The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-06-06
SCIENCE AND INVENTION.

N%oNS~k(O y
House.-If person in house on fire
has the presence of mind to apply a
wet cloth or handkerchief to his mouth
and nostrils, a passage can then be
effected through the densest smoke
without any serious Inconvenience. If
possible envelope the head and face
completely.
The phosphorescence of the sea is
due to two kindred canses, one being
the light emitted by certain living crea-
lures which have the faculty of becom-
ing ldminous-a faculty incidental to
the discharge of their vital functions;
the other being the light given out of
the bodies of the same creatures while
undergoing the process of decomposi-
ton. Which of these exercises the
larger share in illuminating the ocean is
vet uncertain, and the point is not, per-
haps, very material; but what is more
to the purpose is that among the former
are to be found three distinct genera,
subdivided, in the case of infusoria, in
to almost infinite species. These three
genera are the Acalephe (Manuse and
Cayanee families) among zoophites,
certain mollusca and infusoria. Of the
Acalephe, or sea-nettles, the Mammaria
scintillans is the most remarkable. It
is, when fully grown, no larger than
pins head, and yet has luster that
makes it almost as brilliant as the
brightest star. It is more especially an
inhabitant of the tropics, and is great
contributor to the glory which the sea
in those latitudes has over the waters
of colder zones.
-Iti is not five years since all gas-works
were plagued by an intolerable nuisance
that could not be got rid Cf-I refer to
ammoniacal liquor. It poisoned the
soil, and infected the air fire would
not destroy it, nor the depths of the
ocean retain it; under the name of
'Blue Billy" it foated in CHASTITY
patches on rivers, or, when emptied far
out at sea, made wind-bound ships un-
endurable by its pungent smell. At
present it is, in connection with its
hideous twin sister, gas-tar, one of the
most useful Of raw materials. 1t is the
basis of benzire and nitro-benzole it
illuminates large factories and yards
it produces naptha, lamp black, and
red pigment; it is the solvent of resin,
caoutchoue, and gutta-percha; 1t is a
lubricant to machinery, and an essential
ingredient in paraffine-oil. There is no
such other water-proofer. Mixed with
some heavier oleaginous body, it pre-
serves wood from decay. AS disinfec-
tant against cholera and the plague, it
has no equal 1t produces alum, sal
ammoniac, and carbolic acid Indeed,
so valuable have these two by-products
of gas-works-gas-tar and ammoniacal
liquor-become, that factories are set
up beside the gas-works to utilize this
refuse.
The Vern1ia AslhyrjGtOr. These
who have suffered from the ravages of
the ground squirrels and gophers in
California, and of equally annoying an
imals elsewhere, Will welcome a salts,
factory method of exterminating these
depredators, devised by Mr.. Bateson-
the inventor of what he calls the /" Pa
tent Vermin AsphyxiatOr, for destroy
ing animals in burrows, and for other
purposes. The apparatus consists of
vessel capable of being perfectly closed,
in which sheets of paper saturated with
sulphur or other substances may be
burned, and the fumes forced out
through a flexible tube by means of a
fan, which delivers the noxious gases,
with a pressure sufficient to drive them
into the minutest crevices. In the
course of public exhibition of the ap
paratue, recently given in London, nu-
merous experiments were tried, among
them the destruction of aphides on
plants, of weevils in grain, of snakes in
n hole, of rats in a drain-pipe, etc. For
destroying rabbits, squirrels, or other
animals in burrows, it is only necessary
to introduce the flexible tube or nose
into one of the apertures, close up the
rest, if this can be done conveniently,
and then force a continuous stream of
gas through the burrows. A few min
utes application is sufficient to destroy
every living thing within the influence
of the apparatus. One advantage OF
this new method, is in its perfect safe
ty, sulphurous acid being one of the
best preventers of combustion known,
and capable, therefore, of being used
for extinguishing flames, in case OF
need. Other incidental applications OF
asphyxiator are as disinfectant and
deodorizer. It is we'll known that sui
phurous acid is used very extensively
for destroying the germs of smallpox,
scarlet fever, yellow fever, cholera, ETC.,
although there are sometimes difficult
ties in its application, which the present
arrangement seems to obviate. The in
ventor claims that one or two of the
machines can easily disinfect vessel,
on battering down the matches and
working the apparatus from the deck.
For cases where the dislodgement of an
animal, as of rabbit, ETC., is desired,
rather than its destruction, what is
called smoke paper is used, which,
when burned in the machines, produces
unbearable fumes that soon accomplish
the desired effect.
Thn RniImnu pocta1 Sn,-uica