The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-02-28
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

we sent last year to Europe $780,
900 hides.
"A toy-maker of Montrose, Pa,
uses 100000 feet of bass wood every
year.
Seven machines in Pittsburgh, Pa,
produced, last year, over l, 063, 345 kegs
of nails.
Steam and horse railroads in this
country require 100000 men to labor
on Sunday.
The combined length of the new
railroads projected for 1880 will be
5000 miles.
The West is not able to supply
coke fast enough for consumption in
Eastern iron furnaces.
Fine sharp furnace sand mixed with
hydraulic cement makes good cement
Tor sharpening knives.S
The fifteen car manufacturing es.
adjustments in this country turned out
81, $50 cars in eleven months.
"A silver mine has recently been
discovered in Garrett County, Md.
The ore yields $113 to the ton.
Arizona has produced quality of
cotton equal to the Sea Island cotton
from seed brought from China.
Several cases are reported in which
scarlet fever, measles and other infec-
tious diseases have been spread by cats
and dogs.
To prevent glue from cracking
when dry, add about one tablespoonful
of glycerine to pint of the solution
while tits hot.
"A dangerous and infectious disease
among bees is reported from Italy. 1t
is caused by microscopic fungus and
spreads very rapidly.
Illinois farm products amounted to
5000, 1000, 900 last year, which is double
the product of all the gold and silver
mines in the United States.
1t is estimated that $4,000 men
and women are employed in Philadel-
phia in the manufacture of clothing,
making 10000, 900 suits year.
Manufacturing clothing in Chica-
go gives employment to 10000 peo-
pie, and the value of the goods made
is $15, 100000. This industry has dou-
bled in four years.
Less than fifty years ago one man
could not make over fourteen pins a
minute; now he can make more than
1,400, Then one girl could stick on
papers about 10000 pins day; now a
fair days work is from 100000 to
100000.
"A puzzle to scientists is the re-
markable persistence of certain odors.
More than 1000 years ago the mortar
used in the construction of the Mosque
of st. Sophia, in Constantinople, was
charged with musk, the perfume of
which permeates the building to this
day.
The first minor planet, or asteroid,
was discovered January l, 1901, the
first day of the nineteenth century.
Over 200 Of these minute worlds-prob-
ably varying from ten to 300 miles in
diameter-are now known, and, as
everybody is well aware, the number is
being rapidly increased.
Mr.. G. A. Ashourner is the author
ity for the statement that since the dis
eovery of petroleum by Colonel Drake,
in 1859, Pennsylvania had produced up
to the end of 1879 not less than 1885,
262, 639 barrels of crude oil, valued al
$40, 709,672. His theory of the origin
of the oil is that the oil sands are the
mere reservoirs which contain the prod
uct of the decomposition of vegetable
and animal life of the Devonian epoch.
"A new foot-warmer has been intro
duced for public comfort in cabs and
other vehicles in France. A sheet-iron
box is used with a sliding drawer, over
which the air, which is admitted at one
end. may pass before it escapes at holes
in the other end. Into this drawer a
briquette of pure compressed carbon
raised to red heat is placed, and it
continues to burn there, without giving
forth any disagreeable odor, for about
fourteen hours.
The pain caused by the sting of a
plant or insect is the result of a certain
amount of acid poison injected into the
blood. The poison being acid, common
sense points to the alkalies as the prop
er means of cure. Among the most
easily procured may be mentioned soft
soap, liquor Of ammonia, smelling salts,
washing soda, quick-lime made into a
paste with water, the juice of an onion,
tobacco juice, chewed tobacco, bruised
dock leaves and carbon of soda.
In order to perform an amount of
mechanical work equal to lifting 140
pounds 10000 feet high, Professor Ora
ham calculates that a man must eat
five pounds of potatoes, one and a third
pounds flour, two and third pounds
bread, one and a quarter pounds oat-
meal, one and third pounds rice, three
and half pounds lean beef, half a
pound beef fat or one and fifth pounds
Cheshire cheese. He says that the
peasants of all countries have been
right, in spite of many scientific asser-
tions that they were wrong, in their in
stinctive habit of adding fat rather than
nitrog enous food to their diet when I'M
dergoing hard work.
The east coast of Hudson's Bay is
reported to be undergoing very consid-
cradle changes in its level. Since the
posts of the Hudson's Bay Company
were established at the mouths of the
various rivers there has been an in
creasing difficulty in approaching them
with large craft, and this elevation is
estimated to amount to between five
feet and ten feet within the last 100
L