The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-05-25
SCINTILLArIONS SCIENCE.

The railroad on Mount Vesuvius is 800
metres long and approaches within 200
metres of the mouth of the crater. The
inclines are very steep.
An excellent hydraulic cement has
been made by mixing one ton of blast
furnace slag-sand to one and three-quar-
ter tons of chalk and burning the whole
in i'm ordinary cement kiln.
Mr.. G. S. Wake maintains that the
Polynesians should be described as a
bearded and not as a non-bearded race,
and that, as a rule, they are we'll ac-
quainted with the use of the bow and
arrow.
Carre makes his cast-iron magnets by
running soft and slightly carburetted
metal in earthen crucibles. Before pour
ing, 10 to Is per cent. of steel filings
and about or 1.5 of nickel, with 0.25
per cent. of copper, or 2 per cent. of tin
and O.5 per cent. of copper are added.
1t is reported that the phylloxera has
made its appearance in the vineyards
on Vesuvius, and in those on the oppo-
site side of the Gulf at Fuzzuoli and
Piamura. 1t is thought that the result
will be disastrous, Notwithstanding the
adoption of precautionary measures
This insect pest is also spreading in
Sicily.
Prof. J. Lawrence Smith, of Louis.
vile, KY, in paper read last month
before the French Academy of Sciences,
says that the meteorite which fell at Es-
therville, Iowa, on May 10th, 1879, should
be placed apart for the phenomena of its
fall, especially the force of penetration Of
its fragments into the ground, and for
the mode Of association of it's mineral
constituents.
As simple and useful lecture-room
method of showing that matter can not
be destroyed, the following experiment
is given: Two sealed glass tubes of equal
weight, one of them containing oxygen
and little powdered charcoal, are pre-
pared. The charcoal may be made to
burn by means of a small flame. When
the two tubes are placed on balance,
it will be seen that there has been no
variation in weight.
A Brussels company have produced a
colossal statue of Van Eyck by the depo-
sition of copper electrically upon the
clay model. The production of statuary
on small scale may, it is said, be readily
accomplished by this process: Boil any
plaster figure or group in stearine, black
lead it, and then plunge it into a copper
bath. to which very weak battery is
attached. When thin coating of cop
per is deposited, remove the object from
the bath and bake it in an oven until all
the plaster can be shaken out in dust,
leaving a thin copper reproduction of
the model. Varnish this copper on the
outside so that when it is replaced in the
bath all the copper deposited will be on
the inside and the necessary thickness
thus secured.
Professor W. Mattieu Williams COM
mends this method of annealing or
toughening to the attention of manufac-
turers engaged in the production of steel
that is to be used for purposes where te-
nacity rather than hardness is demanded: /:
The steel is brought to bright red heat,
and is then plunged into boiling water.
He has tried this plan upon many sam
Piles of steel, from mild Bessemer to the
hardest of the old-fashioned Sheffield pot
steel, and he states that he obtained
better results than he could secure by
any process of oil toughening or slow
cooling. When the steel is plunged into
the boiling water it is evidently sur
rounded by film Of vapor, and is not IN
actual contact with the water, which
assumes the "spheroidal" state, and so
remains until the metal has cooled con-
siderably. Professor Williams suspects
that the toughening is due to the uni
formity of cooling thus effected.
Prof. Michin has described his expert.
ment to solve the problem of transmit.
ting light by photo-electric action. He
forms sensitive cell composed of two
silver plates immersed in conducting
solutinp Oua ,,1a+a 10 oootnI .u:.L :