Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-10-27
Scientific Notes.

HE OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES name
has been given to a machine invented by
DR.. Donders of Utrecht, for calculating the
movements of the eye-ball. By means of it
the mathematical analysis made by Prof.
Helmholtz of the ocular movements may be
practically demonstrated.
HYDRArE OF CHLoRAL.-Recent medical
journals report favorably on the use of the
hydrate of chloral for the purpose of allay-
ing brain excitement and producing sleep.
1t induces sleep with more certainty than
opium, and without the injurious effects
resulting from the latter. 1t has no cura-
tive properties, hut on account of its quiet
ing influence it has been called the king of
narcotics.
THE disintegfation of limestone of which
buildings are constructed, which is more
noticeable where much coal is burnt, is in
q great degree owing to the action of sui
phuric acid, liberated by combustion, upon
the magnesium of the limestone. This
may be prevented by coating the building
with an aqueous solution of superphos-
phate of soda.
PEoToGRAPHING THE SUN.-Prof Win
lock is now engaged in taking pictures of
the sun of somewhat noval plan. He
uses single lens object glass, Al inches
in diameter. havirg a focal length of 40
inches, made by Clark, of crown glass,
and corrected for spherical alteration by
means of an artificial star. The tube of
the telescope points to the North and the
image of the sun is thrown in by means OF
a plate-glass reflector. This glass is not
roughened or blackened on one side, be-
cause when that was done the heat of the
1rctAr r4a1 H. e
is at the object-glass end of the telescope,
so that when it is thrown across no dust is
shaken on the plate. as frequently is the
case in the usual way of working.
AMoRPHoUs SILICA FOR FIXING PIGMENTS.
DIR. NJ. Reinapn describes. in Dingler's
Polytechnic Journal, series of expert
ments made with the view to apply amor
phous SILICA for absoi bing the solutions of
fuchine, ansline blue, ETC., and to use the
colored powder so prepared as a pigment
for various materials. Tne SILICA is pre-
pared By precipitatipg solution of water
glass (silicate Of soda or potash) with an
acid, and collecting, washing and using
the precipitate in the ordinary way. Glass,
first superfcialiy acted upon by hydrcfuor-
ic acid, and next mordanted, as is usual
for cotton. assumes, when submitted to the
process in use for dyeing fiber similar col.
ors precisely as that fiber; the author states
that this effect is caused by the amorphous
SILICA contained in the glass and made eff.
fective by the hydrofuoric acid.
WooTz OR INDIAN STEEL.-Dr. Rammels-
berg gives, in Berlin journal, the result
of his analysis of steel bar, certified to
be true Indian Steel by the late East In
dian Company. and deposited in the Mu-
scum of the High Polytechnic School of
Berlin. Aside from the iron it contained
the following substances given in thou
sandths of one per cent: Carborn. o. SS7;
silicism. 0.136; phosphorus, O009; sui
phur, o. 002. 1t is significant that the au-
thor found no aluminium in this specimen.
since the late Messrs. Faraday and Stodart,
who made the first analysis of Woots as
early as 1919. stated that pee lliar qualities
of this steel were due to silicium and
aluminium. The specific gravity of the
specimen used by DIR. Rammelsberp was
found to be 1922.
IMPORTANT IF TRUE.-A gentleman call
ing himself the Able Brasseur de Bour.
bourg has been lecturing in New York on
Mexican Archaeology and the Prehistoric
Annals of America" The Able has dis.
covered records, he informs us, written in
the old Mexican language, of the Gulf OF
Mexico, the Atlantic and the Mediterra-
rean, extending back ten thousand years
before Christ.
All the principal views of Prof. Agassiz
upon the glacial period are found anticl-
pated as facts in these records. After the
reign of ice came period in which belt
of great lakes ran from the Caspian Sea to
the Gulf Of Mexico, and i'll these lakes be,
gan ''life." AS there was no life before,
the "Annals" may be excused for being
meagre. But after the appearance of life
the Able finds everything of consequence
laid down clearly. In fact, the early his
tory of Europe and Africa finds important
illustrations in these Mexican records
even the name of Rome is for the first time
explained in them.
In short, the sciences of astronomy, ge
ology. natural history, philology and an
thropology are completely overthrown by
the Abbe's recollections cf a manuscript
which he once saw in a half-barbarous
1 land, and which nobody but himself could
read. 1t is to be hoped that he will not
stop here, but will go on to give us an ac-
curate history of the universe at large, or
at least OF the solar system, for something
more than ten thousand years; for ''tht
annals of the Atlantic ocean," before any
life existed, which are his latest discovery
must come from source competent to en-
tighten Us on many things not hitherto
dreamed of in oui philosophy.
MIRAGE IN THE BRITISH CHANNEL. Mr.
Thomas Waring gives in ''The Meteoro
logical Magazine" the following descrip
tion of q mirage of unusual splendor:
The party on board of my yacht Hadas
sab, on her passage from Alderney t,
Guernsey, witnessed phenomenon 81
stfikisg, and in theSe latitudes so rare
that am tempted to send you a short &C
count of it. The wind was light, from E
N. E the sky cloudless, the sun very hot
and the barometer steady at 1924. Tier
had been some signs of fog in the morn
ing. but they had disappeared. At abou
$50 in the afternoon we observed over tn
small island of Herme peculiar hszy re
Election, which became more and more de
fined, until it presented an exact inverted
image of the land beneath. A similar ef
feet was soon visible round the whole hori
zon. The islands Alderney. Guernsey, Jer
sey, Sark, and Herme seemed raised Il
more than twice their hight; sharp point
ed, outlying rocks were capped with in
verted images of themselves, apparentl
balanced upon them, point to point. lik
enormous rocking stones. The Ortacl
rocks, Of which We have previously los
sight, were now to be seen with startlin
cIearness in the air. The Casquetes, wit
its three lighthouses. presented q most Gu
J rious appearance. The lighthouses wer
J drawn ont into three colossal pillars. o.
whose summit rested huge mass of roch
clearer in the outline than the real islam
beneath. Ships were seen sailing kee
upward through the air, every sail an
spar distinct, and in some cases the image
were reduphcated. Several of the vessel
thus reflected were below the horizon, an
invisible to Us. The northern end {
Guernsey, where the land runs low, wa
twice reflected in the air. so distinctly tbs
even those who were familiar with th
island found it hard to recogniz
it. We seemed to be lookin
at some half-merged country. where coun,
less still lagoons were divided from eac
other by narrow strips OF land. As we nee
Guernsey the picture becomes less distinc
but meanwhile the mirage was becomin
moro wonderful still over Alderney. Her
the deep-marked cliffs were magnifed to q
: apparent height of many hundred feet, an
M coouo- no inter dovicrpo n Grand tran