Connecticut western news., 1877-02-23
SCIENTIFIC.

, that is, woods naturally impregnated with resin do not receive the color un- ifOrmly, and wetting with the water of the solution tends to cause the wood to crack.
 Upon glass it is thought silicious pain ting is destined to find advantage ous employment, especially in the cOnstrucriOa of decorative windows. Artificial sulphate of baryta, applied to glass by means of silicate of potash lmparts to 1t 8 mllk-white color Of great beauty; in few days the silica is found intimately combined with it, and the color resists washing with warm water. By the action of a strong heat this siliciOus varnish is transform ed into fine white enamel of very at tractive appearance. Blue ultramarlne oxide of chromium aud pulverlzed en- mels may also be applied with fine effect.
 It is also found that, by grinding the finely-divided charcoal which is em- ployed in the manufacture of India Ink with the silicate, a writing ink IS obtained which Is almost unassailable by any chemical agent. In calico prin- ting, too, silicate of potash replaces albumen, so long employed in the fix ing of cOlOrs; the siliciOus solution is mixed with the color at the moment of printing, and in few days the design acquires such consistency that the colors resist washing and soap, provi- ded they are not alterable by alkalies. But 1t would seem that, nOtwithstand- ing the efforts which have been made by chemists to render this process com pletely available in this direction, the value of the article for some purposes has not, as yet, enabled it to supersede i albumon.
 WdUe Pover.- Additional experi- ments made in England with MT. Towers machine for obtaining motive power from ship among the waves, says the Iron Age, have attracted re- neWed interest in the invention, and also i'll the general scientific question which it undertakes to solve. The machine has at least the merit of sim pllcity, consisting in principle of weight supported on spring so that it can oscillate on the spring through a considerable range in vertical line. The scale of the spring, and, conse- quently, the natural period of oscilla- tion can be varied at will. When it is so adjusted that it synchrOnizes with the waves, the oscillations become very violent, and large amount of power can be obtained from them. In practice the springs are highly com | hydro pneumatic cylinders, and the arrangement is such that the vessel containing the compressed air forms the moving weight, The inventor has designed machine for working an auxiliary propeller of a sailing ship of 1.9O0 tons displacement. The nov ing weight in this case is 900 tons, and it is shown by calculation that it would give about 30-horse power in | ho Ic,,r al +l, 4 calms, 260- horse power in the average ocean waves, and more than 600-horse power in heavy head sea. The space occupied by the machine is represented as comparing favorably with a steam engine of the same power.
 | The IimbrOmeter.- Dr. Forfeit re marks that most practitioners must have experienced the difficulty in map ping out organs accurately by percus- sion In cases accompanied by pain, or where the necessary examination might imperil the patient. Tho idea occurred to him of substituting for the rOugher method of percussion the auscultation of musical vibration, and for this purpose he employs first an ordinary differential stethoscope, with one oblong chest piece to fit into the lntercostal spaces, the whole made sufficiently stitf to be held in stu by the mere pressure of the head; and secondly, a piece of flexible steel, bent as 8 bow. and held tense by cat gut. The mod7 of working is as fol- lows; Place the stethOscOpe over the organ to be eXamined-say the liver; then take the bow in the left hand, and placing it with either of its ex- tremities firmly npon the skin over or against the organ, begin to tWang the the catgut with the right hand, nov ing. the instrument toward the organ under examination. The rotionole is | that solids give a clear musical note, and cavities and organs containing air give dull note. The instrument can | be applied in the detection of indura- tiOns, abscesses and cavities, and it enables various organs, as the kidney, spleen, liver and heart, with its cavi- | ties, to be accurately marked out Medical Times and GdSette.
 Origin and u0rieties of Coraz-Coral is of stony or calcareous formation, being in fact the agglomerated shells or framework of creatures invisible to to the unaided eye, and it is found in almost every degree of latitude and longitude. It is infinitively variable in its forms and characteristics. Lin n4us, the great Swedish naturalist, assigned It place intermediary be- tween the animal and vegetable king dOms. It was not until the sixteenth century that it came to be regarded in any other light than that of a marine plant, devoid of all animal life. It is known to produce eggs and to give birth to living young, and it is also propagated by a process of budding analogous to that seen in plants. l These characteristics have been dis covered solely through the aid of the microscope, and are the results of mod ern investigation. Owing to it's in finite variety of form and dimension, as we'll as it's method of propagation, and It's vast constructive capacity, as displayed in the formation of reefs, islands and even continents, this min ute organism has ever possessed for those of a scientific cast of mind an in- terest Of the most absorbing nature. Volumes have been written on this subject alone,
 Automatic fire escapes.-A new and ingenious form of automatic fire es- cape-which can be used for the pur- pose of an elevator consists of two side by side, in which are two plat | forms attached together by a rope which passes over two pulleys at the top of the apparatus, these platforms working up and down alternately within the tubes, from top to bottom, in an easy and effective as well as read fly controlled movement.
 The tubes thus employed are made of wood or metal, are air tight and are regulated by valves at the base. A person taking his place on the platform is gently carried to the bottom, the valves regulating the speed of the des- cent. The platform rests wholly on the compressed air within the tube, the is landed at the bottom without the slightest jrr or concussion, and in as short a time as he may desire-the dis tanca of vOur fOur s+oI;oa bn;no. oon;I