Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-12-18
scieutiac InteIIIsencc.

A curious invention for the use of the army
has Just been experimental on in Paris. II
consists OF swimmiug.belt on an entirely
new principle. An inverted truncated cone
made Of thin metal, fitting closely about the
waist, is divided into number of small i'm
permeable divisions, so that in case of acci-
dent to one or more of these, the apparatus
would still be effective; the whole not weigh
ing more than eight pounds. The expert
ment was made by the master of a swim
ming. school on the Seine and non commis.
stoned officer in the military establishment,
and was deemed perfectly satisfactory. The
river was crossed and recrossed by what is
known to bathers as treading water, cigars
were lighted, and the action of using q
musket performed. The swimmers then
made an effort to lie down on the river, and
evenrto turn over, but the apparatus always
brought them back to the vertical position.
A report upon steel cannon, made by
board OF French artillery officers in 1857,
concluded as follows: -
TN view of the remarkable results of ex-
periments, cast steel should be held in high
estimation as o metal suitable for the fabri-
cation of ordnance. A new era seems to be
opening Tor artillery; the board, not indif-
ferent to the recent improvements introduced
into small arms, has lately made some re-
markable experiments that, in all probability,
will lead to the adoption of rihed cannon
X
| in bronze guns would be soon injured by
| considerable friction of the wings ('diLettesO
of the proiecties. But this liability to in
jure would undoubtedly not exist in cast
steel guns. Cast steel, in fact, unites within
itself the qualities of cast-iron and those of
bronze. 1t is much harder than cast. iron,
and, although more brittle than bronze, it
is not much inferior to the latter in respect
to its tenacity; durability and resistance in
rifled cannon of cast steel will then be OBJ
tanned which would not be found in any
other metal.P
The lighthouse at Fredonis, N. Y, on the
shore of Lake Erie, is Lighted with natural
gas taken from a subterranean reservoir.
Similar reservoirs exist on the shores of the
Caspian Sea, and also in China, where the
natives have tapped them by bamboos few
feet long, and employed the gas for lighting.
The decay of stone-work under the various
climatic influences to which it exposed, is
now prevented by the employment of so.
| luton of sublimed sulphur in eight parts of
| linseed oil, heated in a sand bath to tenn
| perature of two hundred and seventy. eight
| degrees; the vegetable mucus of the oil is
| precipitated, the watery particles evaporated,
and their place supplied by the sulphur,
which is readily taken up by the oil at the
above temperature; the solution is applied
! by a common painters brush, until the stone
| will absorb no more. Stone thus indurated
becomes almost equal to granite in hard
ness.
| Mr.. Richard Hugh Hughes, of Hatton
| Garden, London, proposes to accomplish the
ventilation of collieries by forcing fresh air
| to their various parts by means of pipes uu-
| der pressure. Air, he contends, may be
| supplied to mines by an apparatus very
1 similar to that by which gas is furnished to
| towns.
Among the latest curiosities of chemistry
is the extraction of soda from the yellow
rays of the sum- and the production of quartz
| by the action of electricity on water.
Sub marine volcanic action in the Atlantic
Ocean, near the Equator, has been for some
years going on. We have now two accounts
of it, observed by ships but q fe miles apart
from each other-the Dallas, Captain WIKI
ander, and the Melbourne, Captain Cove, on
| March 20, 1861. The latter says: 1--WE were
startled by heavy and loud rumbling noise
and at the same time felt the ship tremble
from stem to stern, which lasted four or five
minutes. The noise resembled more the low
grumble of distant thunder than the harsh
grating noise produced by the ship taking
ground" The Dallas lost her false keel by
the shake or collisione i'., .t
A. B. Talcott, for many years the superin.
tendent of the telegraph lines running from
Baltimore, has invented cypher system fol
d the use of the Government, which even the
author can not translate without the key.
In 1860 the mines of Great Britain pro
duced 90,680, 900 tuns of minerals and Goals
valued at about $3.50, 1000, 900. Total value O.
the entire mineral produce of Great Britain
in 1860, exclusive of stones and clay, abou
$l85, 900, 600.
A new planet has been discovered and hal
received the name of Niobe. .E