to positive electricity. The diffusion of heat, laterally or downwards, is very in- considerable, as is constantly manifested in our rooms, where the fire in the grate emits very little heat below the bottom of the grate, and parts of the room distant from the tire are very imperfectly heated by it. The sun in its daily course being above*the earth, if it had any cal trifle rays, could not send them t,o#the earth below it, through a space of ninety-two millions of miles, which, ac- cording to calculations of Pouillet, has a tem- perature of minus 142° of Centigrade ther- mometer. He thus summarily disposes of Newton and his theory of gravitation: Light, electricity, magnetism and heat, the vital forces of the universe, all treat gravita- tion with great contempt. The atmosphere surrounds and envelops the earth. It has what is called gravity or weight, but it is not subject to what is called the law of gravita- tion, since wlieu its lower strata become warmed, they' ascend into the upper part of the atmosphere, and do not descend or fall to the earth, as having weight they should do; thus a difference in the relative weights of the same substance, in one condition or another, removes that substance from the influence of gravitation. The vapors or clouds in the atmosphere, which are heavier than air, float in many directions, and do not fall to the earth. * * * Now, if what our astronomers tell us of the inconceivably high temperature of the sun be true, there can be no gravitation towards its centre from its photosphere, its chromo- sphere, or any of its possible envelopes, the heat expanding, rarefying and driving off all such material substances. Heat disintegrates solids, separates their molecules, destroys their densities, and consequently is opposed to gravitation, which is the attraction of den- sities. Alas! for poor Sir Isaac Newton and his grand theory of centripetal and centrifu- gal forces! A ray of light passing through a narrow chink, and through a glass prism, has done the business. The incandescent metallic gases and the transcendent intense heat of the sun which has vaporized the; e metals (the supposed discovery by the narrow chink and prism) have demolished Newtou and his erratic fancies, Sic transit f/loria mundi! The navies of the world are floated by elec- tricity : Flotation, heretofore attributed to the light- ness of the floating body compared with the weight of the liquid in which it floated, is due to magnetic repulsion, and not to gravi- tatiou. Now let us look at the condition of this water when it has changed its character by crystallizing into flakes of snow, of what- ever diversity of form, or of hail, or of sur- face or dense ice. These forms of water at temperatures below 32° of Fahrenheit, are all magnets, and their minutest, atoms are all magnets, also; each endowed with its two poles, one at either extremity of the atom, and each with opposite attributes. The commerce of the world, therefore, is sustained on its oceans by the repellent force of magnetism; while the mariner directs his course over their trackless wastes, in dark- ness and in storm, guided by that opposite quality of the magnet which attracts it to the poles of the earth. Far be it from us to indulge in any improp- er criticism of General Pleasonton’s book. We only desire to let our readers know the theories which he puts forth on the subjects named We have essayed as yet only to make some notes on this unique and eccentric volume. We have thought the best note on some passages was simply to quote them and let them speak for themselves. But we must close. We trust that we have made quotations enough to show, by their own light, the curious nature of the general’s theories and deductions. We shall at some future time examine his blue-glass theory by the light of the scientific studies and investi- gations of other philosophers. NOTES ON GENERAL PLEASONTON’S BOOK. BY THOMAS GAFFIELD. To the Editor of the Transcript: It may seem an ungracious thing for one who has re- tired from the glass trade to do or say any- thing which in these dull times shall in the slightest degree check any temporary rush of business occasioned by what we have called the “Blue Glass Mania.” Was it less ungra- cious, while yet in the business, to publish to our customers and the world that the result of experiments had proved that almost every kind of window glass in commerce would in some degree change its color or shade after sunlight exposure? Our sufficient answer to many valued friends of our old guild is, that we cannot in justice to ourselves allow our loyalty to truth and conscience to bend to any feelings, however warm, of personal friendship and regard. Like General Pleas- onton, Ave have a hobby. It is glass. We will make no pretensions to any superior knowledge on the subject, but humbly ac- knowledge, as we think eA7ery student of any specialty should be willing to do, that the more we know and the more we discover about our subject, the more we find out that we do not knotv. And so, although nearly two score years haA7e elapsed since Ave first began to sell and handle glass, Ave try to learn something every year and every day, and if Ave live to the age of old Cornaro, so long as our health holds out, Ave expect to be as enthusiastic in our investigation, and as earnest for more light, as when in 1862 we stood side by side Avith young lads to recite our lessons in chemistry at the Lawrence Scientific School, and listened to the teach- ings of Professors Eliot and Storer, and strove to learn if there was not an intellec- tual and scientific, as