The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-07-26
Curious and Scientific.

Curious and Scientific.
A FEW drops of ammonia taken in
water will check excessive perspiration.
THE film of a soap bubble about to
burst is only about three-fourths Of the
millionth of an inch in thickness.
The Swiss papers describe looking
glasses laid over with gold, which reflect
sixteen times as powerfully as the COM
mon quicksilver mirrors.
RESEARCHES in Chinee archives show
that the architect who designed and the
engineer who built the Great Wall were
| women.
A SPRING of water, resembling in taste
the best settler, has been discovered in
Santa Clara county, California.
ALL of the lower animals, and most of
the insects, as far as Investigations have
been pushed, appear 10 have limbs on
the right side invariably stronger than
their. fellows on thu opposite side.
Psychologists have mo- yet been able to
give satisfactory solution of the prob
lem.
The preservation oftimber by the use
of creosote, or the desd oil of coal tar,
is claimed by some tobe the most prac.
ticable and effective method yet devised
for that purpose. The contrivances
which appear to be the best for this OBJ.
ject are those that deliver the oil into
the furnace in the form of spray or
vapor, by means of a Jet of steam or
blast of hot air.
The decomposition Of paste may be
prevented by adding TO it small
quantity Of carbolic acd. In the same
way, the disagreeablc smell which glue
has may be prevented If few drops
OF the solution be added to ink or
mucilage, they will notmold. For white
wash, especially when used in cellars
and such places, the addition of one
ounce of carbolic acid to gallon will
prevent mold and disagreeable odors.
In view of the alarming paragraphs
current at this time of the year concern
ing persons who are sad TO have died
from drinking or bathing In cold water
while overheated,' it is well for the
public TO know that the danger in such
cases arises from doing either of the
things in question after the body has
begun to cool. When a man is in
great heat he may lake "a cold plunge
or draught with comparative impunity.
The peril lies In waiting to " cool oil a
little before INDUCING in either luxury.
A CANADIAN inventor has lately OBJ
tanned patent for an ingenious process
by which tools, after being first fashion
ed of wrought iron, may be converted
| into steel. This is accomplished by i'm
merslng the articles into bath of
molten cast-iron, free foom sulphur or
| phosphorus, and charged with carbon
to its utmost capacity The size of the
implement and the degree of hardness
required govern the time it is to remain
in the bath.
A SAMPLE of the baked heart of the
Agave Americana has been received at
the Internal Revenue Bureau. This is
plant from which liquor known as
mescal is produced, and grows abund-
antly in the Territories. Application
has been made for permission to use it
IN the manufacture Of spirits, and this
specimen will be termented and dis.
titled in the office of internal revenue
Tor the purpose of determining its spirit
producing capacity.
CAPTAIN Otis f. HAMBLIN, of Nan.
tucket, recently found in the sperm
whale, which he killed near the Gal.
lipagos Islands, a harpoon belonging to
the ship Catawba, Of Nantucket, lost
twenty years ago.
A WRITER in Harper'S Weekly says
" A duck found in The interior Of New
Zealand is said to differ from other
ducks in not exhibiting any soicitude
for the safety of its young. Captain
Hutton, an eminent naturalist, thinks
that this supports the Darwinian theory
as the ducks belong to genus peculiar
to New Zealand, where there were on
destructive animals previous to the ar.
rival of man, and in which genus, there.
fore, instructive fear has not been de
veloped; indeed, the absence Of fear i.
said to be a peculiar characteristic Of
the animals of New Zealand"