The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-10-03
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

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CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.
A PARTY of scientific men has, accord
ing to the London Times, recently Wis
tied the famous Crossness welI-boring IL
London, an undertaking of great inte,
rest to geologists at large, as promising
to throw light upon the unknown rocks
which succeed the Gault clay in the
London district. The present depth OF
the boring is nine hundred and fifty
feet, and 1t may be mentioned that at
this depth the cost of boring amounts to
ETA per foot.
The way nails came to be designated
! by the word penny" as regarding
I size, is thus explained In the early
history of our country all nails were
wrought forged by hand); our currency
then was pounds, shillings, l enee and
farthings. Each sized nails were sold
by so many pennies per hundred. The
usual way was to ask for four-penny
nails, six-penny, ten-penny, etc. Hence
in mercantile circles the sizes are desig-
mated by the price in pennies per hun
dred. When cut-naiIs were introduced,
the sizes were still designated by pen
MES and this has been continued, and
in all probability Will be as long as nails
are used.
Uses OF PURPURINE.- can
be used for dyeing cotton, wool or silk
of black, red, rose or lilac color. Cot
ton is printed with the usual madder
mordant, coIored and soaped at one
hundred and twenty-five to one hundred
and forty-four degrees to restore the
whites and clear the colors. Passing
through bran improves the whites.
Wool is mordanted in alum and tartar,
or bichloride of tin and tartar, and dyed
by boiling half an hour in purpuring
bath. A little tannin may be added
with advantage to the mOrdant For
printing wool, about three hundred
grains CT purpurine and sixty grains of
carbonate of soda are dissolved in
hot water thickened with starch,
and increased to about one quart,
printed and steamed. For crimson,
alum and tartar are used as mOrdanis.
Silk takes cOlOrs beautifully, especially
reds, by mOrdanting with acetate of
alum and chalk, drying and cumming
slightly with tragacanth solution Zone
to two hundred), printing with a soIu-
tion OF four hundred and eighty grains
purpurine and one hundred and eighty
grains crystallized carbonate of soda in
water, filtered and thickened with three
thousand grains of roasted starch, then
steamed and soaped at one hundred and
forty-four degrees.
The pollution of water by typhoid
ercreta has long been established, and
the fact that water is the transporting
agent in the spread of many diseases.
The British medical association. stimu-
lated by the Marrylebone epidemic,
have recently discussed the spread of
the fever by means of milk. In DR..
Billiards. report on the earlier IslingtOn
outbreak, he created some amusement
by suggesting that the foul water had
probably been used to rinse out the
cans. On a subsequent occasion the
same explanation was for a time ac-
cepted; but it was ultimately discovered
that the milk IN that case had been
regularly diluted with 10 per oent. of
water. That which is supplied by the
company which is responsible for the
MaryIebone outbreak is obtained from
farmers of respectability and substance,
and is tested in London before it is sent
out. If dilutiOn were detected the
milk would be returned to the farmer,
and it is quite certain that no dilution
on a large scale can have been practiced.
But DR.. Billiards. suggestion about
rinsing the cans Will; in the way that OPP
peration is performed, account for the
presence of perhaps half a pint of wa
ter in each and there is the obvious
possibility that labOrs employed about
the dairy may substitute small quanti-
ties of water for milk on their own ac-
count. The dilutiOn here suggested
could not be detected by any OF the or
binary tests, because it would keep
within the limits of natural variation.
A New ANnpE RED.-Aecording to
F. Hamel, the addition of few drops
of chloride of sulphur to 375 grains Of
aniline, IN a flask, with continued, care
full stirring. produces, in from five to
ten minutes, sometimes Immediately,
red solid, which, when treated with
acetic acid and filtered, gives a red
liquid that yields on evaporation a bril-
liant black substance, soluble in acetic
acid, ether and alcohol. Addition of
water to its solution in any Of these pro-
duces a gray precipitate.
That President Grant won't let us
know what he thinks of the third term.