The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-07-03
NUMBER 81.
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

j., CALCIUM CHLORIDE mas the proper
. Of attracting moisture, and objects We
! with its aqueous eolution do not dry
; It is proposed to use this to subdu
dusty roads. It has been found to kee
land moist for three days, when ord
narily it would try in an hour. As tn
| cblorides are injurious to vegetation,
can not be utilized in agriculture, a
illustrated by the reclaimed marshes O
Holland, where the saline matter has T.
be washed away by spring water befor
vegetation appears.
A CURE FOR OPIUM EATING Man,
devices, saws the Troy Times, have beer
resorted to enable opium and morphine
eaters to break the remorseless habit
but we think the one tried by the friends
of an old lady in Jefferson county Car
not be beaten. She first used morphis
as a relief from the pains of a tumor
Nothing could induce her to give up the
use of the poison after the tumor had
been removed. The family accordingly
resolved upon a harmless dec eption.
Care ully prepared potato starch was
substituted for the morphia in the
bottles. She complained that the drug
was of an inferior quality, but treasured
by her physician, continued to use it
| with sublime faith in it's virtues until
her death, fifteen years afterward. At
| no time could she do without her potato
starch. Once. when i'll, her physician
gave her Dover's powd RS, but she could
! not rest until she had taken some Of her
| bogus morphine. The success of this
| deception ought to be suggestion to
the friends of slaves of this drug.
JoAEsoS has made communication
-. . <xf
on the method adopted by him in fresh
ening the saline lands in the south of
France, SO as to make them available
for agriculture. There are immense
tracts along the cossa - the Mediter-
ranean, from Aries to Port Vendres,
which are entirely unproductive in con-
sequence of the amount Of salt which
they contain. The process adopted bg
him consists first in draining, then in
ditching to depth of about two feet,
and then damming and covering with
fresh water. The water filters through
the soil, and dissolving the salt contained
therein runs off by the drains. This
operation is to be continued with sub
mersion from three to five months, &C
cording to the nature of the soil. After
this the layer between the level of the
drain and the surface of the field will
be sufficiently free from salt to be
capable of cultivation. In one estab-
ishment, near Narbonne, a property
which, before drainage, was worth $3.50,
was, in few years, raised in value to
So, 500.
HARDENING GLAss.-This is q process
that has been patented by MIR. Macin-
tosh, of Westminster, civil engineer
who has devoted much time and atten-
ton to the hardening of iron, steel and
alloys. Starting on the broad grouAd.-
that the lower the degree of temperature
of the lilo MD in which certain heated
bodies were plunged, the harder such
bodies became, Mr.. Macintosh has
found that glass, graphite, nnsEys-
tallized carbon, Stag and other analogous
substances may be rendered exceedingly
hard by means which are usually indi-
Gated for metals. Colored glass may,
by this treatment, be rendered SO hard
as to be effectively used as substitute
for gems and. what is curious, may be
pulverized and used in the same way as
diamond dust or emery powder. In |
pursued by the patentee is to place o |
small quantity Of fused Or nearly fused |
or clear colored glass in iron or other
molds to shape the glass, and the sub
stance is taken out of the molds and
placed in platinum molde, and fused or
nearly fused, and suddenly deprived of
its caloric or frigoiGc mixtures of iced
water and salt, or any of the freezing
compounds that produce extreme cold
the sum and substance of which is that
the glass is heated to a very high degree
of temperature and then rapidly cooled
in fr1gid fluid. A startling statement
is made by Mr.. Macintosh when he
asserts that, when the component paris
of gems are treated by the above pro-
cess, he is enabled to produce thereby !
fictitious gems harder than real dia-
monds.
FIRELEss LOCOMOTIVES 1t will be
to know that fire less locomo-
tives are in constant and successful
operation Oh a city and suburban rail
way in New Orleans, namely, the New
Orleans and Carrollton railway, under
the able management of General G. Z.
wlo is skillful engine er.
and yet who is alive to and keeps pace
with the improvements of the age.
This success has been achieved, too,
under the most adverse and unpromis-
ing circumstances. The road, under
other running arrangements had become
nearly valuelt SIS, its stock having gone
down to cents, but it is now paying
aud valuable road. The road is about
six miles in length. From the center
" mule power; there the mule is taken
nsm the car, and the little fireless loco
motive is attached. which is accom-
,l;shed in less time than would be oc-
,upied in attaching another mule. The
rain is then off like rocket, the driver
till on the platform of the car working
he engine, managing the brakes, and
making change, as usual; there is no
,ther person on the train to attend to
hese duties. The car is started and
topped quicker than when drawn by
he mule. The railway double track ,
8 in the middle of a very wide street, !
nd is little raised, 80 that it can not j
70 crossed by carriages except at the
treet crossings thus, being somewhat !
,olated, high speed is admissible. The ,
Is simply a cy Under of boiler =
on, perhaps feet in diameter and 10 ;
set long, mounted on four wheels, and q
artly filled with water. The engine :
double verticle-is attached to the end 9
the cylinder next the car, being with
/ reach of the driver The cylinder is
len filled with steam at a proper pres
Ire, from a stationary boiler at Carroll i.
IN, when the locomotive is ready, and
will run to the city and back without
ire of expense. There is no fire, no -,
she's, no pump, no danger, and less Z
Dise than from the hoofs of horses. l
be expense of this means of propuI- a a
on, General Beauregard assured me, is I
IS than by mules. The cost of the u
comotives is 81, $50 each, which in- g
udes the builders profit.-NeD York u y
ines. ~
ci