Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-08-26
& TERMS OF ADVERTISING:
\ LnI,ster at Dinner.

\ writer in foreign paper thus pleasantly
refers to the habits Of this peculiar shell fish:
A lobster is PARTICULAR fellow in his food
have been watching one in my marine aquari-
um. If.a portion of food be thrown to him,
he immediately . sets his long horns to
work to ascertain the whereabouts Of his dinner,
# he does not like it, he at once pushes it
away from him, with an attitude of an epicure,
who bids the ,iter;take away a plate Of meat
he does not fancy. It the feed is agreeable to
him, be munches it up, moving his jaws in q
peculiar way, like weaver making blanket.
He tears his food into large pieces leaving the
actual pounding to be done by the very pecu-
liar internal teeth, which are found IN the lin-
ing of the stomach. When the lobster goes out
for constitutional, and is not IN particular
hurry, be carries his great claws 10 front OF
him, we'll away from the ground. lie walks
upon the little legs which are underneath his
body, while he keeps his horns moving 10 front
of his nose, like blind man tapping the flags
with his stick, as he plods along, led by his
dog; hence L conclude the lobster is short
sighted. If the least thing alarms him, he
scuttles backward on his little legs, which IN owe
with the rapidity Of a centipede. If he does
not 90 fast enough in this way, he suddenly
closes his tail towards him, like q man sud:
denly closing his hand and flies backward
with aierk, like an. indian rubber band snap
ped in half he always goes into his cave tail
foremost and he takes the most wonderful good
shoots ut the entrance. / really think the lob
ster must have an eye in his tail somewhere.-'
Our pet lobster is not willing that the secrets
of her toilet should be exposed to vulgar gaze,
so the first night she was in the tank she art
fully collected cookie and oyster shells, and
Itor tha toe
of the Romans when they took possession of
hill tops. A branch of seaweed forms a can
opy over her head, al nd she Is at this minute
in house of her own. ..-L,lr -az-.: - ~
. t& STEEL.-Wh is stee!2 Many people may
deem the question easy Of answer, but it is
really not 80. 1t was long accepted as a truism
in the art of science of metallurgy that steel is
simply carbide OF iron-that9is, aacompound
of carbon and iron, the former element being
presentin the compound to the extent of from
one to one and half per cent. This chemical
definition is now quite superseded. Steel has
become generic term, and of the genus steel
there are various species. Ordinary steel IS,
carbon steel; but steey compounds of iron
have been produced, which have the same gen
v eral properties as ordinary steel, the carbon OF
which is replaced, either in whole or in part,
by other chemical elements. Thus We have
now tungsten steed, in which the metal tungs.
ten is combined With the iron; manganese steel
containing the metal manganese, and other
steels containing chromium and titanium. In
the cases just mentioned, the steel is Invariably
a compound of iron with onother metal it ls,
in short, ian alloy. Other species or varieties,
however, contain non metallic bodies as the
steel. generating materials. * Carbon is one or
these elements, and therefore it is but natural
to suppose that such elements as closely resem-
bic it in their chemical properties will be the
most likely to serve in its stead Silicon, or,
2 as some modern chemists call it, eilieium, the
basis Of SILICA or flint, is one OF the nearest
! chemical relatives of carbon. Well, the French
chemist Caron has made silicon steel: Then
there is the element boron, full cousin as 1t
were, to carbon and silicon, the basis OF ordl-
nary borax e$21,i e * z ',s5 8 -.
- Steel has recently been made in Glasgow OF
&! most extraordinary hardness and cutting power
when used for tools 10 turning operations. In
Z. one instance that has come to my know ledge,
"a the tool did thirteen times the amount OF cut
ting work of an Ordinary tool of carbon steel.
The process of making this new steel is at pre-
sent kept secret, but there is reason to belleVe
that it is boron. steel.-Once o. WeeG.
RADICAL CONCESSIONS. rabid Cincin-
natl GazaIte comedies that at the Presidential
election Kentucky Democrats s"will go consld-
E erably nearer q, hundred thousand than they
have done this, time.,'8 Moralizing on this, it
quotes: - s:"S. .-.cZ .@ i i.a5IL
'u- 'tT nozor Lnou, on nnovnecte1 noljtical re-