The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1880-01-10
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.
A NEW SOURCE OF TANNIN.

stIoutlum nitrate Is 2uQeu Wnen deep
colors are required.
VIRGINIA"
A new substance named Virginia"
has been extracted from the residues of
petroleum after distillation by Professor
Sonnenschein. 1t is fatty and nearly
transparent. When heated it gives
blue tluorescence. 1t melts at 470 cent?
grade, and is partially soluble in ether.
TESTING PETROLEUM.
The following method of testing Pc
troleum is by Drs. Janke and Barth:
The temperature of the oil is raised to
100 degrees F. in the water-bath in ten
minutes. When the temperature indi-
Gates 95 degrees the oil is stirred, and
when it rises to 100 degrees a fame is
applied.
CHASING STEEL.
A simple method of CHASING steel has
been deduced by Herr Barns in me-
moir dealing with the thermo-electric
position and electric conductivity of
steel in relation to its hardening. Steel
bars fall into two classes. Those of one
class, the harder, he found to be electro
other, the softer, to be electro positive.
FORKS.
1t has been thought that forks have
been used by mankind in eating food at
a very recent period in history. But the
art of eating with fork is proved to be
a revival of very ancient one. The
fork is by no means an invention of
modern times. Lstely, in the debris of
the lake DWELLING, forks evidently de-
They were made Ct bone. The spoon is
a still more ancient instrument.
THE EsQUIMAUX.
Though the Esquimaux are generally
below the middle stature of man, their
heads are as large as those gilmore favor
ed races. According to Professor Flow
er, the average capacity of an Esqui-
maux skull (male) is l, 546 cubic cent?
meters 1888 cubic inches), almost exact
ly the same IS the average English skull
of the lower class, while itexceeds by II
cubic centimeters the average of "A mod
ern Italian skulls. This large size of the
brain seems not necessary to be connect
ed with actual development. Another
distinctive characteristic of the Esqui-
maux skull, as pointed out by Professor
Flower, is its great length and narrow
ness, especially in the upper part. The
base is fairly broad, and the mastoid
processes well developed; but, instead OF
expanding upward to the parietal region,
it narrowe, and, toward the medium line
above, contracts so rapidly that the upper
part of the skull has the form of the roof
of house. The atfinities of the Esqua-
maux race are declared to be more with
the inhabitants of northeastern Asia
than with the American Indians; and
probably they are derived from the same
stock as the Japanese.-P0pulGr Science
M0nthly.
THE LARCH TREE.
One of the most desirable kinds of
wood is that of the larch tree. The tree
grows in abundance and to perfection,
on the sandy coasts of the Baltic. There
the Romans became acquainted with it
during their Germsnic wars, and so
highly did they value it that they trans
ported it, at immense expense, across the
Alps down to the River Pc, and thence
to Rome. Vitruvius praises it much as
building timber, and Plinius declares it
to be the best of resinOus kinds of wood.
The great floating palace which the
Emperor Trajan built for summer res
idence on Lake Nerne, was made partly
of cypress and partly of larch, and when
after the lapse of fourteen centuries, it
was discovered on the bottom of the sea
and raised from the mud in which it laid
imbedded, all those parts of it which
were of larch were found to be perfectly
sound. In the English marine the larch
was introduced in 1909 from the Scotch
forests of the Duke of Athol, and the
frigate Athol, built III $780, is still in
active service, and in excellent condi-
itOn.
INTERESTING FACTS.
Some facts of interest not generally
known were presented recently by Mr..
B. V. Head, Assistant Keeper of Coins
in the British museum, in a paper read
before the Bankers Institute, Lo-don.
Twice only in the history of the human
race was there an effort made to intro.
duce theoretically perfect system Of
weights and measures. The Babylonians
were the first to make the attempt to
refer all the designations of quantity
and extension to one and the same unit.
Not less than 1000 years elapsed before
the next experiment in the same direc-
ton was made, and the credit was due
to the French. With all the agencies at
the command of the people Of the nine
teenth century of the Christian era, the
introduction of the metric system into
general use has been painfully slow,
and it may be easily conceived why the
Babyionians did not make their unit
standard permanent success. AS to the
coming of money the Lydians are be-
lieved to have invented the art about
7OOB. @. The earliest coins were com.
posed of Electrum, natural combina-
ton of gold and silver found in the
washings ofsth river Pactolus. This
coinage lasted for about $50 years, when
Crcssus introduced bimetallic currency
of gold and silver, which became gener-
al throughout Asia until the time OF
Alexander the Great The ratio between
gold and silver was fixed at l to 13.5,
European Greece had silver monome-
tallic currency until the discovery of the
rich gold mines at Philippi, in the reign
of Philip: of Macedon, when the curren'
cy of that monarch was made bimetallic
to keep up the price of gold as compared
with silger-a device which proved
futile. Alexander returned to the old
system, but though gold coins were still
made, they were regarded simply as bull
lion, and monometalism, henceforth, was
universal even in Asia. The change
from the double to single standard in
4 i Ii dox