Avell as a financial side to our business. We have always been ready to Avelcome any neAV light on our subject, and to examine carefully every matter brought to our attention. And so, when in Philadelphia in the autumn of 1875, a friend called our at- tention to General Pleasonton’s experiments, of which he could give us no account, we im- mediately made a call on t! e general with a view of obtaining a coj>y of his pamphlet. We had a pleasant interview, and the general not being able—as it was out of print—to give us a copy of his book, recounted liis theory and some statements of Avon- derful cures of rheumatism. He en- deavored to explain our experiments on the action of sunlight on glass, and on sensitive paper under colored and colorless glass, by his theory of magnetic, electric or electro-magnetic action, but \Are could not understand it, and so waited for the publica- tion of his volume, which did not ap- pear until last summer. As soon as we received the new edition of the book and had an opportunity carefully to examine it, the whole question of the value of the general’s theory was solved and dis- solved at once by the analysis of the first comparative experiment with animals, and the ease with which the general could ac- commodate it to kill one class of insects and to promote the growth of others. Our call on General Pleasouton impressed us with the opinion that he was an en- thusiast, carried away with one idea, and not thoroughly understanding, or able clear- ly to elucidate the subject which he tried to explain to us. We wish also to add that he is a gentleman who is not seeking wealth and profit by his theories—for he does not need them,—but is animated by the most worthy desire to gain fame as a discoverer; and far be it from us, improperly, to pluck one laurel from his crown. He would not intentionally deceiA7e the public, but has begun by deceiving himself, and has formed a theory to meet his ideas, and has bent the theory to meet the facts, as in the case of the destruction of the insects and flies, and has bent the facts to meet his theory, as in the case of the pigs. But the general has published a book, and he cannot complain of the re- sults of candid and honest criticism. Our first impression was most thoroughly confirmed by a perusal of the volume which he issued last summer. We felt that its plain contradiction of itself, and of the facts of nature and science, ought to be criticised by some of the writers of our scientific journals. But read- ing the opinion of the Scientific American, quoted in our lhst article, and not seeing any favorable mention of the volume at home or abroad, except in newspapers, we felt as- sured that it Avas not going to attract any more attention than it deserved. The late unexpected revival of interest in the subject in many quarters, on the part of people who could never have seen the general’s book, but only incomplete and inaccurate accounts of some of the first experiments in newspapers, has led us to take up the pen, and give a cor- rect analysis in our first article, and today to put before your readers a few of the deduc- tions which the general has set forth in the first and second parts of his Avork. We feel confident that the simple publica- tion of the crude, unscientific and ludicrous statements in these pages will be their own refutation, and will show in peculiar light the author of the blue-glass theory, whose consideration is now attracting the attention of so.large a portion of our community. We should not haAre made this long and some- what personal introduction, but for the ques- tion of a friend in the trade as to Avhat in- duced us to undertake our present task. We have gone over the eccentric book again with great care, and pencilled pas- sages, of which Ave shall make an in- dex in our copy of the book, for future reference and recreation when we are over- come with the blues. We haA7e really been quite perplexed with “embarrassment of riches,” and scarcely know where to begin, what to omit and where to off. But we must begin somewhere, and so, premising that the general tries to explain almost every- ~ thing by his theory of electricity, from the creation of man by God to the whipping of a child by its parent, we will show that this is no sarcastic or fancy statement, by making our first quotation (page 128, part 2), giving the general’s opinion of Solomon’s maxim THE BLUE-GLASS MANIA, hi. color so pure that it “shall cut off all the spectrum except that which gives the glass its color.” The red, which comes nearest to the demands of the general’s curious theory, transmits a portion of the orange rays. At some time in the life of the plant un- doubtedly all of the spectral rays are needed, and under colorless glass the plant obtains them all, almost as fully as under the canopy of heaven, in the wonderful and beautiful economy of nature. Every ray is endowed in some degree with light, heat and chemi- cal influence, and the plant receives in its germination, development of stalk, and per- fection of flower and fruit, just what is need- ed, and just at the right time. This opinion is substantially confirmed by M. P. Bert, who presented in 1871 an account to the French Institute, of careful and comparative experiments made with a variety of plants and seeds under colorless glass, ground glass and glasses of different colors. After wit- nessing the deleterious and retarding influ- ence of various colored glasses, he an- nounces as the result of his investigations that all the colors, taken separately, are bad for plants. “Their reunion, according