The Red Cloud chief., 1879-04-24
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.

USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
THE MAGNET rs n MILLs.-The
millers Of Minnesota have been annoy
ed q good deal Of late by wire in D
wheat, caused by the use OF
ing harvesting machinery Al uine
the matter had become so troublesome
tha, they though, seriously OF advising
the disuse of such machinery. But .
way has been found out OF b difncuity
by the invention OF q simple o eA-
ceedingly ingenious device, consisting
Of two gangs Of horseshoe magnets,
four in o and i've in the other, placed
in a spout through which the wheat
passes. Numerous pieces, from the size
Of q pin-head 10 an inch in length, were
counted and mixed with 8 quantity OF
wheat, and being passed through b
spout the exact number would be found
on the magnets. The miilers were
highly pleased with the workings OF the
simple device, and it will be undoubted-
" introduced into all the mills. A point
Of interest in this matter is the fact that
this device is nc q patent.
THE NEW ExPLosIvE.-Some expert
ments made with the new explosive in
vented by Prof. Reynolds, OF Dublin,
show a remarkable degree OF efficiency
characterizing it, as compared with
most others now and for some time past
in use. 1t is q mixture Of IS per cent.
Of chlorate Of potassium with % per
cent. of a body called sulphurea. 1t is
a white powder, which is very easily
prepared by the union OF the materials
in the above-named proportions. and
the poSder can be ignited at q rather
lower temperature than ordinary gun
powder, while the effects it produces are
even more remarkable than those caused
by the usual mixtures employed rs ex-
plOsives. This powder leaves only
some 45 per cent Of solid residue, where
IS common gunpowder leaves about 81
per cent, and is believed TO be especial
" adapted for blasting, for shells, for
tOrpedOes and for similar purposes
One Of the special advantages claimed
for this powder is that it can be produc-
ed at a moments notice by q compare
lively rough commingling Of the ma
~terials, and the latter can be carried and
stored without risk so long as they are
separate. The sulphurea can be easily
and largely produced from a product OF
gas manufacture which is now wasted.
DIR. FLINT ON ANIMAL HEAr.-The
New York World gives the following
synopsis of a recent lecture of DR.. Aus
tin Flint. Jr., Professor of Physiology
at Bellevue Hospital Medical College
DIR. Flint first alluded briefly to the facts
familiar to every body, namely, that the
normal temperature of the human body
is always 100 degrees Fahrenheit, no
matter whether the human animal
pitches his tent on the burning sands Of
Central Africa or eats lubber in Lsbra.
dor; that the evenness of the tempera.
ture is maintained by evaporation from
the skin when the weather is hot and by
natural demand for food containing fat
when the climate is cold. 1t was only
until comparatively recent times, he
said. that psychologists were able to ex-
plain how animal heat was produced,
and he thought the simple theory OF
oxidation, or combustion, was too
readily accepted, as it failed to account
for all of the heat that is produced in
living bodies. DIR. Flint said that he
had given this subject particular atten-
ton for several weeks past in its bear
ing on the theory of the correlation and
conservation of the forces. He knew
that what he was going to say would
subject him to criticism, and even to
ridicule, perhaps, but that should not
deter him from speaking his mind freely
and independently was his custom. He
would say then that he did not believe in
the theory 80 generally accepted nov Of
the correlation of forces. May persons
had proved to their own satisfaction
that the force generated by the fall of a
pound weight through 722 feet of space
was just sufficient to raise the tempera-
ture of q pound of water one degree, but
any experiment to prove that the rise Of
the temperature of a pound of water one
degree was sufficient to raise a pound
weight 722 feet, or to raise a 722-pound
weight one foot, had been carefully
avoided.
DR.. Flint then undertook to prove that
the combustion of all the food consumed
in a given time by an average man must
produce more heat and force than could
be accounted for by all the phenomena
of circulation, respiration, perspiration,
muscular action, etc. The experiments
of DR.. Draper, of this city, had proved
pretty accurately the amount of heat
produced per hour by the human body,
but a later and similar experiment-that
of merely taking a quantity of mixed
food, about what an ordinary man would
consume in n day, and burning it
had shown more accurately the
amount of heat that is evolved by
the combustion of food. He had also
experimental upon himself, and he
cited his celebrated experiments on the
pedestrian, Weston, which have been
preserved in several standard text
books. In all those experiments it had
been impossible to account for more
than about 68 per cent of the heat which
should have been evolved according to
the quantity of the materials consumed
or burned by in the body. At the same
time every n Of these experiments had
shown that the vapor and water thrown
off from the body was in excess of the
quantity which had been taken in. This,
DIR. Flint thought, proved the theory
which he had come to believe in thor
oughly-namely, that water was gen.
Grated within the tissues of the body by
the combination of hydrogen and Oxy-
gen. Having proved to his satisfaction
that water is produced within the body
by the chemical combination of hydro
gen and oxygen, DR.. Flint concluded that
in fevers and such diseases IS are accom-
panied by high temperature of the body,
food containing plenty of carbon and
hydrogen should be given. This would
be feeding the flame, but it would save
the patient by preventing him from be