The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-06-19
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.
PURIFYING THE THAMES.

{ near where the London sewers enter.
A CURIOUS FACT.
Cork, if sunk two hundred feet In the
water, will not rise on account OF the
pressure of the water.
BLACK TYPHbs.
Black typhus is said to have been in
PRODUCED at Ulster, Zurich, by tropical
birds sent alive to that plate in csge
from Buda-Pesth.
RIO JANIERo CEMETERIES.
The sanitary authorities of Rio Jsniero
contemplate removing all cemeteries to
3 distance of twenty miles from the
capital and building a crematorium for
such persons as prefer burning to burye
Ing.
WELDED IRON AND RtvETs.
Careful experiments in England have
shown that welded iron is by no means
so safe to resist pressure as that which
has been secured by system of rivets.
Some late explosions have fully con-
frmed this conclusion.
EGYPTIAN MUMMY PAINTS.
Egyptian mummies are regularly ground
up into paint. They are used for this
purpose because the asphalJum, with
which they are impTegnated, lis Of a quail
ity superior to that which can elsewhere
be procured. They produce a peculiar
brownish tint highly priced by the best
artists.
ADULTERATED BEES WAX.
Ceresin, g mixture of refined earth
wax and caTansnba- wax, is frequently
employed to the extent of 80 to so per
cent to adulterate bees>WaX As pure
bees-wax is lighter than the spurious
article, detection is easy. If the wax
does not float in diluted alcohol having
a specific gravity of 0.945, it is safe to
reject it as spurious.
DETECTING ADULTERATED MILK.
When starch is added to milk by
fraudulent dealers, the fact can be de.
termined by the process recommended
by DR.. Vulpius. a sample is coagulated
with few drops of scetic acid, heated
to boiling, and filtered. a watery solu-
ton of iodene is poured into the clear
whey, which instantly develops a blue
cloud If starch is present.
To DETECT FIRE DAMP.
For the purpose of ascertsining the
presence of fire damp IN mines, Willard
and LIE Chatelier use a lit Jet of hydro,
gen, which gives larger and more dis
tinct blue aureOla than the fame of the
common safety-lamp when the quantity
of the dangerous gas is even very small.
This expedient has revealed the presence
of 0.25 per cent. of fire damp. The
fame, which is enclosed in a copper
tube, is viewed through a lens in the
side of the tube.
TROUSERS AND MEMORY
"Men invariably put the same leg
first into their trousers-this is the
survival of memory in the residuum
but they cannot, until they actually put
on pair of trousers, remember which
leg they do put in first; this is the rapid
fading away of any small Individual
impression" 1t is on the same princi
pies that every act or growth of celli
and organs is said to be unconsciously
remembered, when the same or analOg
Gus conditions recall it 10 the dormant
memory.
ANIMAL ELECTRICITY.
An important paper on the results o
recent reseaic hes in animal electricity
is published in Nature of April II. Thu
author, DR.. L. Herman, states that tn,
whole Of the electrical phenomena 0
muscle and nerve may be readily de
| duced from few very simple PROPOSE
tiOns. Irritable protoplasm respond
| both to the destructive and exciting
| influences by an electro motive sign
The altered substance takes on q mega
tive potential with respect to unaltered
| This, together with the doctrines O
internal transverse polsTizational incre
ment Of excitation, appears fully com
petent to explain all the facts hithert
observed.
IMITATION EBONY.
4 French method of producing from
oak an imitation of ebony, of great beauty
is thus described in the Revue Indus
tTielle. The wood is immersed fort
eight hours in hot saturated solutio
OF alum, and then brushed over with
logwood decoction. To this end, on
part OF best legwood is boiled in ten part
of water filtered through linen, an
evaporsted at a gentle b at until th
volume is reduced to one half; to ever
quart of this are added ten to fittee
drops of a saturated solution, neutral, {
indigo. After applying this dye to ii
wood, the latter is rubbed with q sat
urated solution filtered, of veIdigris,
hot concentrated acetic acid, the oper,
ton being repeated until black of tn
intensity is obtained. Oak treated a
cording to this method, it is said, pre-
ents very close as we'll as attractiJ
resemblance to genuine ebony.
THE RUST OF IRON RAILS.
Some observations made on one of tn
PIussian railroads, on the Iusting
iron rails, appear to confirm the stat
ment so often made that rails stacke
away are much more liable to rust tina
those laid down on the track. In tn
case, pile of rails of odd lengths "!
laid on sleepers over a bed Of grav
early in 1870, and remained who'll
undisturbed unit, the fall of 1877, tbel
being no use for them. It was found
the xpirs ton of this prolonged periot
that they were covered with a layer
rust twelve inches thick, and which hs
10 be removed by striking the rail vii
a hammer. The rail, after being cleal
ed, was found to weigh some three hui
! dred and ninety'eight pounds, while
original weight was four hundred al
nineteen - showing that the lar
! amount of five per cent. of the iron h,
! been destroyed by the rnst, which CO
! cred the rail quite uniformly.
SEWERAGE CONTAMINATION.
The Boston Journal of Chemist
reprints very simple test for sewera
contamination, or the presence OF putt
/. scible organic matter, and any one C
use it. Fill 8 clean pint bottle thrt
j, fourths full with the water to be teste
:. dissolve in water half a teaspoonful
; the purest sugsr-loaf sr granulat
!, sugar will answer cork the bottle. 8
q place in a warm place for two days.
+ in from twenty, four to forty-eight hoI
j the water becomes cloudy or milky, il
= unfit for domestic use. If it renal
# perfectly clear it is probably safe.