to the proportions which constitute white light, is necessary for the health of vegetation. And finally, gardeners ought to renounce the use of colored glasses or screens for greenhouses and frames.” The intervention in any proportion of blue glass, or glass of any other color, acts as a shade to this white light, and in that pro- portion retards the normal growth of the healthy plant. Reference is not made to those exceptional cases of foreign or sickly plants where shade for a short time may be needed, in which event there is no more virtue in blue glass than in curtains, paint, paper, or cloth of green, red, or any other color, which will cut off the same amount of light and heat. The general’s foundation statement having been proved entirely incorrect, his theory, therefore, and all its deductions fall to the ground. Blue glass, as shown by pliotomet- rical experiments, cuts off about ninety per cent, of the light rays and a goodly proportion of heat and chemical influence. And yet the general contends that placing a large propor- tion of blue glass in windows, even one-half, instead of acting simply as a screen or shade against the light and heat, actually produces a greater warmth in apartments than the use of colorless glass alone. His'statement on the forty-seventh page of his book is cited in proof of this assertion: During the winter of 1871 and 1872, which in this city was a very cold and rigorous one, two ladies of my family residing on the north- ern side of Spruce street, east ot Broad street, in this city, who, at my suggestion, had caused blue glass to be placed in one of the windows of their dwelling, associated with plain glass, informed me that they had ob- served that when the sun shone through those associated glasses in their window, the tem- perature of their room, though in mid-winter, was so much increased that on many occa- sions they had been obliged during sunlight to dispense entirely with the fire which, ordi- narily, they kept in their room, or when the lire was suffered to remain, they found it necessary to lower the upper sashes of their windows, which were without the blue glass, in order to moderate the oppressive heat. Is this a comparative experiment, and does the general think it settles the point? This occurrence in the genial climate of Philadel- phia can be overmatched in the coldest days of a New England winter, if too hot a fire is kept in a stove-heated apartment in the sun- ny hours of the day. If it is to be fully be- lieved, then the following humorous extract from a 'Western paper is in point: If sunlight were a constant quality, we can see a plain way to smash coal monopolies and put an end to miners’ strikes. All that would be required for comfort would be the insertion of blue-glass windows on the sides of houses exposed to the sun. * * * Relief unions and other charities will take a new direction. Instead of sending a load of coal to a poor family, the glazier will be called in to insert a pane of blue glass in the window, and the sun will do the rest. Car- riages, street and steam passenger cars, and other conveyances, will adopt, blue-glass heaters, and it is not impossible that conven- iences in the shape of umbrellas and parasols with blue-glass tops will be contrived for the use of pedestrians in winter weather. We shall all live in (blue)-glass houses, and pray for sunshine with the devotion of a Parsee. How then, is it asked, can one account for the success of the general’s graperies ? In the light of the explanation given, it was accomplished by means of superior culture and care, and ac- complished notwithstanding, and not in conse- quence of, blue glass used, which could only cut off a portion of the very blue rays he pro- fesses to need, and which lie could obtain better under the colorless glass; for the dark- est colorless glass transmits a greater amount of blue and all the colored rays than any, even the lightest, shades of colored glass. Scientific and agricultural men in this vi- cinity do not indorse his theory; and how can they, when they read the contradictory statements of his volume? But practice is better than theory. Some gardeners have tried, according to the gen- eral's recommendation, the blue glass or blue paint as used by Mr. Buist, and have given it up. It is asserted that larger grapes have been raised in Europe under colorless glass than by the general under blue glass, and- that it is not an uncommon thing here in Massachusetts to raise fruit in from fifteen to eighteen months from cuttings in graperies. To match the general’s rapid growth of vines, a well-known citizen has witnessed in one of his greenhouse vines a growth of four inches in twenty-four hours, and this without blue glass. The general cites Mr. Buist as seeming “to be lost in wonder and amazement at what he saw” in his grapery in 1861 and 1862. It is well to put on record, side by side with the general’s statement,, what Mr. Buist himself has published, and which tells decidedly for the opinion that it is superior care and rich compost, and not cutting off the rays of sun- light by blue glass, which has caused the rapid growth of the general’s vines and grapes. In a communication, dated July, 1871, in Tilton’s Journal of Horticulture for that year, and ten years after the grapery was built, Mr. Buist says (and only a few sen- tences are quoted bearing on the position taken), “Whether it is the blue glass, the rich, high and dry borders, or his original method of pruning, that produces the result, I will not new decide. In another communication, in August, he says, “The vines