Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-02-25
Scientific.

calls the attention OF It's readers to the
fact that glycerine may be used as a
means of Disgusting medicines such as
castor oil, turpentine, cod liver oil,
&C., more especially. when one or two
drops of oil of cinnamon Or some other
volatile oil has been added.
AN Anglo Saxon company has been
formed to drain the Ferrara marshes
lying near the mouth of the River Pc
The marshes cover an area of about
two hundred thousand square miles. It
is proposed to use eight pumps, each
of which will discharge ffty-seven
thousand gallons of water per hour.
PROFESSOR DoNDERs has been rede-
termining the time necessary for the
transmission of sensation to the brain,
the formation of judgment, and the
transmission of volition to the hand.
When the eye receives the sensation it
requires 18th of second, but when
the ear is employed only Goth of a
second is needed.
SOME careful experiments have been
made recently on the comparative yield
of fields on which covered or uncov-
ed manure has been used. It was
found that the field fertilized with the
covered manure produced forty per
cent. more potatoes, and nearly twenty
five per cent. more wheat than the
other.
AN interesting question in plant
geography is that as to the transport
of seeds by ocean currents, and in
other ways independent Of human
agency. NJ Thuret has been expert
menting on this in Antilles. Having
tried 251 different species, he knows of
only Two kinds of bare seed which are
capable of floating, Maurandia and
Phormium. A long immersion in sea-
water does not destroy the vitality of
seeds. Out of "a species immersed
more than year, at least terminated
afterwards as vigorously as seeds kept
quite dry.
Mr.. GALLOWAY has called attention
to the fact that if Davy lamp be
burning TRANQUILITY in an explosive at
wave, produced by slight explosion
of gunpowder, is sufficient to cause
the communication of flame from the
lamp to the surrounding atmosphere.
Hitherto it has generally been assumed
that the occurrence of colIiery explo-
sion, after firing a shot. is due to ac-
tual communication of fame from the
gunpowder to the fire damp, but Mr.
GallOway's experiments show that it is
much more likely that the explosion is
brought about by the noise of the shot
being propagated through the galleries
of the mine to the safety lamp.
A CORRESPONDENT of the English Me-
chanic says that he has used the
following recipe with the greatest
success for the cementing of iron rail-
ing tops, iron gratings or stoves, etc.,
and with such effect as to resist the
blows of the sledge-hammer: Take
equal parts of sui phur and white lead,
with about sixth of borax; incor-
porate the three SO as to form one
homogeneous mass. When going to
apply 1t, wet it with strong sulphuric
acid and place thin layer of it between
the two pieces of iron, which should
then be pressed together In five days
it will be perfectly dry, all traces of
the cement having vanished, and the
iron will have the appearance of hav-
ing been welded together.
The Photographic News" says that
curious and important discovery has
been made by DIR. Vogel during the
last few weeks. 1t consists in making
the non-actinic rays under certain cir
cumstances actinic. G [ have found, !"
he says, ''that bodies which absorb the
yellow rays of the spectrum make
bromide of silversensitive to the yellow
rays. In like manner [ find bodies
which absorb the red ray or the SPECTRUM
make bromide of silver sensitive to the
red rays. For example, by the addition
OF cOrall1n-which absorbs the yellow
ray-to bromide of silver film, it be-
comes as sensitive to the yellow rays as
to the blue ray" This is one of the
most important and interesting obser.
vatlons In connection with actino
chemistry which has been made for
several years.
CARBoLIo ACID turns out to be a
deadly poison to snakes, few drops
being sufficient to cause the almost in
slant death of the much dreaded cobra.
1t has been proposed to supply the in
habitants of India with large amounts
OF carbolic soap the idea being that
as soon as the soap gets into general
use the cobra will find it almost certain
death to bite any one, and will soon
come to regard that amusement in the
light OF suicide, and consequently will
seek some other little game with which
to while away his leisure hours.
MEssRs. DEwAR AND DrrrMAR have
undertaken to determine the vapor
density OF potassium experimentally.
So far they have not been completely
successful, their method needing per-
fecting, and several corrections requir-
ing to be added. They have decided.
however, that the vapor density cannot
be more than forty-fv times that of
hydrogen. AS the question previously
lay between th;rty-nlne and seventy
eight, their experiment. may be said to