The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-02-27
sorEnrE AVID INVENTION.

nth glyeerine, and the most pungent
as by layers of charcoal BY this
nipple means fremen can remain with
n burning buildings for upward of an
lour at a time with safety and comfort.
% far as their respiration is concerned.
ABsoRBINa Power OF THE HuAAE
sKrx.-Dr. Thomson, of Edinburgh re-
ates some experiments which he tried
IN his own person to ascertain the
truth of the statements made as to the
curative power of mineral water baths,
ON the absorption by the
skin Of certain salts and other sub
stances which they hold in solution
and, therefore, to ascertain whether |
certain substances applied IN the form
of ointments, etc, pass through the
skin and reach the blood before they
produce any beneficial effect. His con-
are that not only has ABSORB
ton by the skin been greatly exagger-
ated, but in the case Of substances in
aqueous solution it seems to be the ex-
ception, not the rule, for absorption to
take place; and that, in the case Of
ointments, ETC., some of the substances
so applied seem to be absorbed and
others not
FRENCH THEORY OF EPIDEAucs. -Ac-
cording to NJ. Alphonse de Candolle,
when fatal malady has seriously
effected the younger portion of popu-
lation, the succeeding generation, de-
scended from persons who escaped the
disease or we-e but little effected by it,
will be found less liable to attack, as an
ordinary effect of the law of descent,
this continuing to be the case from
generation to generation. This, there
fore constitutes one cause of the weak
ening of epidemics, and may serve to
explain the reason why a disease is
most injurious when it first attacks any
people, and why it subsequently be-
comes rarer or less dangerous, as has
frequently been observed. After the
lapse of 4everal generations, however,
a population moderately affected by
disease approaches the condition of one
intensity may then ensue.
AMMONIA IN WHooPNe-C oUaH.-A
writer in the British Medical Journal
states that in cases of whooping-cough
in the last stage-that is, after the third
week-he had one ounce of the strong
est liquid ammonia put into a gallon of
boiling water in an open pan, and the
steam kept up by means of half a brick
made red-hot throughout and put into
the boiling water containing the am
monia, the pan being placed in the
middle of room into which the pa
tients were brought as the ammoniated
steam was passing OFF. This method,
he says, was used in the evening, just
before bedtime; and it proved so eff
cacious in abating the spasmodic attack,
and after three or four days terminating
the malady, as to establish, beyond any
doubt, the great value of this mode of
inhaling ammonia as a therapeutic
agent in tranquilizing the nervous sys-
tenn in whooping- cough.
SoAP-sToNE BUTTONS. -Soap-stOne, OF
steatite, has recently found a new APP
plication as a raw material for buttons,
dominoes, and other similar objects.
Chips and refuse pieces of mineral are
ground to powder and mixed with sill
cate of soda, water, glass; and, after 8
repose of some hours, dried on plate,
and the mixture again pulverized. The
powder thus obtained is then subjected
to powerful pressure in suitable molds
and afterwards baked in air-tight cruel
bles. The pressed objects are agair
soaked in a cilicate Of soda bath, anC
again heated out of contact with tn,
air. The hardness of the product il
said to depend, in great measure
upon the number of times the heating
is repeated. The last stage in the pro
cess of manufacture consists in washing
in water in rotary tub, drying, anC
then agitating in a suitable vessel will
soap-stone powder, this last operation
giving to the surface bright polish
A New PRocEss OF WooD-ENeRAvTNC
is called the "planotype. The desigl
to be engraved is transferred to a blocl
of hme-tree wood, which is then PLACED
in machine having somewhat the APP
pearance of carving tn,
shape of which varies considerably &C
cording to the nature of the work, tn,
graver being kept red-hot by gas-jet
By means of this appliance the desig1
is gradually burnt into the wood
Figures or letters of reference are i'm
pressed by means of punches. Tn
whole design having been burnt int,
the wood, cast in type-metal is takel
direct from the block without an,
further preparation the cast may b
used for printing from, like an ordinar,
stereotype plate. It is said that tn
wood does not suffer in the slightest de
gree from the heat of the molten metal
and that the finest details are faithful,
reproduced. The process is carried GU
on a large scale, and is found to Civ
most satisfactory results.
CAUSES OF TYPHOID FEvER.--In re
cent lecture on typhoid fever at Gay
hospital, Sir William Gull remarks
that $50 years ago one of the kings @
England died of ague, but now by i'm
proved agriculture and drainage tn
disease had become rare, and certainl
very few die of it. Typhoid fever, h
asserts, is as preventible as ague, an
$50 years hence deaths from it viii b
rare. The disease is caused by a viru
of nature, which may get into th
healthy body, increase in it, and do
stroy it. II is an accidental condition
and not one of the ordinary processe
of nature. The origin of the disease
somehow or other connected with drain
age; it has therefore been called ia
filth fever, and to get rid of the filth
to get rid of the fever. This was illu,
trated in the case of the Milban
prison, where typhoid and dysenter
were once thoroughly established, bu
where both almost wholly disappeare