The Russellville Democrat., 1877-04-26
POPULAR SCIENCE.

THOSE who fear the destruction of our | forests resulting from the demand for hemlock bark, will take comfort in the success of attempts to obtain tannin from other sources. It has been esti- mated that one cord of hemlock bark produces one barrel of good tannin ex- tract, worth $20. It is now found that one cord of al der will produce the same l amount; and one ton of sweet fern gives of the best tannin $22 worth, besides value of $7 .50 in an inferior kind. There is said to be considerable activity in Hancock county. Me-, in the new indus try of extracting tannin from sweet fern. PROF. PoLITzER recently put before the Medical society of the Vienna Gar rison some new proof of the use of both ears in determining the direction of sound. People who are deaf in one ear make strange mistakes when hunting, as they are apt to suppose that any sound comes from the direction toward which the ear they hear with may happen to be turned. A neat little experiment, easily tried, is devised by Prof Politzer. Above the top of the head of person whose eyes are bandaged watch, tick ing loudly, is to be passed. The blind folded person will be unable to say cer- tainly whether the watch is above, be- fore, or behind the top of his head. When one of his ears is closed, the watch seems to him to be nearest to the other ear, and this impression will still be perceptible even though the bandage be removed from his eyes. The source of ,o,,,,I sc rofarrod fr u v,pipt on the right or left, according as either ear hears most loudly.
 THERE has been much said recently about the powers of potassium xanthate as an antiseptic. A correspondent of the Boston Journal of Chemistry makes some remarkable statements concerning this salt. New wine was treated with it, and some months afterward was found to possess its original taste and sweet ness. The wine was then "drunk in considerable quantity by different per sons without the slightest injurious effect following" Such a declaration as to any wine may strike believers in total abstinence with surprise. P otassium xanthate is said to be easily and cheaply prepared; only small quantities need be used, and no harm seems likely to ensue from taking it, except in the few cases of disease where any potassium salt would have bad effect. Vegetable juices and saps clarified by means of 8 small addition of this salt have remained without mold or fermentation after eight months exposure to the air.
 A SOCIETY has been formed which an- nouncss as it's object " simplifcation of English orthography." Among the of ficersRof this spelling reform association are the names-honored in pathological science-of Profs F. A. March, w. D. Whitney and s. s. Haldeman. The cir cular which announces the formation of the society incloses a specimen of what is called "Revised Spelling" Of this single sentence may suffice our readers. "Ther being 50 litl diferens between the apee rans of the fonetic and the ordinary print and script, thez hoo can reed and riet the later vii reed the fOnetic and script ezily, and the new spelling can be introdeust gradeually without hinderans to biznes or frendship." Ordinary peo- pie will be apt to see in this remarkable likeness to the effusion of Nasby and Josh Billings. Before yielding to the hope that the new spelling" can be in troduced without hindrance to friend- ship, it may be well to recall the clinch- ing argument of old Major Pendennis: What! Marry woman who spells af- lection with once fT''
 IN the Manufacturer and Builder, Dr. P. H. Van der Weyde discusses the question as to how far originality can be claimed for the musical telegraph (tele- phone) of MT. Elisha Gray. The simi- iarity of the invention to Reuss' tele- phone is strongly emphasized. Improve ments in the latter which Dr. Van der Weyde himself has made are cited, with the dates at which they were described be- fore learned societies. Finally Dr. Van | der Weyde claims that telephone which | he long ago constructed and still pos sesses has a great advantage of being able to transmit any air vibration, such as melody sung by the human voice or played upon flute; while the capacity of Mir. Gray's instrument is confined, so far as the transmission of musical sounds is concerned, to those which can be pro duced by the vibration of tuning-forks. No question is raised, however, as to the priority of the part of MT. Gray's inven- ton by which several simultaneous mes sages can be sent over wire and re- ceiyed at the separate stations for which they are designed, while the message sent to any one station IS not repeated at the others.
 IN this column in the Tribune of March 8, a summary was given of Prof. Proctor's arguments assigning great depth to the atmosphere of the major planets. Among the evidences adduced it was mentioned that satellite occul- ted by the edge of one of these planets has reappeared briefly just after conceal ment. Quite recently remarkable ad- dition has been made to this class of evi- dence. Mir. Todd ard his assistant, MT. Ringwood, using an eight-inch telescope in the observatory at Adelaide, Austra- lla, have separately and more than once observed that satellite of Jupiter, after passing behind the edge of the planets disk, was distinctly visible, being viewed through the planet for about two minutes before being finally concealed. The yer tical depth within the appare mt edge of the planet at which the satellite was seen can not be estimated at less than 2,000 miles. It seems likely that tke atmosphere of Jupiter may be 5000 or | 1000 miles deep; some estimates exceed even these figures. A notion ot such an | Ia ,.;yar hu tho atatpmput a