The Russellville Democrat., 1880-02-12
POPULAR SCIENCE.

PUcHoT noticed, in testing sample of butter suspected of containing starch, that the iodide of starch. reaction is ina
 paired by the presence eofs certain nitro- l genous organic substances, among them
 albumen, whether from milk or eggs.
 M VroLLE has lately determined, by
 means of extremly delicate processes,
 the fusing points of the more refractory
 metals. The following are given as the exact temperatures for five of these
 metals, in the order of their Instability:
 Silver, l, ,749 degrees Fahrenheit, gold, 1863 degrees; copper 1890 degrees;
 platinum, 3,l95. degrees; iridium, 3s5l0 degrees. 'a 4f'#
 OWING to the partial failure of the rub sber crop of Brazil and the clever man. [ agemept of spectators at Para, the price
 of. rubber. was forced from fifty cents to S1 pound during the second week in December. The Para district produces
 about one-half the rubber crop of the
 world, or from 15,000,000 to, fS, 100000 pounds; the other half coming from 1 Africa and the East Indies. s.--4s
 THE Practicien (a new French medical weekly) gives the following formula for
 asthma, which has been adopted with
 much success by Dr. de Crevoisier, of
 Brley: Take even weights of stra-
 monium, sage, belladonna and digitalls; l crush to about the .coarseness of saw dust, damp little, and mix in as much
 nitre as of one of the other substances.
 Burn a little, on q plate, cover with a
 paper cone at the top, and let the sufferer 1 inale the smoke. If the smoke is too abundant damp the mixture with little water. N A19'''f
 2CosmoDoRB WHITING. q century or 50 ahead of time, has presented to the Senate memorial asking that body to
 authorize the President to invite all the Governments on tbis continent to unite in an offensive and defensive eonfedera-
 ton. The memoral proposes that each Government shall remain independent
 ill the administration of it's own affairs, | but be otherwise subordinate to the gen.
 eral Government oi the Confederacy; the general Government to haye;the ex. ecutive right to declare war, to proclaim peace, to maIntain armies and navies and to regulate commerce. - seni-aerI
 ACCORDING to the Indianapolis Herald,
 Dr. W. B. Fletcher ingeniously theorizes l that in ages gore by the huge reptiles of ! theantedil1vian period dying by starva- | ton may have formed large crystals of | carbon in their lungs, which were after- wards transformed into the hard and | llstrous diamond. The doctors theory
 is based upon finding in the lungs of a | frog thousands Of black crystals which looked like coarse gunpowder. Under I the microscope these crystals presented
 angular facets, with smooth surfaces, pre-
 senting the same angle of specialization
 as the diamond. On burning they give
 off carbonic acid gas, and they are. pure
 crystals of carbon, as the diamond is. ..., Y TIE improved French method of pre- serving wood by the application of lime 1 is found to work we'll The plan is to
 pilethe blanks in tank, and to put l oyer all layer of quick-llme, which is ! gradually slacked with water. Timber
 for mines requires about ' week to be { thoroughly impregnated, and other wood, more or less time, according to it's thick
 ness. The material acquires remark able conscience and hardness, it is
 stated, onbeing subjected to this simple process, and the assertion is made, that it. | will never rot. Beech wood prepared in this wayfor hammers and other tools for ironwork is found to acquire the | hardness of oak, without parting with 1 any of its well known elasticity or tough
 ness, and 1t also lasts longer. gs1Aad
 4 NEW, clear, yellow coloring matter, | says the Monitetr de Els C Tissues has re-
 ceived it's name of crieine, from Erica ! yulgaris, the botannicles description of ! tho common health. 1t is prepared by ] heating with an alum solution the wood | of (1l the common health and (2) differ
 ent kinds of poplar. A liquor is obtain ! ed of fine, clear, yellow color, which | becomes turbid on cooling, yielding a I Al all ra.fn 0Nha E1niI faI 1 rom the resin by filtration oxidizes l rapidlysin contact with air and light, be-
 coming at the end of few days of q | beautiful golden yellow, capable of conn | peting with similar substances prepared
 in France by means of the weld (wau) of ! Ayignon berries, or even with those manufactured in England. ..,.4...... [ 4 VERY simple method of showing that i hydrogen is a better conductor of heat 1 than other gases, which is probably due | to it's metallic character, is described by I Carl von Than. Two strong copper wires, several inches long, are held parallel to each other, but not in contact. by slip ping over them two short pieces of glass tube, one an inch from the end, the other in the middle, and filling the tubes with plaster of Paris. The short ends of the wire are bent twice at right angles, so as to be an inch apart at the ends, and are
 connected by very fine eplatinum wire.
 The wires are kent in vertical position Ey clamping the second tube to a retort lholder or other support The longer
 ends of the wires are bent apart and at tached to the poles of battery of three
 or four cells. The wires being insulated | from each other, the current passes
 through the fine platinum wire, heating it red hot If q bell jar of hydrogen be held over it, the wire ceases to glow, be-
 cause the heat is conducted so rapidly
 away On bringing it to the air again 1t
 begins to glow. '' r. Causes of Duols,
 Chambers Jounai.