Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1875-03-25
From the Scientific American.
Scientific and Practical 'Informa-
tiOn.
FACTS ABOUT THE ARMS.

FACTS ABOUT THE ARMS.
An expert will load and fire a muz.
zle-loading arm once every. six Sc
conds, and a good breech-loader once
every four seconds. Henry G. Bull,
of New Orleans, who is one OF. the
best marksmen in the world, has in
vented new breech loader, which is
charged and fired with three motions.
which he claims can be discharged
once every two seconds. During the
late rebellion a large proportion Of the
wounds, on both sides, were in the
right arms of the combatants. This
was due to the fact that, in the act of
loading the gun, the right arm is lift
ed to work the ramrod. Those carry
ing breech-loaders were saved from
such wounds, as the loading was done
without lifting the right arm. In. ac-
ton, the value of breech-loader or
any kind of gun depends upon the
rapidity with which the second shot
can be fired after the first volIey is de-
| liYered.
ADULTERATED SILK.
Ladies who admire the rich, heavy,
stiff black silks which are sold at-some
shops, at apparently low prices, may
be interested to know that large por-
ton of this richness IS composed of
salts of iron and astrinpents, with
salts of tin and cyanides. The silk is
merely thin skeleton which supports
the adulteration until the goods are
sold.
FAILURE OF COPPER sULPHATE.
Railway sleepers injected with sui.
phate of copper will be preserved in
definitely provided the copper remains
IN its original combination with the
ligneous tissue. But M. Max Paulet
shows that on railways where carbo-
nate of lime exists in the stone bal
lasting of the track or in the soil, the
carbinate gradually penetrates the
wood and substitutes the copper. De-
cay then follows, for carbonate of
lime is not septic agent.
COTTON sAAPLING By HAND.
During the late civil war, when the
| supply of American cotton was cut
off, a great stimulous was given to
the cultivation of the fibre in India,
and the price of Indian cotton, altho'
rated Of poor quality, rose to high
figure. But as soon as the war termi-
mated, the American staple at once as
sumed its wonton preference, and the
Indian article shrank to zero. The
British authorities have always desired
to encourage the Indian product, and
it has been claimed that, if proper
gins could be produced, the staple
might be cleaned and separated from
the seeds without the injury hereto
fore experienced. DR.. Forbes Wat
son, of Manchester, has for some
time past been engaged in this work
and a trial of q number of different
gins upon various samples of Indian
cotton has recently been made. The
cleaned specimens were then sampled
by the fingers of experienced brokers,
with the queer result that different
samplers placed different values upon
similar specimens, while, in some
cases, a broker in sampling different
packages of the same cotton would
assign different values to each pack
age. So unreliable were the general
results thus obtained that it became
necessary to cause the various spiel
mems, in lots of 20 lbs. each, to be
made up into yarn. The yarn is to be
|
and strength. This will effectively
settle the question of commercial val
ue, which the brokers are unable to
do.
THE ECLIPsEs OF 1875.
There are but two eclipses to ap-
! pear during the present year, both of
the sun. That of the 18th of April,
: however, will be quite remarkable, in
point of length, as it is predicted that
the duration of tetality will be great
er than during any of the succeeding
eclipses due in 1878, 1892, 1898, etc.
Mr.. Hind, by new calculations, finds
that on Bentinck Island the period of
total obscuaity will last over. 257 Sc
20 conds. The central line will pass to
the north of Kaikal on Camorta Island,
: in the Ficobar Archipelago, at which
point the duration of totality will be
ten seconds longer.
The phenomenon will be visible al
!, Bangkok, and hither the King of Siam
! has already invited observers. NJ
Jansen will, it is stated, proceed to
that city, and the Royal Society has
already organized an expedition, to be
superintended by Mr.. Lockyer.
THE DEBTS OF THE WORLD.
The Pail Mall Gazette carefully sum-
marizes the debts of the nations of
the world, and calculates the aggre-
gate sum to be $23, $50 ,o00,0 0,000.-
, France owes the most, then Great
Britain, and then the United States.
e Canada is the least in debt of any civ
E ilized country. Egypt pays the high
: est rate of interest, or ten per cent,
and Holland the least, two and three
, quarters per cent. England can Dor
e row at the least rate, three and one
b quarter per cent,and Mexico is charged
the most, or eight per cent.