have received very simple pruning indeed, merely cut at random the past year or two. The outside borders are ele- vated, of the richest nature, and have air through them; the roots of the vines are all outside. The inside of the wall of the house has lately had a coloring of blue. I give the growth of the vines and the coloring of the fruit, that your many intelligent reader* can judge for themselves. I make no conclu- sion. * * * “It must be admitted that the general is a very generous feeder to all his stock, trees, plants and vegetable crops, which is perfectly evident* independent of the prismatic influence of blue glass.” Mr. Buist underscores the fact that the vines were all outside. The other italics are ours. No newspaper, to our knowledge, has copied this portion of Mr. Buist’s testimony. It is not referred to in the account given to the French Institute of the general’s experi ments in 1871. (See “Comptes Rendus,” vol- ume 73, page 1236.) But the comparative ex- periment with the pigs, which a correspond- ent thought an “insignificant" one, occupies a vefy significant position, and is very sig- nificantly misrepresented. Any reader can see the original at the public library. It will be remembered that three of the four pigs under violet glass gained twelve pounds more than three under the colorless glass ; and that the fourth pig under colorless glass gained 26 >4 pounds more than liis fellow under violet glass. The French account, as published, ig- nores the figures in regard to the fourth pig, but asserts that the result was nearly the same as with the other three. What will the members of the French In- stitute say when they read the true analysis of the results of his experiment? If any better proof is needed of the correct- ness of the hinted opiuion of Mr. Buist, that the superiority of the general’s vegetables and animals is owing to the superior care which they received, the general himself is his own and best witness that he has been successful in eclipsing the influence of the light and heat of ttie sun itself by the heat of his rich compost and dressing of the soil, and all without any blue glass. Here are his own words: . A wide-spread error in agriculture exists in Europe, as well as in this country, and has ever been maintained in books of science, it is “that underneath large trees vegetation droops and languishes, even when the shade is not very intense.” Some years ago I had occasion to plough up the sod which covered a small orchard of apple and chestnut trees on my farm. All the trees were old and large. I caused the field to be well manured, even to the bottom of the trunks of all the trees. When the ground was well broken up, I directed my farmer to mark out drills for sugar beets, and to plant the seed close up to the trunks of all the trees. He looked at me with astonishment, and said, “Why, sir, plant so close to the trees? Nothing ever grows under the shade of trees!" I replied that I had heard such a statement before, but that I did not think it to be well founded. The general's rich compost did the work without any blue glass. And he goes on to say— The same kind-neighbors who had visited me in the previous spring to advise me against planting my seed under the shade of the trees, were gathering their autumn crops in the adjacent fields. I went over to them and asked them if they would like to see my beet crop, and on their expressing a desire to see it, I invited them to accompany me, and we proceeded to the field. On our way I asked them where they thought the best beets would be found. “In the open sun- light, to be sure,” was the answer; “nothing ever grows under the shade of trees!" I made no reply, and soon after we entered the field. As we passed aloug I was amusedj at the astonishment depicted on their counte- nances as they examined the beets in differ- ent parts of the field. Presently one of them, nudging another, said in a low voice, “George, did you ever see anything like that before? Why, there are no beets in the suu- light, and the big ones are under the trees.” This was the fact: r.lie plants in the sunlight were few, scattered and spindling in their growth, having a long, slender taproot and were valueless for food, while there was a luxuriant growth under the trees of large- sized and excellent quality. This statement beats all the results of his grapevines—which, in 1871, Mr. Buist says, were all rooted outside of his greenhouse—and it throws all his other contradictory facts, theories and deductions decidedly into the shade. The reader is left to contemplate this unwitting indorsement of the opinion ad- vanced in this article, that the general’s ap- parent success in agriculture is owing to his discovery of the wonderful power of rich compost and superior tillage to compensate for the loss of pure sunlight occasioned by the shade large trees on his farm, or the intervention of any proportion of blue glass in his greenhouses. In reference to any apparently successful experiment with animals under blfte glass, that the general’s care had much more to do with the result than the color of a portion of his glass, is also the opinion of Mr. George A. Shove, the author of the interesting article on “Life under Glass,” in the Atlantic Monthly for March, 1863. He says in his little volume on the same subject (page thirty-six)— “ These experiments were not thorough enough to be conclusive on any point; and they certainly do not warrant the conclusion that the beneficial effect was owing solely to that portion of the glass which was colored blue. As far as they go, they simply