The Hickman courier., 1872-11-09
SCIENTIFIC.

SCIENTIFIC.
THE British Society for the Adj
vancement of Art offers five thous-
and dollars reward for pigment or
covering that viii perfectly protect
iron from rust or fouling.
IT Is well kno Sn that TIE difficulty
of uniting iron to brass is created
by the unequal rate OF expansion in
the two metals, which destroys the
unity when the temperature is
changed To meet this difficulty,
an alloy has been invented, by an
English artisan, the expansion OF
which, by heat. is claimed to be SO
similar to that of iron and steel, that
the surfaces may be regarded, when
joined, as permanently united for
all practical purposes. 1t consists
of three parts tin, thirty-nine and a
half parts copper, seven and a half
parts zinc.
The construction of bronzes has
lately been much improved by the
addition of a small amount of phos-
phorus. A special cause of the in
constant presence of traces of tin in
the state of an oxide, which acts me-
chanically by separating the mole
cules of the composition, thus inter
posing a substance which In itself
has no tenacity Now, the addition
of PHOSPHORUS is found to reduce
this oxide, and renders the bronze
much more perfect-improving It's
color, its tenacity, and all its physi-
cal properties. Thus treated, the
grain of the bronze, when fractured,
resembles more that of steel, its
elasticity is much augme ented, ana
its resistance to pressure sometimes
more than doubled.
USE OF COAL.
The Chronological History of coal
SAYS that Obadiah Gore, and his
brother, blacksmiths from Connect
cut, were the first to make use of the
anthracite coal in the Wyoming
(Pennsylvania) Valley In 1768.
Judge Jesse Fell, of Wilkesbarre,
was the first to apply it to house
hold uses. Philip Ginter, hunter
in the Mauch Chunk region, discov-
cred the Lehigh coal IN 1871. Mines
were opened in 1895, but it was ten
years later before the coal was seut
to Philadelphia The Schuykiu coal
was first sent to Philadelphia in
1922. Bituminous coal was mined
near Richmond, Virginia, as early
as 1872. Il was extensively used in
the vicinity in 1915, and a Rich
mond foundry employed it in max
ing shot and she'll during the Revo-
lution. Il was sent to Boston, New
York and Philadelphia in 1889.
BoRAx.
The use of borax as an agent for
causing the rapid drying of varnish
and of oil colors has become exten-
sive; and one method of its applica
ton consists in taking one hundred
parts of water, twelve parts of shell
lac and four parts of borax, and
melting them at gentle heat in
copper vessel, with continued stir
ring. The vessel is then to be Gov
cred, and the liquid allowed to co.l;
after which it is to be kept IN we'll
closed bottles. This furnishes an
excellent varnish, giving a beautiful
and durable luster, and is perfectly
secure against the action of moisture
and the air. To cause oil colors to
dry rapidly, equal parts of this
varnish and of the color are to be
rubbed up with oil, and spirits of
turpentine added until the whole
forms a homogeneous liquid mass.
Objects coated with this mixture
will dry completely in ten or fifteen
minutes, according to the season or
state OF the atmosphere.
FLORIDA WONDER.
Silver Springs. Florida, is one of
the greatest curiosities IN the South.
1t bursts forth in the midst of the
most fertile country IN the State. It
bubbles up in basin near one hun
dred feet deep and about an acre in
extent, and from it a deep stream
sixty to one hundred feet wide and
extending SIX or eight miles to Ock-
lawha River. In the spring itself IF
ty boats may lie at anchor-duite
fleet. The spring thus forms nat
ural inland port to which three
streamers now run regularly from
st. Johns, making close connections
with the ocean steamers at Palatka.
The clearness of the water is truly
wonderful. 1t seems even more
transparent than air; you see the
bottom eighty feet below the bottom
of VOur boat the axacf f0rp, of +ha
smallest pebble, the outline color of
the leaf that has sunk, and all the
prismatic colors of the rainbow are
reflected. Large fish swim IN it.
every scale visible, and every move
ment distinctly seen. If you go
over the springs in boat you Will
see the fssure in the rocks from
which the river pours up like an in
yerted cataract.
USEFUL INFORMATION.
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