The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1880-10-16
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
A RIVER OF BLACK INK.

yARSISH MADE OF BLOOD
Chinese varnish is made by mixing
three parts of fresh blood, which has
been deprived of its fibrin by beating
with small twigs or broom straws. four
parts of slaked lime and little alum.
This may be used at once 1t is said
that straw baskets coated with it are
rendered water and air tight, and that
( paste-bOard to which it has been applied
becomes as hard rs wood.
SINGULAR PHENOMENON.
A French journal is responsible for
the following: During a recent violent
storm a young man was walking with an
uuhghted carriage lamp i'll his hand.
Suddenly he experienced a severe shock
III his arm, and concluded that lightning
/ had either struck him or some point very
near. But what was his establishment
/ to find that his lamp had been lighted?
! Several persons near him Witnessed the
remarkable phenomenon.
SOUNDINGS AT FULL SPEED.
/ At the meeting of the British associa-
/ ton, Sir w. Thompson described an ex-
I trcncly ingenious mode of keeping out
air and admitting water into his new fly
/
! 1t is simply the utilization of fine cam
! brio, which, while it is wet, allows water
/ to pass freely, but it is impervious to air
at low pressurcs, The apparatus now
works perfectly, and surroundings can
I be taken between II and 20 fathoms
while steamers are going at full speed.
THE MILK OF RUMINANTs.
According to the researches of DR.
\ Bush, the milk Of rlminants, when
swallowed, is coagulated by the acids Of
the stomach into a hard mass. Hence
calves, lambs, etc, which have taken no
food but the milk of their mothers, al
ways chew the cud. Animals which do
not ruminate consequently find diff
Guilty in digesting the milk of ruminant
! species. On the other hand, human
milk, and that Of mares, asses, and other
non ruminant animals, coagulates into
small granular or tlocculent masses,
which are easily digested.
VERTICALLY ASCENDING LIGHTNING.
\ paper by NJ Trecul on a remarka-
2 bic case of vertically ascending lightning
was recently read before the French
/ Academy of Sciences. The phenomenon
occurred during a storm ON the 10Th of
August. The sparks appeared to come
from some lightning in the
I place, some rising sinGly and disappear
! ing ut a small height, after spreading in
I to a magnificent, nearly circular flash,
/ the light of which diminished from
center to circumference. In one case
! two luminous columns rose stimuli
! taneously, pursued a parallel course for
some distance, aud then bent at right
J angles and struck each other
SMOKING MEAT.
According to recent German patent
for rapidly smoking meat, the meat is
/ put into a chamber which is closed by a
cover with water Joint, and heated in an
oven below till the thermometer shows
about thirty degrees c., whereupon an
outlet tube at the top is closed. Juniper
berries, to the amount of 40 or for
every 200 kgm. of meat, are now intro
I ducCd into a space under the chamber,
/ and their vapOrs enter the latter by pas
/ sage in the bottom. By moving valve
I these vapOrs can be drawn off into a
chimney After about foyty-tive minutes,
air is forced into chamber through Il
lateral pipe, so as to drive out the smoke:
the cover is taken off, and the dried meat
is removed.
NOISE IN CITIES.
\ writer in the JOtrTldi Of Science re-
marks that noise is contributor to tear
and wear of modern city life to very
grave degree, and wonders why, while
steady war is waged against many other
anti-sanitary agencies no really serious
and persistent attempt has been made
al, of do
! No complete and satisfactory account has
7 vet been given regarding the cause of
the injurious effect of sound i'll excess
/ upon the nervous system. Nervous ir
ritability and cerebral disease appear to
keep pace with the multiplication of
sounds, especially among thinkers. He
proposes, therefore, rs II palliative, the
absolute prohibition of street music and
7 of church bell ringing, and the proven
ton of such sounds as proceed from dogs
which bark persistently, and from har-
mOniums, organs and wind instruments
III general, except III houses which are
I detached.
PEARL THREAD.
4 Paris firm has begun the manufac-
/ ture of "pearl thread, or "bcaded
! thread, which has the appearance of
thread on which beads are attached mt
regular intervals The process consists
in imprcgnating the thread at proper in
tcryais with drops of pasty substance,
like wax. resin, lac, gum, etc, which on
! cooling becomes CLASSY or crystalline.
/ The apparatus used is as follows The
4 liuuid bead material Is held in trough
/ like vessel. from the bottom of which
/ extend obhquely downward a large num-
/ Der of narrow tubes, which are closed at
4 the lower ends, but have each an open
ing little above the end, through
which the liquid comes ont in the form
/ of bead. The female worker brings
i the thread in horizontal position sim
i ultaneously before all the holes, and the
drops got attached to the thread A sur
plus-trough is placed below. The pre-
pared thread is wound ON a removable
reel In order that the bead may fully
sohdify and ncighboring pieces Of thread
may not stick together, the reel is dis
placed in the direction of its axis after
/ each revolution. 1t is moved Ivy means
of Il weight.
BOMBARDINCi NEW YORK.
Commenting on the enormous ranges
obtained by some recent Trupp ritlCd
guns. AMI the near probability that ships
of war Will carry guns of ten aud twelve
miles Tango, the $cjcRhfc 1nC5IcnH
asks; Could a hostile fleet lombard
Y ~ g