coincide with the inference deducible from a common- sense view of the subject, which is, that do- mestic animals, whether sick or well, will thrive better when protected from the storms and cold of winter, if, at the same time, they can have the benefit of the sun’s light and warmth, than they will in pens of the ordina- ry construction.” A brief word in regard to the use of blue glass in the treatment of diseases in the hu- man family will close these notes on General Pleasonton’s book. NOTES ON GENERAL PLEASONTON'S BOOK. BY THOMAS GAFFIELD. TFor the Transcript.] Having shown that some of the general’s facts disprove his theory, and quoted some of his curious deductions, it can now be shown that the theory itself is discordant with the laws of nature, and the investigation of some of nature’s most distinguished and trusted students and observers at home and abroad. For the purposes of an examiaation of his blue-glass theory, the following extract is given from one of his last published letters. Sunlight passes through plain, transparent glass with very slight obstruction, as it does through the atmosphere and ether of space; it produces no heat, for the glass remains as cold as the outside atmosphere, while the sun- light passes through it. When, however, the adjoining sunlight, moving with the same ve- locity as the first-mentioned, viz., 186,000 miles per second, falls upon the blue panes of glass, six of the seven primary rays of sun- light are suddenly arrested by it, only the blue ray being permitted to pass through it into the apartment. The sudden stoppage of these six rays of light with this enormous ve- locity produces friction; this friction evolves negative electricity, which is the electricity of sunlight, passing through the cold ether of space and our cold atmosphere, both ot which being negatively electrified impart their elec- tricity by induction to the rays of the sun- light as they pass. The blue glass is opposite- ly electrified. When these opposite electrici- ties, thus brought together, meet at the sur- face of the glass, their conjunction evolves heat and magnetism; the heat expands the molecules of the glass, and a current of elec- tro-magnetism passes into the room, impart- ing vitality and strength to auy animal or vegetable life within it. When the atmos- phere of the room becomes thus electro-mag- netized, its inhabitants cannot fail to derive the greatest benefit from being in it. He -also asserts that the blue color of the sky, for one of its functions, deoxygenates carbonic acid gas, supplying carbon to vege- tation and sustaining both vegetable and ani- mal life with its oxygen. Nothing need be said of the general’s theory of electricity and magnetism and his remarks about the blue or violet rays being “the electric rays,” except to repeat the criticism of many scientific men, that there is no known relation between light and electricity which will justify one in speaking of any ray of light as electric, and that it is absurd to speak of one ray as more electric than another. On the magnectic point made, the following is quoted from an article in the last Scientific American, entitled “The Blue Glass Decep- tion”: The notion that light possesses a magnetiz- ing power on steel was upset by Niepce de St. Victor in 1861. After removing every source of error, h\s found it impossible to make one sewing needle, solarized for a very long time under the rays of light concentrated by a strong lens, attract another suspended by a hair, whether the light was white or colored, by being made to pass through a violet-color- ed glass. The second sentence in the general’s state- ment contains the foundation error of his blue-glass theory and all its curious deduc- tions, and the mistake sometimes also made by photographers who have used blue glass in their skylights in our city and elsewhere. He confounds the homogeneous rays of the solar spectrum with the mixture of rays trans- mitted by colored glass or any other colored medium. He supposes that blue glass transmits only blue rays and stops all the other spectral rays, and asserts that in this fact lies the secret of its wonderful effects in generating electricity, magnetism and electro-magnetism, in pro- moting the remarkable growth of his grape- vines and animals, and in producing astonish- ing cures of almost all the ills that flesh is heir to. Against this assertion, can be placed the simple fact that blue glass, instead of cutting off six of the spectral rays, transmits in some degree all the rays. While it cuts off in some proportion also all the rays, including even the blue, it cuts off greatly the yellow rays, which, according to the experiments of Professor John W. Draper of New York, pub- lished in 1841, and indorsed by most compe- tent scientific observers at home and abroad, are just the rays most needed to promote the deoxydation of carbonic acid, evolved by men and animals, and the assimilation of carbon by the plants, one of the prime essen- tials in their true and complete growth, which includes the germination of the seed, the formation of woody fibre, and the perfection of flower and fruit. It is not necessary to crowd your columns with proofs of this asser- tion, nor to ask these unsupported statements /to be believed. In support of the assertion that the chemical processes in plants, so far as they are dependent on sunlight, are principal- ly caused by the rays of medium or lower re- frangibility and especially the orange and yellow rays, the words of Sachs in his “Text Book of Botany,” can be quoted. He says, “The following additional