The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-07-18
SCIENTIFIC.

I10 udb tAO oPOSAAAS
heat of each of these singular metals by
means of the the ice colorimeter, getting
the following values Cerium, 0.o4479.
lanthanum, O.044S5; didymium, 0.04563;
and these figures correspond respectfully
to the atomic weights 1877, 139, and 1447S.
Cerium outwardly resembles iron, is very
ductile and malleable, and furnishes readily;
in hardness it about equals silver, and its
melting point is at full red heat; heated
in the air it kindles very easily, at lower
temperature even than magnesium, burning
with great brilliancy; upon shaving a
cerium wire with a knife, the thin frag-
ments of metal ignite as they are cast off,
while, with an ordinary fire. steel, sparks
can be struck from it as from a flint.
Didymium and lanthanum resemble cerium
closely, but are less infammable, and do
not tarnish so easily.
WHAT is called track-laying machine
has lately been constructed, and its adap-
UhLlOu w b1O puApOoC buSSOooh pVSoS~'
1t is composed of succession of rollers
set in movable frames attached at will to
the sides of several fiat cars in a train,
elevated SO as to form an inclined plane
from rear to front. Upon these, the ties
on one side, and the rails on the other,
are readily rolled or laid by workmen upon
the cars, when they move along over the
rollers to the front, and are delivered to
the tie and track-layers as fast as they can
use them, The object of this arrangement
| is to obviate the necessity of teams for the
distribution of ties along the road bed
especially over rough or swampy ground,
and also to save extra handling of the iron,
as by the present way, thus insuring both
rapidity and economy.
AN English engineer has devised q
method for generating and utilizing highly
superheated steam which is certainly novel.
In circular furnace is suspended one or
more series of hollow spheres connected to
one pipe,- from which the generated gas
escapes to an engine of special adaptation,
and down which passes an internal pipe
conveying water to be "decomposed." The
spheres are made very strong, and the in
ventor claims that the electric gas pro-
duced from evaporated water possesses
unlimited expansive force, which has not
hitherto been made subservient to the will
of man; and the quantity of fuel needed he
declares to be out of all proportion less
than that needed to generate steam for the
same amount of power.
M. BERTnE1oT, in his interesting investi-
cations of the hydrocarbons existing in
: coal gas, has found that in the gas which
is supplied to the city of Paris, benzine
may be detected very readily, in SO small a
quantity as two Or three cubic centimeters,
by exposing it in drop of fuming nitric
acid, and, on diluting the drop with water,
the peculiar almond odor of nitro -benzine
is at once recognized. Next to marsh gas,
; it thus appears, benzine is the principal
hydrocarbon in coal gas, and is the sub
stance to which the gas mainly owes its
illuminating power. 1t would seem, there
fore, i'll the light of such facts, that the
method heretofore in vogue of determin-
ing the illuminating power of a gas is
, really of little or no practical value.
A SIMPLE method of drying gun cotton
when time permits, is said to be to expose
8 it to the air of room that is dry, until thu
} substance ceases to lose weight, or it ma,
be placed in the open air, during DIR!
, weather, in situations where it will be ex
e posed to the sun or wind; with dry at
= mosphere, gun cotton may thus be dried b.
exposure to open air, even without sun, il
+ about five days. When, however, it is de
e sired to dry gun cotton quickly, steam hea
a should be used. For this purpose specia
+ apparatus has been constructed, consisting
of boiler and drying chamber, these be
d ing placed, when required for use, with al
" interval of some six feet between them
e and are connected by means of an mdi
n rubber tube.
y SOME recent investigations concernin
the coeficient of conduction for heat c
a various building materials excluding th
l. influence of radiation, and making meas
q urements by means of the thermo-electri
: mnltiplier-show that stones are much be-
ter conductors of heat when wet than whe
n dry, and that various classes of them, sue
II II as marble, sandstane, granite, &C., hav
!, approximately the same coeficients of COZ
h duction, while bricks of all kinds are muc
: worse conductors than the natural stone
These facts have an important bearing
:, certainly, not only upon the constructic
n of buildings, but upon the methods I
u management in case of fire.
~ A PROCESS of peculiar kind has be,
i invented for eliminating phosphorus fro
le ,,oo1+an no ct iron bv q Sheffield metallu