The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-07-19
NUGGETS OF KNOWLEDGE.
a BOUQUET BAROMETER.


A property of the chloride of cooalt
has been turned to a tasteful and in |
genious purpose in France. Artificial /
flowers are colored with a composition !
into which the chloride enters, and when |
the leaves are in dry and bright atmos- !
phere they turn deep blue, but when the |
air is moist and the day is dull they be- |
come deep purple. Thus vase of these
flowers so cOlored forms a tolerably ser |
viceable barometer.
PHOTOGRAPHS AT NIGHT.
The business of taking Photographs at
night is said to be gaining popularity in
London. The Manufacturer and Builder
states that the new process is patronized
by people on their way home from dinner
or the opera. A son of the editor of that
paper is practically engaged in the bust
ness, which is scarcely likely to find
much favor except in a foggy climate.
The method might be useful, however,
even here, when photographs for cngrav-
ings have to be made in haste on cloudy
days.
OLD WINE.
The Oldest wine in the world was re-
Gently discovered by NJ. Berthelot, in
the BorelIy museum, at Marseilles.
glass vessel which had been taken from
an ancient Roman cemetery at Aries.
The vessel had been closed by melting
the upper portion. 1t contained a
colored liquid which analysis showed to
be wine, with a fair percentage of alcohol
and the other usual constituents of fer
mented grape juice. 1t is supposed to
have been an offering to the dead.
ucvpTT n uIrrpO M TN
1t appears from the experiments of DR..
Well that Egyptian petroleum has a
specific gravity of 0953. The Pennsyl-
vanian and Canadian oils have a specific
! gravity ranging from 0, 100 to O,830. The
Egyptian variety gives very fine lu-
bricating oil, free of all tarry matter
but as an Illuminating oil it is inferior to
American oils. 1t is better adapted,
however, to serve as a fuel for steam
generators, as it does not take fire until
it attains a temperature of 1856.
ARTIFICIAL BUTTER.
Oleamargarine, when sold as butter or
| employed to adulterate it, can easily be
| detected by the following simple methods
| suggested by Prof G. Lechartfer: Ex-
| anime the butter under. the microscope,
and if it appears to be composed of ovOid
grahules without any crystals it is both
| fresh and genuine. and it has never been
melted to be mixed with grease. Melt
| the butter, and if it turns at once to a
! clear oil, it is pure, but Oleamargarine, or
! butter containing it, will melt slowly at
! the same temperature and first form a
! whitish sort of sauce.
LOCUSTS AND DEAD FISHES.
This is great year for the study of
natural history. The latest interesting
problem is whether there is any connec-
ton between the appearance of the
| seVcnteeD-year lOcusts and the mortality
among the fish in the Delaware river.
In 1860, it is stated, the fish in that river
and the ponds throughout the Delaware
valley died in large numbers, and this
! year, with the return of the locust, the
! piscatCry mortality is renewed. There
is theory that the fish die from eating
! lOcusts which drop into the river, but a
| large number of dead fish having been
examined, in only one of them was a
/ locust found; so that it would appear
that the recurrence of the fish-all is only
a coincidence.
FERN LORE.
"The Fern World" is the title of a
new book by Mr. Heath, author of % The
| Fern Paradise" The volume, which is
in the pless, deals with the structure,
classification, distribution, uses, and
" folklore of ferns, fern culture, "fern
| hunting" etc. It will include descrip-
tions OF rambles through the combes and
! glens of north Devon. Considerable
| space will be devoted to the description,
distribution, and culture of British ferns,
| and the text will be illustrated through
out by cOlored Autographs of fern groups,
printed from nature, etc.
DIvIsIBILTTY OF GOLD.
The divisibility os gold almost sur
! passes belief. Mr.. A. z. Outerbridge, Jr.
of the Philadelphia assay Office, recently
exhibited before the Franklin institute
some thin films of gold obtained by cleo
trio deposition upon copper and after
ward detached. These pieces of gold
leaf were transparent, and gave a green
color to transmitted light. Mr.. Outer
bridge has thus produced films of gold so
! thin that one grain of the metal would
cover nearly four square feet. This is
! ten thousand times thinner than ordinary
writing paper, and 2,79S, 900 of such films
together would only make one inch.
A PENNSYLVANIA INSECT.
There is a general notion that only
| tropical countries are infested with ants
| that are capable OF doing serious damage.
This. it appears, is a mistake. There is
black Carpenter ant" whose name,
F0rmiea Pennsylvania, indicates it's resi-
dence, that is capable of efecting much
destruction in woodwork. The Rev. DIR.
! McCOOk has seen rafter which these
ants had penetrated to an extent of five
or six feet of its length, completely
honey-cembing it. The rafter was in
the roof of a porch. The attention of
the Philadelphia academy of sciences
was called to the matter, as it is evident
that such penetration of wooden struc-
lures, and especially bridges, might cause
their unexpected fall. Wooden bridges
need at least as frequent and as thorough
! inspection as iron structures.
PLANTING WHITE SKIN ON A BLACKMAN.
Says the Abbeville, n, c., Medium ::
| There is a coal black man in our vicinity
who will soon have a stomach covered
with as white democratic skin as ever
! grew in Edgefeld. This no doubt sounds
| both ridiculous and alarming, but we
will explain. Some weeks ago, DIR.
| Walter Hill and DR.. Wallace Bland cut
/ ~ II, - IL