Produced by Don Kretz, Juliet Sutherland, and Distributed Proofreaders [Illustration] SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION, ART, SCIENCE, MECHANICS, CHEMISTRY, AND MANUFACTURES. NEW YORK, DECEMBER 28, 1867. Vol. XVII.--No. 26. [NEW SERIES.] $3 per Annum [IN ADVANCE.] * * * * * Contents: (Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk.) *Improvement in Hulling and Cleansing Hominy Nitro Glycerin *Hisert's Adjustable Cultivator Tooth Remedy for Cold Feet in City Cars Getting Your Money Back Patent Claims Pending Applications for Reissues The Last Number of Volume XVII Commencement of a New Volume A Change at the Patent Office Obituary How to Make Intelligent Workmen--Go and Do Likewise The SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN as a Medium of Business *Hunt's Improved Steam Packing Piston The Iron Clads at Sea *Improvement in Hand Drills *Improved Method of Securing Cutters on Boring Bars Tides and Their Causes The Great Hoosac Tunnel Horse-hair Snakes--Wonderful Transformation Man Proposes, but God Disposes Extraordinary Effects of an Earthquake Recent American and Foreign Patents Answers to Correspondents Business and Personal Manufacturing, Mining, and Railroad Items Patent Office Decision * * * * * Improvement in Hulling and Cleansing Hominy. Many of our readers well remember when "hulled corn" was a standing winter dish. This was corn or maize the kernels of which were denuded of their "hulls" by the chemical action of alkalies, which, however, impaired the sweetness of the food. Hominy is corn deprived of the hulls by mechanical means leaving the corn with all its original flavor unimpaired. Hominy is a favorite dish throughout the country, but is not always entirely free from particles of the outer skin of the kernels. The mill shown in perspective in the engraving is intended to obviate this objection. [Illustration: DONALDSON'S PATENT HOMINY MILL.]