result was also ob- tained from Draper’s and Pfeiffer’s observa- tions and from mine already quoted; [only these rays of the spectrum which are visible to our eye have the power of decomposing carbon dioxide; and indeed those which ap- pear brightest to the eye, the yellow rays, are alone as efficacious in this process as all the Others put together.” In support of the assertion that blue glass does not stop completely any ray of the spec- trum, and that it stops in great degree those rays which Draper and Sachs say are most needed to decompose carbonic acid, and pro- vide carbon for the fibres of the plant, a most distinguished scientific man in one of the departments at Washington, to whom was sent for his experiments, in 1872, some cobalt blue glass three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness, observed that the glass trans- mits in some degree the whole spectrum, and owes its apparently pure blue color to the presence of several rather broad absorption bands in the yellow and red. There is no colored glass in commerce, and Tyndall is authority for saying that “it is difficult, if not impossible,” to make any of tro-magnetisra, evolves those forces which compose it in our atmosphere, and applying them at the season, viz., the early spring, when the sky is bluest, stimulates, after the torpor of winter, the active energies of the vegetable kingdom, by the decomposition of its carbonic acid gas—supplying carbon for the plants aud oxygen to mature it, and to complete its mission. * * * From the foregoing premises we deduce the following conclusions: 1. Heat is developed by opposite elec- tricities in conjunction, and in proportion to the quantity and intensity of those electrici- ties in contact with each other, will be the intensity of the heat. 2. The blue color of the sky, for one of its functions, deoxygenates carbonic acid gas, supplying carbon to vegetation and sus- taining both vegetable and animal life with its oxygen. It is reiterated with the following details in one of his last published letters: Sunlight passes through plain, transparent glass with very slight obstruction, as it does through the atmosphere and ether of space; it produces no heat, for the glass remains as coid as the outside atmosphere, while the sunlight passes through it. When, however, the adjoining sunlight, moving with the same Yrelociiy as the first mentioned, viz.,186,000 miles per second, falls upon the blue panes of glass, six of the seY’en primary rays of sunlight are suddenly arrested by it, only the blue ray be- ing permitted to pass through it into the apartment. The sudden stoppage of these six rays of light with this enormous pro- duces friction; this friction evolves negative electricity, which is the electricity of sun- light passing through the cold ether of space aud oiir cold atmosphere, both of which be- ing negatively electrified impart their elec- tricity by induction to the rays of the sun- light as they pass.. The blue glass is oppo- sitely electrified. When these opposite elec- tricities, thus brought together, meet at the surface of the glass, their conjunction evolves heat and magnetism; the heat expands the molecules of the glass, and a current of elec- tro-magnetism passes into the room, impart- ing Yritality and strength to any animal or Yregetable life within it. When the atmos- phere of the room becomes thus electro-mag- netized, its inhabitants cannot fail to derive the greatest benefit from being in it. We will not now examine the theory, but only say that the remarks of a distinguished scientific man who read it led us to know that his opinion agreed with that of the Yvriter in the Scientific American quoted aboY’e. We intend at some time to say a word about the theory, and also to add some information about experiments made in Europe on the comparative value of colored and colorless glasses in promoting the various stages of Y’egetation, but we hasten now to do, YY’hat no one has yet done, but which any reader of the book can repeat for himself. We pro- pose to make au analysis of th & first and al- most the only comparative experiment in the whole book upon the influence of violet light in promoting the growth of animals. The re- sults of the experiments completely upset the whole theory of the general, for the ani- mals under the coloress glass gained more in weight than those under the violet glass, and yet it is so stated in the book that it has not been noticed by any writer, or if noticed, has been omitted in his account. The very next, and almost the only compara- tive experiment in the whole book with ani- mals, proves the truth of my opinions. In or- der to.show how incorrectly the matter has been placed before the public, vve will ghre the garbled account, with a portion omitted, as reported in the New York Herald of April 22, 1876, by a writer who had held a personal interview with General Pleasonton. The reader will notice that not a word is said in the results of the experiment about the pig under the colorless glass, yvIio weighed forty pounds more than his fellow under the violet glass. Why Yvas it left out? The reason is obvious. We reprint the statement from the Herald verbatim ei literatim. THE BLENDED LIGHT IN A PIGGERY. General Pleasonton was so struck by the marked results attained Yvith this blended light in the case of plants that he next deter- mined to try it upon arymals; convinced that, if efficacious here, the discovery would be of untold importance to the human race. His first experiment was in the autumn of 1869. At that time lie built a piggery. The sequel is i