Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-03-24
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC,
AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SWITCH.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SWITCH.
DR.. Wynne proposes the Introduction
of an automatic switch III a telephone
circuit, so that any one in connection
with telephone exchange may commu-
nicate with any other person, similarly
connected, without the intervention of
an assistant at the central Office.
THE MICRoPHONE IN EARTHQUAKES.
The microphone has been successfully
employed by Prof. Milne, of Toxic,
Japan, to announce the premonltOry
signs of an earthquake. He places the
instrument in pits remote from roads,
and he is careful also to exclude all IN
sects, the movements of which would, of
course, affect the indications and lead to
false differences.
NUTRTTIvE POWER OF MILK.
The nutritive value of milk is hardly
sufficiently appreciated. According to
the best and most recent analyses, good
milk contains in each quart: Butter,
about Il o.; casein, q o.; milk sugar,
o., and salts (phosphates, etc. nearly
OF. Two quarts of milk, therefore,
with IL o. of bread, contains sufficient
No cheaper food of equal value and easy
assimilation can be found.
FUsING POINTS OF REFRACTORY METALS.
By means of delicate processes, M.
Wolfe has, according to the IecInoIo-
qiste, predetermined the fusing points of
the more refractory metals. Thefollow-
ing are given as the exact temperatures
of five of these metals in the order of
their fusibiGty: Silver, 1,749 degrees,
Fahrenheit; gold, 1, 1868 degrees; copper,
1880 degrees; platinum, 1916 degrees;
and iridium, $3.50 degrees. It will be
seen that copper requires a higher tenn
perature to fuse it than gold. CONNER
cial copper, however, melts below 1,O35
degrees. Iridium is the most difficult of
all the metals.
VEGETABLE ANTAGONISTS TO ALCOHOL.
Charles Napier, an English scientist,
says that dipsomania is relatively under
control when farinaceous diet is en-
ployed. Among the articles which are
specified as antagonistic to alcohol are
maccaron1, baricot beans, dried peas,
and lentils, well boiled and seasoned with
butter or olive OIL He claims that the
carbon thus ingested renders unneces-
sary, and therefore repels the carbon, in
the alcoholic beverages. He also states
that confirmed drunkards, and those
brought to deaths door by their habits,
have been fully cured by proper fari-
naceous regimen.
THE FORCE OF IMAGINATION.
During the fortnight following the
death of the late Emperor Napoleon, .
says Horrocks, 'sSir James Paget was
consulted for stone In the bladder by no
less than four gentlemen who had moth
ing the matter with them" This leads
me to speak of form of hysteria which
Is frequent in males, and perhaps more
SO In our own profession than in any
other class Of people. How many stu
dents are there of one years standing or
more x = who have not imagined
that they were the victims of some fatal
disease? I myself when a student was
convinced that I had both heart disease
and phthisis
CARPET WEAVING.
By means of highly ingenious carpet
weaving machine, recently introduced,
it is found practicable to produce car
pet-a velvet pile, In appearance and
quality said to pe most luxurious article
at very low cost. The worsted yarns
forming the face of the carpet are wound
from ordinary bobbins on long bobbins
the width of the carpet, the co1ors being
arranged by comb as the pattern re-
quires. The ends are passed through
metal tubes for delivery, and the bobbins
In proper sequence are then fixed OH an
endless chain over the loom. AS this
chain revolves, metal clips seize each
bobbin in turn, take it off the chain, and
dip the ends of worsted among the warp
threads of the carpet, where they are at
once firmly fixed, and q circular knife
cuts off the worsted at a proper level.
The bobbin is returned to the chain, and
the succeeding one dealt with-and so
on, continuously.
DURABILITY OF IRON
Experiments have proved that if 5O,-
600 pounds, once applied, will just break
bar Of iron or steel, stress very much
less than $4,000 pounds will break it if
repeated sufficiently often. Tests made
III this direction go to show that rupture
may be caused by succession of shocks
or impacts, none of which alone would
be sufficient to cause it, Wrought iron
will crystalline by repeated blows in
service and become weaker than cast
iron; iron axles, the piston rods of steel
hammers, and other pieces of metal that
are subject to continuously repeated
shocks, invariably break after certain
length of service-in other words, the
''life" of the metal is limited. Iron
rods in bridges sometimes crystalline and
break, although the rods of most of the
iron bridges at the present day may
have five, fifty, or 500 years of life yet
allotted to them-due to their factors of