The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-01-11

4 USEFUL INvENTIoN.-The material produced by
Colonel Szerelny, and called by the Arabic-sound
ing name OF ZOpissa, is a species of paint, Varnish.
or glue, or rather q substance combining the spe-
cial qualities of each of these bodies with others
peculiar 10 itself. IL can be employed with the
facility of paint. 1t is as preservative of surface
and of lustre as the most successful vaTnish. 1t
holds with a tenacity equal to that of the best ma
rine glue. not only wood, paper, and cloth, but
stone. glass. and iron. 1t is impeTvious to water.
1t is iRcombustible by fire. 1t is an almost abso-
lutte njn-conductor OF heat. While qualities such
as these are enough to give a very high commercial
value to a chemical product. the cost of production
is said to be very low. We have not space to enter
into the interesting details of the manner in which
Colonel Szerelmy was led to the discovery of this
important material. He believes that it is the very
secret that has impaired so imperishabIe a dura-
bility to the sarcophagi, the mummy cloths, and the
mural paintings of the ancient Egyptians. There
is, it is certain. a wonderfully Egyptian look about
the panels, and cloths, and piles, and beams, and
~sleepers, prepared by this process. Some of them
have been for years under water. Some of them
have been exposed to Jets of flaming gas. They
appear to have been little affected by either. HUI
man life is not OF adequate length to apply the tests
to which the inventor proposes to submit the tim
bers he has prepared. But when we say that not
only a very large proportion OF the newspaper
press of the country has called attention TO the re-
suits of experiment. but that DR.. Faraday and Sir
ROderick Murchison, in an official report which the
House of Commons ordered TO be printed on the
10th of May, 1860, bear testimony to the efficiency
of ZOpissa for arresting the decay of stone, it will
be seen we have reason for expressing surprise that
the material has not been brought into universal
use. Its value for maritime and military purposes
appears to be extraordinary Opticians and opera
goers know the worth of the new metal, aluminium,
owing to its two qualities of non-oxidation and
great lightness. y double operaglass might be
made OF Zopissa paper. so light that the glass would
be the heaviest part. so strong as to be proof against
any but intentional injury, and at a cost which
would leave aluminium nowhere. Again, for els
terms, pipes. or reservoirs of water not only can
these be made of this material at a third of the
price of iron. but the chemical action that is always
going oil in metal containing water would be OBJ
waited. and the great trouble of the winter frost in
London and other large towns, the fracture of the
water-pipps. would be rendered a thing OF the past
owing not so much to the great strength as to the
non-cOnducting quality of pipes made of this cheap
material. Space would fail us to tell of the objects
to which it might be satisfactorily applied. For
vessels it may be made to combine the lightness of
timber with the resistance of iron armOr. For
shoes it is at once light and durable. For cartridge
cases il presents to the manufacturer of small arms,
and. indeed. to the artillerist in any branch. exactly
that of which he Is in search-FrOm = The Art
a Welsh orator recently remarked, in a fine
peroration, Innocence is like an umbrella;
once we have lost it we can never hope to