The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-03-20
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

as ga never-failing, speedy remedy
for burns and scalds powdered pine
wood charcoal.
of fifty-four furnaces in the Lehigl
Valley in Pennsylvania, fifty-one are
now in blast. They have capacity o
about 100000 tons of pig iron a year
The total crop of tobacco of tn,
United States in 1879, is estimated a
384, 059, $50 pounds. according to the
Department of Agriculture; last year il
was 392, 546, 700 pounds.
The average life of paper wheel
under trucks of Locomotive engines
ranges from 800, 900 to 1,641, $3.50 miles,
and under dining and palace cars from
1874, 900 to S7S, 336 miles.
The superiority of American work
is attested in the fact that an American
engineer, resident in Japan, has re.
Gently sailed for this country with full
authority to purchase complete stocks
and materials for an American railway
in that country.
Although glycerine was discovered
by Scheele in 1879, it is only within the
last few years that it has been manu-
featured commercially. Its value be-
came known simultaneously with easy
and cheap manufacture. France is
now pre-eminent in its production.
-Oleomargarine has received anoth-
er blow, thirty dealers in Philadelphia
having recently had warrants issued
against them for selling it under false
pretences. These numerous prosecu-
lions give oleomargarine bad name,
by connecting it with constant viola
lions of the law.
From some recent experiments it
is considered desirable to make tele-
graph wire of an alloy of aluminium
and iron. While the wire can be made
much smaller than the present gauge,
it will be stronger, of less susceptible
ty to atmospheric changes, and of
much greater conductivity than the
ordinary wire.
In Holyoke, Mass, paper is made
directly from logs of wood. A power
full machine takes in a poplar log at
one end and turns out paper at the
other. The monsters diet consists of
seven and half cords of wood per day
Welding from three to four tons of
pulp. The paper is used for books and
newspapers.
The three narcotics most often used
for the purpose of securing sleep are
opium, laudanum and choral. They
are dangerous dependence and should
never be resorted to except in the ex-
tremest cases, and only for the briefest
possible period; and they should not be
taken at all except on the direct pre-.
scription of a competent physician.
-Shoemaker's wax has been used
with success in Glasgow to illustrate
to the students of natural philosophy,
in model, the flow of glaciers. 1t is
\ wonderful how closely the flow of this
wax resembles that of ice. Sir W.
Thomson has also employed this sort
of wax to show the motion of lighter
bodies like cork, and heavier bodies
like bullets, through viscous SUBJ
stance.
Zone of the ilk-manufacturing firms
of Lyons is introducing the production
of Photographic impressions on stuffs.
They sent to a recent meeting of the
Photographic Society several pieces Of
silk with a variety of Photographic
pictures printed thereon, including,
among others, number of large me-
dallions representing pictures of the
old masters. The length of the speci-
mems thus exhibited is stated as being
no less than 1874 feet. The process by
which they are produced is not given,
but it is believed that the prints are
made with salts of silver.
-"Tanite is material made from
waste leather scraps, and is hard,
fine-grained, jet black substance, which
may be moulded under high heat and
pressure, and will receive a polish
4 equal to that of the best Whitby jet. 1t
was invented as substitute for vulcan
1 lite, and is used in the manufacture of
4 all articles for which the latter SUBJ
stance is suitable. A new application
is its employment in making emery
4 wheels, to which it is found to be pecu-
liarly adapted.
Novel Mode of Bird-C Catching. A
new application of the Ruhmkorff coil,
y says Les NondeS, has been made in the
4 neighborhood of Marseilles. Instead
n of using bird lime on the trees which
n are frequented by birds of passage, a
n copper wire is wound around the trunk
and decoy attached to a neighboring
staff. When the flock has been attract
ed by the decoy shock is sent by the
Il commutator, and the birds are more
surely stunned than by rife. Expert
ments of similar kind have also been
made by M. Dalmas upon the vines of
his country seat. The powerful cleo
trio shocks are reported to have de-
stroyed the parasites and their eggs.
The improved French method of
preserving wood by the application OF
~ lime is found to work well. The plan
is to pile the planks in a tank, and to
put over all layer ofquick- lime, which
is gradually slaked with water. Tim
Der for mines requires about q week
to be thoroughly impregnated, and
other wood more or less time,
according to its thickness. The ma
terial acquires remarkable consistence
and hardness, it is stated, on being sub
jected to this simple process, and the
assertion is made that it will never rot
Beechwood prepared in this way fol
hammers and other tools for ironworl
is found to acquire the hardness of oak
without parting with any of It's we'll