The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1869-01-17
MORNING STAR AND CATHOLIC MESSENGER.
NEW ORLEANS, SUNDAY. JANUARY IL. ls09.
- ARTS. SCIENCES, ETC.
ARTS, SCIENCES, ETC


ARTS, SCIENCES, ETC.
Soda German chemist proposes o new meIn-
cd for the manufactuce of soda ON large scaie.
He takes the double chloride Of aluminium
and sodium, melts it, pulyerizes It, anu carries
the powder by blast of o fan INTO fetort
heated to a very high temperature, into a wnica
anteYs at the same time o jet of super-heated
steam. Hydrochloric (mnriatic) acid is formed,
and illuminate of soda. The a!uminate OF SODA,
decomposed by carbonic acid, yields very
nure carbonate of soda and alumina, which
latter can be used over again. The hydrochiorlc
acid is also q valuable product The method
has been much praised by the German sclentihc
press:
from pour cent annees, it being formerly believed
that the materials of porcelain were matured
under ground one hundred years. 1t IS not
known who first discovered the art OF making
norcelain, but the manufacture has been carried
on in China, at ng-te-Ching, ever since A. d:
442 and inthis place the finest porcelain is still
made We first hear of it in Europe In 1851,
and soon after that time it was known In
England: AL d. .oro.,.;n W ore known rs Dresden
China was discovered by NJ. Bocticher, in 100,
who was at the time only an apothecarys boy,
and services of this ware have sometimes cost
many thousand pounds each. Among the
many magnificent gifts lavished Oh the late
Duke Of Wellington was a costly service of
Dresden China, each piece exquislteiy painted,
representing various battles, and other scenes
of interest in which he had been engaged. 1t
was presented to him by the King Of Prussia,
and is said to be the finest thing OF Its kind III
England
Hot Sp,ings in Nerada.-The second day g ride
took us to u little mining town called Hot
Creek which has suffered the misfortune of
having it's one silver mill burnt down. Hot
Creek stands ut the mouth of massive,
magnificent canon, beetling with Preciplce and
picturesque for every foot of its six miles
winding way. A few feet from the hotel IN the
valley are a cluster of boiling springs, that
bubble up from the bowels of the earth strongly
,lvnl,,,r dntIN chp
springs number eight OF ten, and range from the
boiling point down to las hot as you can bear II.
little bathing booth and a wash-tub on the
brink show that they are utilized, and we were
told that it was not uncommon to cook eggs
and meat in this devils laboratory.
Il Tall Chinsney.-The tallest chimney in the
world is said to be that of the Port Dundas
Works. Glasgow, Scotland. Its height, iron IRON
454 feet, the foundation being fourteen feet
deep: the outside damater on level with the
ground is "a feet, at the top II feet inches IN ne
The most wonderful part of the story of this
lofty chimney is that having been twisted out
of the vertical line to the extent Of feet
inches, by violent wind before the mortar
was hardened human skill has reduced 1t to 8
perfect perpendicular again. The mortar was
sawed out on the windward side, SO as to ailo"
the chimney to settle sufficiently to restore tht
perpendicular
The Mount Gents tunnel is doubtlessly the
most daring feat of civil engineering ever YET
undertaken. The work was not actually begur
mt
seven and a half miles in length. There is I
difference of level of 43o feet between the en-
trance of the tunnel on the French and ON TN
Italian side. The rocks through which tn
excavations have been made have been yer.
difficult to work in consequence OIL thel
VARYING character. Before the work was com
nefced it was necessary to survey the inter
mediate country with great accuracy, IN orde
to determine the exact direction Of the tw
tunnelings otherwise they might fail t" NEE
by two or three hundred yards. 1t is not cas-
to conceive how terribly the delicate processe
involved in surveying were lnterfered Win U
the constant storms of driving snow and raiI
which sweep through the Alpine passes. Bu
the work was at length completed with wonder
full exactness. The tunneling is progressin
rapidly, about thrce-quarters OF the distane
having been completed ihd ana II srIyi nDpua in 1
Ducks in China-A queer feature on the Oh
nese rivers are the duck boats, which al
twenty or thirty feet long, and elSht or tS e
feet WIDE in which ducks are raised for I'll
an oven on shore, and brought on board the'
boats. Three times day the boatman opci
the doors of their cages, and the little q''acks
scramble over the sides of the boat, futteriI
and tumbling into the water, as happy as due
can be- They swim and dive, reach the shor
waddle up the banks, nibble grass, ana pick
worms till a call from the owner m pEllgs rs thu n
all swiftly back again. He gives the last o.
a good drubbing for being tardy, ana uuc
have memories much better than sol
school boys we have known, that they
seldom tardy n second time. They are Kept
full-prown and then taken to market
A Complicated Uatch.-A watch has recent
been received in Cincinnati from GeneN
Switzerland, which shows on its dial the mon
and date of the same, the days ofthe week n
chnnoes of the moon besides the hours, min ut
and seconds 1t is also u self-winder, or keyl'
watch and repeater, striking the hours, amarse
and minutes, yet its interior arrangements
exceedingly simple. Twoyea was consum
in its construction.
MAGNIFIcENT FUNERAL CEREMoNIEs.-l
celebration of the solemn requiem Mass o.