The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-02-02
CURIOUS AND sCIENTIFIC.


which has proved that |
light penetrates to a depth of one |
hundred fathoms below the surface !
Of the sea. Hitherto it has been sup
posed that 80 fathOms was the far |
thest depth to which the suns rays
could reach, but an apparatus, Of
which the main feature is chemically
prepared paper, has proved that the
sun is more than three times as DOW
erful as was supposed.
a writer of the Scientific american
says that to succeed in growing plants
in dwellings, it is necessary. TO keep
the air around the plants OF a mOder-
ate temperature, say from fifty to six
ty degrees, and as moist as possible.
by having the plants stand on damp
moss, or other material that Will at all
times be giving Off moisture among
the leaves. Plants with large leaves
like the Camelia, India rubber plant,
Century, etc., may be greatly bene-
fitted by occasionally sponging the
leaves with water, bv = hicR means
the dust that accumulates on them is
removed. Small leaved plants NAV
be syringed with good effect.
A correspondent of the Scientific
american has discovered Chow to see
under water" He had occasion to
examine the bottom of a mill-Dond,
for which purpose he constructed a
float out Of an inch plank, sufficient
to buoy him up. Through the centre
of this float he cut q hole and placed
a blanket over it, when he was en-
abled to clearly discover objects on
the bottom, and several lost tools
were discovered and picked up. He
IS satisfied that, where the water is
sufficiently clear, the method could
be successfully used in searching Tor
lost bodies and articles, and suggests
that it be tried on the sea. "WIth a
craft like the Great Eastern he
adds, 'where an observatory could
be placed at the bottom, with suffi-
Gent darkness, by the aid of glasses
we could gaze down into the depths
of the sea, the same as we can survey
the starry heavens at midnight"
A new kind of stove, invented
by Prof. Aedinger and successfully
used by the last German Arctic eX-
petition, is attracting considerable
attention abroad. 1t is of iron, hav-
ing double wall, with a space about
two inches wide between the outer
and inner walls, to which the air has
free access above and below. The
cold air being always at the bottom,
and the warm ascending, it follows
that all the air in the room is being
constantly forced through the space
between the outer and inner cover
ing of the stove, or, what is the same,
is being constantly heated. The coal
is put in at the top, and fills the
whole inside of the stove, which is
about six feet high, more or less. It
is then lighted at the top and kept
burning by the draft created by valves
inserted both into the side walls
and at the bottom of the stove. The
valves opened, the greater the heat,
so that the temperature can be easily
regulated. The expense is a third
less than that of an ordinary German
stove, and the new invention, in an
elegant shape, is rapidly finding its
way into dwelling houses.
One Of the strangest natural phen-
Omena (says the Japan 1fdiJ) is now
to be witnessed at the excavations
being carried ON ct NOge. 1t viii be
remembered of those who have been
along the line of railroad towards
Kanagawa, that just outside the sta
ton yard large excavations are being
made in the side of the hill. A near
inspection of these viii show that at
one spot where the earth is being
thrown down from the brow of the
hill, the soil appears to be smoking.
Large stones appear as if shoulder
ing, and the loose Tubble is it rolls
down the face of the cliff emits q
thick mist. On ascending the hill,
the place where the hot earth is being
dug can be seen. A small semi-ciI Gle
has been eXcayated q few feet deep,
and although the earth when I'M
,
appearance, the moment the pick en-
tiers, the smoke arises in every direc-
ton, emitting a strong sulphurous
smell, not sufficiently powerful, how
ever, to have any effect on the coolies
at work. The earth, which is warm
when dug out, is thrown down the
hill, whence it is taken away in light
ers.
A NOVEL DIsCOyERY.-A process
by which the heat in the waste steam
from one engine can be used to heat
the boiler of another, and the amount
of power now obtained by the con-
sumption of fuel doubled, has been
discovered.
When two establishments using
steam power are near each other, the
exhaust steam from one of them can
be taken to heat the boiler of the
other, and no fuel, fireman, or Chin
ney will be required for it, and its
engine will run without attention so
long as the waste steam is supplied to
heat its boilers, furnishing an amount
of power fully equal to that of the
first engine from which the waste
steam is received
The second boiler is heated by pass
ing the waste steam through its hues,
and is filled with q mixed volatile
liquid, composed mainly of the BIZ
sulphide of carbon, which bOils at
10 Fahrenheit, and at the tempera-
tuTe of exhaust steam gives q pressure
in the boiler of sixty-five pounds to
the inch. The VapOr formed in this
boiler is used to drive the second en-
CINE instead of steam, and after being
used is condensed by cooling, pump
ed into the boiler again, and used
continually with small loss. Two
engines arranged on this Plan are
now running at the Atlantic Works
in East Boston. and a careful measure
ment of the power of each proves that
of the vapOr engine to be the great
est.-BO8ton Traveller.
Telegraphing hes taken a sudden
and important stride towards perfec-
ton within the last few days. Ex-
periments with a newly invented |
mode have been conducted, and within
wonderful success. Yesterday a lies !
sage -vas sent from Washington to !
an operator in Philadelphia, who re-
turned the same, in twenty seconds. /
BY the new mode it is claimed that |
five thousand words may be dispatch |
ed with the same facility and in the |
same time now required for fifty I
words.
The cost of telegraphic correspon-
dence will be reduced by this method /
eight fold. So message of ten words |
between Washington and New York 1
now costing eighty cents, will be sent /
for eight cents. A message of ten /
words between New York and Liver /