The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-09-11
SCIENTIFIC FRAGMENTS.

THE French bishop of Canton has
presented to the Jardin d'Acelimation
In Paris a curious Chinese plant, which
changes its color three times q day.
EARTH decomposes heterogeneous sub
stances, and for that reason should
never be mixed with manures until they
are about to be applied. The manure
from earth closets turns out to be I'M
expecte3Iy poor, and contains only one
fifth of the nitrogen which has been
placed in it, the loss being due to the
decomposition of the heterogeneous sub
stances by the earth.
IT IS greatly in favor of the use of
heavy petroleum and coal oils as lUbri-
cants, that according to some of the
best authorities, these oils are incapa-
BILE of producing combustion in contact
with wooden materials. Vegetable oils,
such as olive oil, are on the contrary
very liable to such combustion when
mixed with wool, sawdust, and similar
material.
M. VIOAIBE communicates to the
French Academy some observations on
the probable duration of the suns heat.
He thinks that what is ordinarily con-
sidered to be the mass of the sun is
really very much below the truth. Con
sidering the enormous pressure at the
centre OF the luminary, he thinks there
is nothing unreasonable IN supposing q
mean density amounting to ten or TWEEN
ty times the received figure. This would
multiply the duration of the sun as a
luminary by just so much.
AT a distance of 80 miles south of the
Union and Pacific railroad, and 900 west
of Omaha, great hill of almost pure
sulphur was discovered about two years
ago. This is one of the most remarka-
BILE deposits of native sulphur in the
world. It contains only Is per cent. OF
impurities. In the sulphur deposits oil
Sicily, says the Scientific American, the
pure sulphur is only 65 per cent, and
hence our western sulphur is much the
more valuable, and promises TO become
ere long of great Importance to the
country.
M. BURQUE publishes in Complies Rem.
dus n new method OF measuring the
velocity of light. If disk is made tc
revolve very rapidly, and at each turn
is illuminated by an instantaneous ray
of light, a radial line placed on the
disk will appear TO be stationary. II
then the source of light be withdrawn
aud placed at distance, the instant OF
illumination being unaltered, the great.
er time Of fight of the light raw will
allow the radial line before illuminated
to pass beyond the line Of vision. A
new radius will be illuminated, and the
angle between the two viii be the meas
ure of the time of the lights passage.
A PROCESS for the manufacture of iror
direct from the ore, the use of the bias
furnace being dispensed with, has bcel
invented by +. W. Gerhard. Instea,
of pig-iron this process employs a com
pound called "iron coke, which con
sists of a mixture of ore Cor any sub
stance containing iron), the necessar.
fuxes, and the equivalent of carbon. /
lump of this compound is put into tn
furnace, and by the single process know
as "balling" heat may be obtained
in considerably less time and with con
siderablv less labor than under the OLE
method, the process of melting" anC
boiling" being entirely dispensed
with. The most important feature o.
the invention is the great saving which
it effects in fuel.
NEARLY every season a paragraph
goes the round of the newspapers as
sorting that the movements of q tide
have been noticed IN the great lakes. II
Is well known, however, that such is not
the case. In order to establish the fact,
however, one way or the other, one OF
the ablest officers connected with the
United States lake survey, at Detroit,
Mich, for several seasons carried out q
series of observations at several points
upon the lakes, the effect of which would
be TO show that there was a tide, pro
viding sdeh a flow of waters existed.
The result, however, was established
without doubt that no tide was per
ceptible at any of the points, or if &c
not te exceed one or two inches, which
was practically no tide at all.