Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-09-06
art and Science.


focus. Il melted steel in five minutes and
silver coin in few seconds.
WHEN water is boiled under oil and the
steam collected and condensed bubble OF
gas remains, which is found to be nitrogen,
proving the absorptive power OF water upon
gases.
POWELL is engaged in giving the finish
ing touch to the life-size portrait of Gen.
G. B. Mcclellan, which is to be placed in
the governors rooms Of the New York city
hall, when finished.
ANILINB.--It requires as many as 1000
tons of coal to produce a circular block OF
aniline twenty-four inches high by nine
inches wide, but this is sufficient to dye
three hundred miles Of silk fabric.
A VIENNEsE philosopher is experiment
ing upon the transportation of ponderable
bodies by electricity, so that the old fable
of the soldier who sent his shoes home for
exchange by hanging them on the telegraph
wire, may be realized. oa
Ivory when cut in slices of a thickness Of
one-twentieth of an inch, becomes transpa
rent in liquid phosphoric acid Of specific
gravity of 1.l3l. The ivory is washed,
after the immersion, in clean water, and
dried with q linen cloth.
IT has lately been discovered that the
whole of the sulphur, used at present in IL
Eliminating gas land which makes that gas
so offensive) may be removed by bringing
it in contact with the ammonical LIQUOR
which is an almost worthless product Of this
same gas works.
IF tube connected with water, and
solid rod also connected with water, be APP
piled at once to the ears, sound will be heard
only in the ear supplied with the tube. The
reason is that the tube is so much the bet
ter conductor that it kills whatever sound is
transmitted through the rod.
SLEEpERs made of mahogany are almost
indestructible to the attack Of the white ant
and seaworm. An engagement has just
been entered into to deliver on board q ship
at Freemantle, Australia, 600 loads of such
sleepers, for an Indian railway, at se3 13s.
Sd. per load.
How TO MELT STEEL WITH AN ORDINARY
FIRE.-First heat q piece of steel red hot,
in the fire; then take it up with 6, pair of
pincers, and in the other hand hold stick
of sulphur, which you apply to the steel.
AS soon as they touch each other, the steel
will flow as if it were liquid.
AN error in placing iue dot which fixes
the length of base line in Astrono mical
measurements, amounting to 1-5000th part
of an inch, will amount to an error of sew
enty-six feet in calculating the diameter of
the earth, $50 miles in the SUMS distance,
and 65, 500, 900 in the distance of the near
est fixed star.
SOME ova or eggs are SO small as to be
wholly indistinguishable by the eye, but M.
Geoffry de st. Ailaire, in 1854 exhibited to
the French Academy some eggs of bird
which formerly lived in Madagascar The
largest Of these was over one foot long, and
nearly as wide. The egg would hold III
pints.
CHINESE ENGINEERING.-We have no n.y.
draulic construc. ion as great as the Chinese
canal; no fertilization as great as the Chi
nese wall we have no artesian wells that
at all approach in depth some of theirs.
We have not yet resorted to the practice Of
obtaining coal from the interior of the
earth; they have borings for that purpose
more than 5000 feet deep.
A GREAT deal has been said and written
about what is called trick in art. Yet
it seems to be of little consequence by what
means painter produces his effects, so long
as he does produce them. 1t is said that
Ansdell obtains the peculiar crispness of
the plumage of ducks and other birds, by
the application of a piece of poplin while
the paint is still wet.
SPIDERS AND THE TELEaRAPH.-It has
been found that one great difficulty to be
met with in telegraphy, arises from the webs
of spiders, which, when extending in great
numbers from the wires to trees or the
ground, and being wet with heavy fogs or
gentle rains, become so good conductors as
to seriously impair insulation. Who can
overcome the mighty obstacle imposed by a
SPIDERS web to the progress of the tele-
graph!
PHOTOGRAPHY in colors has progressed SO
far that doll dressed by the operator can
be perfectly reproduced on the plates. A
greater triumph is in photographing pea
cocks feather. It has been found that none
but pure colors take well, and those that are
made by a mixture of two primary colors
give but one of the primaries on the plate.
These photographs will not stand full
light long, as they turn brown, but may be
preserved in an album.
PRESERVING GRAIN.-A new system of
preserving grain haze recently been adopted
in France. The grain, -four, biscuit, ETC.,
is placed in a large iron cylinder, from
which the air is subsequently SO much ex-
hausted as to render it so rarifed as to de-
stroy even the weevill, the most difficult of
sill corn parasites to destroy. During six
months trial none were developed. The
apparatus IS considered available for any
length of time, and under the most unfavor-
able circumstances.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there are 81
foundries. In the first class establishments
from Is to 40 tons of metal can be used in a
single casting. They employ an average Of
so hands. Twelve hands is the average of
the second class foundries. The present
rate of wages is from So to 81. so, accord
ing to the character of the work. Piece
work is done only in stove foundries. The
metal costs an average of $50 per ton--the
extremes being $40 and $68-last year it
was from $50 to $75. Ee
THE Eolian Harp is very simple instru-
ment, easily constructed, and produces very
pleasant music To make one, take two
strands of strong sewing silk, well waxed, a
single and double twist, fastened to four
pegs, one inch high, on an inch board as long
as the width of your window. At one end
the pins should have a thumblet similar to a
violin pin, to enable you to draw it taut.
Place it in window, the sash resting on
the pins, and when the wind blows you have
such sounds as the angels love. One string
will produce several notes, changing as the
wind is gentle OF forcible.
NEW plan Of extinguishing fires has been
invented in New York, which consists IN a
series of iron pipes, perforated with holes,
which can be placed beneath the beams Of
every story in building, and when 50