The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-08-04
Science and Art.

THERE will be transit of Venus
across the sun in 1874. The last transit
of Venus was in 1869.
DR.. HAGER finds that TIE addition of
10 drops of chloroform to 100 grammes
of cod-liver oil, renders the latter agree
able to the taste without in the least
impairing its medical qualities.
DR.. DINGLER has tested the efficacy of
an alloy for soldering iron to steel, or
either of these to brass. This alloy
consists of parts of tin, 80 l-2 of cop
per, and I l-2 of zinc. When applied
in a molten state it will firmly unite the
metals first named.
LINEN can be converted into sugar
sugar into alcohol and carLonic acid ;
alcohol into ether and water. Sugar
can also be converted into oxalic acid.
and likewise into pure charcoal and
water Alcohol will readily change into
acetic acid, or vinegar Coal tar is
transformed into dyes that surpass the
Tyaian. purple of old. Starch may be
transmitted into gum, alcohol, sugar,
vinegar, or oxalic acid and these are
but few of the magical changes which
modern chemical science has made IA
mliar as household words.
HAMLET complained of "ths too, too
solid flesh of ours, But he was more
al Soliloquy than Chemistry. Accord
ing to Rolfe and Gillet's " Handbook of
Chemistry" water constitutes the
greater part of all plants and animals.
The human body is four-fifths water.
In many of the lower animals the pro-
portion is much greater. From sun
fish weighing 30 pounds, only 240
grains of solid matter were obtained /:
so that water makes up about .999 of
the weight of such animals. The vege-
table subs ances which we use for food
contain almost as large a per centage of
water In potatoes, the fraction is 10;
in apples, .SO in turnips, 80 !; in water
melons, "a and in cucumbers, 81.
IT does not require an analytical
chemist to detect many Of the cheats
which are practiced upon consumers.
Various simple methods have been sug-
gested by which housekeepers may
discover the impurity of articles eff
family use. In nothing is the cheating
more universal and persistent than in
tea and coffee. 1t is almost impossible
to buy either of these articles with a
certainty of getting them pure.
fetal color, may be detected by very
simple means. One of the most dan.
gerous facings is Prussan blue. Put a
little of the green tea into bottle with
cold water, shake it violently. and
quickly pour out the water into glass.
Let it settle, and the powder will sink.
The water may then be poured Off and
the powder examined. Pour upon it a
few drops of the solution of washing
soda, and if it contains Prussian blue,
its color will change to dirty brown.
The name of vegetable wool is applied
10 tibrous material obtained from the
leaves of the fiji, mandatory for this
purpose having been established near
Breslau, in Silesia, The species of pine
thus operated upon is the pinus sylves-
iris, or wild pine; and it would seem
that every member of the pine tribe
might be turned to similar account.
The leaves of these trees on eXamina-
ton will be found to be made of a
fbIous material held together by a
resinous substance. The latter may be
dissolved out by means of alkalies.
leaving the woolly matter behind. Gov
erlets, blankets, and other articles made
Of vegetable wool are in use in Austria,
and especially in the public institutions
of Vienna. The material is warm, dur.
able, and in all respects agreeable !;
moreover, it possesses the excellent qua
lily of preserving certain balsamic
and decidedly wholesome smell, which
nevertheless is so inimical to insects
that the never number in it, as they do
in almost all the ordinary descriptions
of bed material. The resinous matter
holding the woolly fibres toge,her-and
which is eliminated or dissolved out by
the alkalies-is also turned to account
medicinal baths being made with it as a
basis, and which are found to be useful
in various chronic diseases.
WHITE TURNIPs.-It is not yet too late
to sow the seed for this crop. We ex.
perienced very great advantage last
season in the unparalleled drouth, from a
large part of this succulent food, fed out
all through October, November and De-
cember. 1t can be raised after early
potatoes are gathered, or between corn
rows as a stolen crop. The corn is cut
up by the roots in September, and the
turnips have the ground for six or eight
weeks, and in good soil make large
amount of food at small cost. But il
pays to prepare ground especially fol
them, and sow either in drills or broad
cast. 1t is not difficult to get ten tons
OF good green fodder from an acre o.
land. This foddered out once day tc
/, cattle late in the fall or early winter
will save hay and add much to then
comfort and thrift.
NUMBER one hundred and twenty
one of Appleton's Journal, contains tn,
beginning of new story, entitled
nTt-sl l,al S,yoat n aart - THE - oc,, :,