The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-08-07

Scientif Miscellany.

Scientifc 1lany.
PROT: Marks recently stated tsat be
had made some c.leulations Is 70 tho
maximum speed & which 1oconotivs
engines could 10 driven before tho con-
trifugal force on The tirss Of the driving
wheels would becone % groat . 70
cause Thorn 10 burst. These calculations.
which wers only appro1inats, gave !
limit Of speed in the neighborhood of $50
miles per hour. or this speed, 7s miles
an honr, or moro than hall, has already
been attained.
Two alligator, the hrst specimens
ever found in the Old World, were latsly
captured in tho Yane-tse-Kiang.
"A very simple model enables us to
realize in some degree tho vast size Of
tho sun as compared with tho earth.
When the sun 10 represented BY . ball of
three inches in diameter, q minute bali
Of 3-1O0 Of nm inch in diameter must be
placed ut distance Of 80 feet from it to
represent tho earth and its distance from
the sun.
Probably few porsons while watching
the light Of the glow-worn or the 6re-fy
have failed to wonder and speculate %
to its cause. A Freneh naturalist, after
series Of observations, believes the
glow-worm's phosphoresccnce to be due
to an emission Of phosphnreted hydrogen
gas.
1t is . popular sanitary error to think
that the more . man eats the fatter and
stronger he will become; to believe that
the more hours children study the faster
they learn !; to conclude that If exercise
is good the more violent it is the greater
benefit !; to imagine that whatever reme-
dy causes one to feel Immediately better
is good for the system, regardless of the
ulterior effects. Despite the advance Of
- ''e 's.es - ..''''..-e.: 49,
''',''' ! 80, '...,.,' !. - f'-''.s -f-s
so"es' n's ''o''s1 1.' = '''s'>''''
-Ihe Public Healeh department. o.
Germany has officially sanctioned tho
use Of the following coloring matters in
confectionery, etc. For white-flour and
starch for red-cochineal, carmine, mad
tler-retl, and the juice OF carrots and
cherries; for yellow saffron, saffiower
aud tumeric; for blue-indigo and lit
mus for groon---.lulco OF spinach and
mixtures Of the above blues and yellows !;
for brown-bnrnt sugar and Spanish
juice and for blaek-lndian ink.
Near Beaver 1ato, in the National
Park Of Yellowsto4e, : recent party Of
explorers came upep remaxkable noun
tain Of obsidian Or Dleanic glass, which
rises in columnar clf1ls several hundred
feet in height. It being desirable topass
that way, the party cut road by build
ing huge fires on the glass to heat and
expand it and then dasbing the cold wa
ter Of the lake against the heated sur
face-the sudden contraction thus pro-
duced breaking largo fragments from the
side of the mountain. In the grand can
yon of the Gibson river the explorers
also found precipices Of yellow, black
aud banded obsidian rising hundreds Of
feet. The natural glass Of these locali-
ties has from time immemorial been
dressed by the Indians to tip their spears
and arrows.
Some experiments with various soils
% filters for removing organic matter
from water have shown that gravel pro-
duces little result, sand being much more
effective in removing the impurities and
fine loan forming still better filter.
The British Museum contains wig
which was found in good state OF pre-.
seryation At Thebes, and is probably
5000 yeaEs old.
-ln selecting location for house,
advises prominent physician, make a
note of the prevalent winds, that they
be from the house tow ards al swampy
and miasmatic localities and not from
niasnatic localities towards the house
-Gelose is the most valuable constitu-