Iron County register., 1880-08-05
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
=. AAAcHINE for making pies has lately
been patented. This, taken in connec-
ton with the patent substitute for eggs,
will be good news for boarding house
keepers
- Mr. EDISON has just obtained new
: patent for improvements on his original
phonograph, by which the machine is
made to speak to better advantage than
ever before.
WHITE-FIsH less than week old and
looking like pair of eyes with tail, if
placed beneath a microscope are found
70 be transparent, and exhibit beauti-
iully the action of the heart in propelling
the blood, and its circulation through
the tail.
AN EMINENT botanist claims that the
further from the equator fruits are
grown the richer becomes their flavor.
Ihis is thought to be due to the pro-
longed daylight of the summer months
in high latitudes.
HE compound eyes of insects and
crustaceae, when seen under low-power
microscope, present large number OF
facets which in some instances are
square, and in others hexagonal; the
eye OF the common house-f1y has as
many as 1000 OF these facets, and in
some beetles the number reaches 35, 900.
1T seems that the Japanese were ac-
quainted with luminous paint 900 years
ago. An old Japanese encyclopedia
contains the description of a picture of
which certain parts disappeared during
the daytime and reappeared at night,
and it explains the phenomena by say
ing that the paint was prepared from a
nacreous substance found within the
flesh of a kind of oyster.
A BUILDING rooted with tin is not less
liable to be struck by lightning than a
shingled-roof building. If neither
house was provided with lightning
rod the tin-roofed building, if struck,
would be the. safer, because the light
ming would be likely to divide and
spread over the metal and find it's way
to the earth by several different paths
on the exterior of the building-water-
leaders, cutters, etc.
THE Belgian Academy of Medicine
has received a report on the researches
made by DR.. Fabre regarding the dis
eases to which coal miners are especially
liable. He finds that as coal absorbs
rapidly up to 100 times it's own volume
of .oxygen, the air which the miners
have to breathe is deprived of oxygen
to a hurtful degree. The atmosphere
of a mine is also further vitiated by the
gaseous carbon compounds given off by
the slow combustion of the coal. He
concludes that a supply of air is more
essential than supply of light, and
that even the best ventilated mines need
to be better ventilated.
ARTICLES made of imitation amber
are now produced in immense quanti-
ties and sold for the natural material.
The resembling substance thus employed
is principally colophony-a rosin OBJ
tanned by the decomposition of turpen-
tine-although numerous other ingredi-
ents are also employed to give it the re-
quisite qualities. So perfect is the imi-
tation said to be that the false substance
has the well known electrical properties
of the true; and some ingenious fabri-
Gators have even managed to introduce
into the material insects and other for
eign bodies that render the similarity
more striking.
DR. COOPER, in Fr0ser's Mdq0sine,
argues that only those eyeglasses that
resnade of the purest glass can be con-
sidered safe-specks, rays, globules, or
other imperfections, are detrimental.
Though more costly, ,pebbles possess two
important advantages, namely: extreme
hardness, rendering it difficult to scratch
or break them, and clearness, never be-
coming dull from moisture; and they
are also thought to be cooler than other
glass. To be good and true the glasses
should likewise be, in all their parts, Of
an equal thickness in proportion to their
convexity, as well as of an equal form.
Another and easily applied test of true
glasses is that of holding them OBJ
Gquely over print, all the letters OF
which will be found to preserve their
true character if the glasses are correct.