[Illustration] Scientific American Supplement No. 458 NEW YORK, OCTOBER 11, 1884 Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XVIII, No. 458. Scientific American established 1845 Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year. Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year. TABLE OF CONTENTS. I. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY.--Chemical Nature of Starch Grains. The Amalgamation of Silver Ores.--Description of the Francke tina, or vat process for amalgamation of silver ores.--By E.P. RATHBONE.--6 figures. Interesting Facts about Platinum.--Draw stones used for drawing wire of precious metals. II. ENGINEERING, MINING, ETC.--Modern Locomotive Practice.--Paper read before the Civil and Mechanical Engineers' Society.--By H. MICHELL WHITLEY--10 figures. New Screw Steam Collier, Frostburg.--1 figure. Destruction of the Tardes Viaduct by Wind.--With engraving. Joy's Reversing and Expansion Valve Gear.--1 figure. The Steam Bell for Locomotives.--2 figures. Diamond Mining in Brazil.--With engravings showing the dam on the Ribeirao Inferno at Portao de Ferro, and the arrangement of the machinery. III. ELECTRICITY, ETC.--The Frankfort and Offenbach Electric Railway.--With 3 engravings. Possibilities of the Telephone.--Its use by vessels at sea. Pyrometers.--The inventions of Siemens and others. IV. ARCHÆOLOGY.--The Cay Monument at Uxmal.--Discovered by Dr. Le Plongeon on June 1, 1881.--With engraving. V. ASTRONOMY.--The Temperature of the Solar Surface Corresponding with the Temperature Transmitted to the Sun Motor.--By J. ERICSSON.--With 2 engravings of the sun motor. VI. HORTICULTURE.--Halesia Hispida, a Hardy Shrub.--With engraving. Windflowers or Anemone.--With engraving. VII. MEDICINE, HYGIENE. ETC.--What we Really Know about Asiatic Cholera.--By J.C. PETERS, M.D. Dr. Koch on the Cholera. Malaria.--The natural production of malaria and the means of making malarial countries healthier.--By C.T. CRUDELI, of Rome. Story of Lieut. Greely's Recovery.--Treatment by Surgeon Green. VIII. MISCELLANEOUS.--Bayle's New Lamp Chimney.--With engraving. Lieut. Greely before the British Association. * * * * * THE FRANKFORT AND OFFENBACH ELECTRIC RAILWAY. The electric railway recently set in operation between Frankfort and Offenbach furnishes an occasion for studying the question of such roads anew and from a practical standpoint. For elevated railways Messrs. Siemens and Halske a long time ago chose rails as current conductors. The electric railway from Berlin to Lichterfelde and the one at Vienna are in reality only elevated roads established upon the surface.