The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-09-13

of moisturein the atmosphere is now
in use in Paris, consisting of strips
of paper which have been dipped in
a cobalt salt solution, containing
common salt and gum arabic. In
dry weather this prepared paper is
blue; in wet, it is rose red.
THE curious phenomenon of re-
gelation can be exhibited by placing
a block of ice on a netting of fine
wire. The ice will be melted by the |
wire, and, passing down through it,
will become frozen IN mass again |
below the wire. a simple wire can,
in a similar manner, be drawn slow
ly through a block of ice, which
unites again behind the wire, finally
showing no sign of having been cut
at all.
THE Watjn publishes an account of
the experiments made by a doctor
of Montpelier to ascertain the effects
of wine, brandy, and absinthe on
fowls. Those bids took very readily
to the regime, and ended by absorb
ing daily six cubic centimetres of al
cohol or from ten to twelve of wine
The result was that they lost flesh
rapidly, especially those which drank
absinthe. Two months drinking of
that liquor was sufficient to kill
uhem; those treated with brandy re-
sisted four months and a half, and
those with wine ten IN onths. An ex-
traordinary effect of this alcoholism
was the immense development of the
male birds crests, which increased
to four times their natural size and
assumed brighter hue.
TIE London Engineer says that the
immense raft which has SO long OBJ
structed the Red River appears to
move up stream instead of down,
the motion being at the rate Of about
two miles year. The explanation
of this retrogrdde movement IS that
the logs of tue lower end If the raft
are continually broken away and car
ried off by the floods and frcshets,
while the other end is continually
receiving additions. Thus the raft.
always falling away at one end and
growing at the other, gradually
moves up the river, and 1t Is calcula-
| ted that it has moved since the form
alton about four hundred miles. In
! 1888, when the raitwas Que hundred
and twenty-f,ur miles long, the work
of removing it was commenced by
the Government, but, after working
at 1T for twenty-five years, the work
was abandoned as impracticuble,
and was confined TO opening some
of the lateral channels 50 as to facil-
itate navigation.
Few things are more wonderful
than the spinning apparatus of the
spider. On the under si:e of the
crea' ures body are plgced four or
SIX little knobs, each not larger than
the point of pin. These are out
let's of certain receptacles within the
abdomen, where the silk is prepared.
When the spider wishes to spin a
thread, it presses the knobs. or spin
nerets, with one gifts legs, and forth
with there issue from each, not one
but a thousand fbres, of such ex-
quisite fineness, that it is only when
the products of all the spi ,ners are
uni ed that they become visible tC
the naked eye. The thread" of the
spider is thus tiny rope of four OF
six thousand strands. The twisting
into one cord IS performed by tn,
hindmost pair of legs, which, like
the rest, are furnished with three
claws a piece. Using these claws a.
fingers, the little rope-maker twists
her groups of thread into one will
= surprising rapidity.
Mr.. JOSEPH ZENTMAYER recently ex
hibited, at the Franklin Institute
Philadelphia, single glass prism
which erects the image completely
, and III such way that the incidcn
and emerging rays are parallel
which, it is SAID, were never befor
accomplished. In connection wit
the microscope it was shown to ii
l. terfere very little with the definition
and, although the light was twice re
fracted and reflected, lis loss wa
: much less than one would expect
The prism is placed right above tn
objective, and the microscope ma
y be used in any inclined position
# The projection of the front of til
/ prism is a square, and that of th
It profile is anisosceles triangle. TIL
# angles at the base of the triangle III
= 2719 for crown glass of a rehectin
It index of 1 So, in order to obtain tn
,. greatest aperture combined with til
/ smallest prism. The rays enterln
, the prism on either side of the Gel
o trail ray become inverted in the
:, passage through it. The upper n
!; emerges as the lower ray, and I'll
t, lower ray as the upper one. A pa
e of such prisms might be used ais
:, for an erecting binocular micr,
l. scope.
tt Mr.. JAMES YOUNG, Of Scotlan
who, long since, acquired fortul
Is and reputation by his process of di
3 tilling oil from camel coal, is no
: using a new process for manufactu
y ing carbonate Of soda on a larg
II scale. The main reaction IN his pr
cess is not new, but tho manner
I'd which he proposes TO save and Il
b. over and over the ammonia require
is is novel, and if as economical
ut claimed it will effect revolution
s. the manufacture of an article of col
merce which Great Britain has flu
nished to the whole world for MAJ
years The chemical reaction in N
os Young's process take place III ty
- large revolving cylinders, which NJ
y be designated as A and 3. In t
- cylinder a, a charge of comm,
salt IS DIaced and "A 0uautitv of "