The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-01-22
general holiday throughout the island,
closing at some house Of refreshment
with dance and drinking of cider in
abundance. Youtb's Compa1,ion.
POPULAR SCIENCE.

paying quantities in New Guinea appears
to be unfounded, the party which sailed
from Sydney in the Colonist in April
last having met with but little success.
The largest diamond hitherto found at
the Cape is the "Spaulding" diamond,
found in the river diggings some years
since, which weighed 288 2 carats. At
Dutoitspan field another large diamond
has recently been found, weighing pa
carats, which is said to be free from flaw,
and will cut we'll.
The revenue of the English Patent
Office is being greatly in reased by the
number of applications in connection
with the electric light. It is said that as
may as two or three applications are filed
every day, and the inventive genius of
the Old World has never, been SO active as
at the present time.
An interesting experiment has been
made to determine whether the head
waters of the Danube found their way
through subterranean passages into tie
Aach. Some fcuresce1n was placed in
the waters of the Danube. and in three
days the splendid green color and gold
en- reflections were quite distinct in the
waters of the Aach.
A prominent re6ner says that benzine
Is the first product that arises from the
process Of refining crude oil, and bears
the same relation to naphtha that dis
tillate does to refined oil. In other
words, benzine is crude naphtha. The
reason it is not quotable under the name
of benzine, therefore, is because it has to
be reduced to naphtha before it is mar
ketable in any extensive quantity.
In recent number of the Nineteenth
Century, by Mr.. Lockyer, the writer very
strongly questions DR. Henry Diapers
discovery of oxygen in the sun. Recent
observations at Greenwich, by Mr.. Chris
tie, and DR.. Jno G. Draper, of the city of
New York, have led to similar con-
clusion, and the whole subject, so far as
the opinions of scientific men are con-
cerned, may be said to be in an unsettled
state.
Some time ago it was reported watches
we've being made in Switzerland with
phosphorescent dlals, SO that the hour
could be ascertained from them at any
time of night without the aid of artificial
light. Recently an Eastern clock COM
pany has been manufacturing clocks
with this kind of self-lliuminating faces,
and they have been on exhibition in
the windows of several of our city stores
A new exploration OF the vast districts
between the Gulf of Carpentaria and the
Indian Ocean, in the so-called Northern
Territory Of South Australia, is about be
ing undertaken by Mr.. Ernest Giles, the
well-known and successful traveller. The
object is to carry some 10000 to 10000
sheep and 10000 cattle across the con-
tinent to the vast tracts of grass lands
along or lying near the Indian Ocean in
the Northern Territory.
The last German triumph in chcmica
science is a method of keeping fish by
impregnating it, by means of hydraulic
pressure, with weak solution of salicy-
chi acid, a new antlseptic, originally ex-
tracted from willow bark, but since found
in large proportions in meadow-sweet
(SpirtBa uzzaarSa). The fish is then pack
ed in boxes and covered with. gelatine, to
prevent its drying. A short soaking in
water restores it to pristine freshness.
The following is an easy method of
making hole in plate glass: Make a
circle of clay or cement rather larger
than the intended hole; pour some kero-
sene into the cell thus made, ignite it,
place upon a moderately hard support,
and with stick rather smaller than the
hole required, and hammer, striking a
rather smart blow. This will leave a
rough edged hole, which may be smooth
ed with a file. Cold water is said to
answer even better than a blow.
The great robbery of the Manhatten
Savings Bank has melted Herald writer
to look up the more notable burglaries
of the past fifteen years. The list em-
braces some seventy five or more banking
institutions that have suffered in this way,
the aggregate loss footing up about $15,-
100000. Thus it appears that IN this
country alone, in one class of rObberies,
an average loss of $1.000,00O year has
been sustained. A single years burglar
tax would probably supply time locks and
electric alarms to every bank vault in the
land. a..-.e..
From paper read by Professor John
T. Ordway, at a recent meeting of the New
England Cotton Manufacturers Associa-
ton, it appears that many of the oils used
for lubricating machinery may be
classed as dangerous, because when heat
ed to sufficient degree they throw off an
inf1ammable vapor. In this respect it is
claimed that some of the animal and veg
etable oils are even more hazardous than
those that are partially mixed with earth
oils, and that the higher price Of an oil is
by no means guarantee of its saefty
Vegetable PSYCHOLOGISTS used to think
that leaves absorbed dew and rain until
a Frenchman named Duevarre; in 1857,
reversed their views, and his opinion was
adopted by botanists. Practical garden
ers, however, have never been converted,
and they freely syringe their plants I'm,
der certain conditions, and now the Rev.
Mr.. Denslow in England has, after many
experiments, concluded that dew is not
absorbed at night but that absorption
takes place at sunrise, when Transportation
is begun, and the water on the leaves is
sucked.
Ornamental glassware in many styles,
tinted with the glowing colors of the rain
bow, is now making its appearance in the
shop windows of Broadway and Fifth
Avenue, New York. This is one of those
illiant little achievements of science
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