Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1872-09-28
Scientific and Practical.

A GERMAN scientific periodical an
nounces that silk dresses dyed with
picrate of lead are liable to to sponta-
neous combustion.
The practical value of the much
lauded narrow gauge railway system is
to be tested IN England by the con
struction of a line with gauge of two
feet.
The number Of spots observed on the
sun in 1871 was smaller than that re-
corded in 1870, and the regular de-
crease toward the minimum number is
now going on.
\ PARIS paper asserts that method
of soiidhying petroleum has been in.
vented, whereby it can he made perma-
nently solid, so that the resulting mass
will burn without liquefying.
BEEF-TEA, if given alone, says writer
in the .Nonitcur .Scjcnhfq4e, tends only to
ietard the recovery of convaescents.
Is too deficient in albuminous mate
rial to constitute true fooG
A New ORLEANS inventor attaches a
small boiler with motive machinery to
a horse. car, and fills the boiler from n
generator at a station. Thus the car is
made to run several miles under II
pressure, but without Il fire.
THESE are the properties of milk
Water, $40 parts caseine, 40 milk SUI
gar, IS; butter in oil, 40; phosphate OF
lime, II; phosphate of magnesia, 4
chloride of potassium, 9; common salt,
=; free soda, ;. To draw dividing
line, the water in milk amounts to $40
parts, while all the other parts swell to
only 100.
PRoF. PACMIERI records a singular
fact in connection with the recent erup.
ton Of Mount Nesuvius. The vaporous
) emanations alone were observed to be
charged with positive electricity, while
the ashes alone were charged with mega
tive electricity. Hence electric effects
resulted from the collision of the clouds
of ashes with those of vapor, thunder
and lightning being produced as in an
ordinary storm.
THE coast of the Island of New
Guinea is to be explored by u private
expedition from Australia, numbering
thirty persons. Interesting discoveries
in geography and natural science are
| i't'' wi bib tiCIl lltulDGf pay
$500 toward the expenses OF the party
they have arranged to secure them
selves against loss by going pearl fish
, ing, in case of Il failure to effect land
ing in New Guinea.
A PHILADELPHIA mechanic has in
vented patent filter and cooler thai
will furnish cool and pure water, with
out the use of ice. The apparatus
which consists of an upright cylinder
of boiler iron, lined, is sunk into the
ground, and gives a temperature O
titty-slx degrees, while the temperature
of hydrant water in the summer aver
ages about eighty degrees. The water
is filtered of every impurity, leaving i,
f as clear and cool rs spring water.
; The thrush is said to work from 2:3(
in the morning until $50 in the even
I ing, or nineteen hours. During this
time he feeds his young 3O6 times
Black birds work seventeen hours. The
male fe. DIS the Young forty-tour times
and the female tilty-tive times per day
The industrious tltmOusc manages tC
spread All meals day before its vora
clous offspring. According to one
naturalist, their food consists largely o.
caterpillars. The eight-hour agitation
has not yet commenced among the
teathered bipeds.
THE opinion that hight was absolutely
necessary to the existence of life, which
, formerly prevailed among scientific
men, has been modified by the view o.
| Agassiz, that the animals OF the Nam
moth Cave in Kentucky, including the
blind fish, are aboriginal inhabitants Of
their present abode. Sir Humphrey
Davy, who studied the habit of the eye
less reptiles found in the caves of the
Austrian province of Carniola. came to
the conclusion that these creatures arc
brought from surface lakes through
assures in the limestone rocks.