Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-07-01
MECHANICAL AND SCIENTIFIC

A writer in the London Builder seo.
gests that thick glass might be easily ana
cheaply cemented to the walls of hospitals
etc 1t would be non absorbent, i'm,
perishable, easily cleaned. readily -
paired If damaged by accident, and nv
like paper and paint, would always he =.
good as at first. Glass can be cut or hen. ~
conform to any required shape. If desired
the plates may be colored any cheerful TIM
The non absorbent quality is the most
important for hospitals and prisons. and
is worthy the consideration of architec,s
There is an increasing demand for
land in Ceylon for the purpose of GROW
ing tea, cinnamon. cinchona, vanilla and
other useful plants for economical mr.
poses, as well as for the spread of tho
coffee plantations. A disease in tho
coilee-plan has lately been discoveries
which threatens scarcity of this produrt
unless speedily checked. 1t is called ..leaf.
disease" and, as its name implies i
principally apparent in the death Of the
foliage, though the produce of the berries
is also considerably reduced. 1t is he.
leved by competent authorities to be main
~ caused by exhaustion; and is, in this
respect, similar to the disease among the
lemon groves of Europe. The government
of Ceylon have taken up the subject with
view to its thorough investigation.
--Hair-sprlngs, says writer in the
Victoria Wagaztne, are made in the factory
of finest English steel which comes upOn
spools like thread. To the naked eve il is
as round as hair but under the micro.
scope it becomes flat steel ribbon. This
ribbon is inserted between the jaws of a fine
gauge and the dial-han shows its diam
eter to be two twenty five -hundredths Of
an inch. A hair plucked from mans
head measures three twenty five-h undredths
one from the head of a girl at neigh
boring bench twotwenty five hundredths.
Actually, however, the finest hair is twice
as thick rs the steel ribbon, for the hair
congresses one-half between the metallic
jaws of the gauge. A handspring weighs
one-tifteenth thousandth of pound troy.
In straight line it is foot long.
DR.. Birks, the well-known physicist
and author, suggests that, according to the
present theory of the laws of matter, there
may be more truth than has commonly
been recognized in the old arrangement of
the toHr elements, which placed a fourth
region of fire above the solid, LIQUID and
gaseous constituents of our globe. In
fact according to this writer's reasoning,
there must be above the region where the
air, though greatly raretied, is still elastic,
a still higher stratum where elasticity has
wholly ceased, and where the particles Of
matter, being very widely separated, con
dense around them the largest amount of
ether. All sensible heat, SAYS DR.. Birks,
in tho collision or Scillatiop of moi uh hor
ing atoms of matter will thus have disap-
peared; but latent heat, in the quantity Of
condensed ether or repulsive force Nady
to be developed on the renewed approach
of the atoms, will have reached its maxi
mum, and may be capable of producing
the most splendid igneous phenomena,
such, for instance, as the northern lights
or tropical thunder-storms.