The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-10-02
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

PARLIAMENT in England has increased
The grant for scientific purposes from
$1,000 to $4,000.
GERMANY added 1,102 miles of road
to its railroad system last year, and of
these the Government built 1893 miles.
MARINE glue is made by melting to-
gether one part of unvulcanized caout-
chouc, previously softened or dissolved
in coal naphtha, and two parts of shell
lac.
A GERMAN mixture for the removal of
ink-spots and writing on paper consists
of alum, amber, sulphur and saltpeter,
one part of each in fine powder, mixed.
THE quantity of actual moisture rails
ed in the shape of vapor from the sur
face of the sea alone has been supposed
to be no less than $4,000 cubic miles an
nually, or nearly 1874 miles per day.
THE company in Florida that has
been experimenting with palmetto for
making paper has met with such graft
flying success that it will erect about
twenty paper-mills in the State, where
palmetto trees grow in abundance and
where the transportation facilities are
good
IT has recently been shown that if
dynamite is poured into water, the sand
falls to the bottom, and the nitro-glyce-
rine floats on the surface, and eXplodes
with its usual violence if the tempera-
1ure is slightly increased. This will ex-
plain the cause of many of the serious
explosions with dynamite when used in
wet holes.
THE following easy method of drilling
glass is given in a technical journal:
Stick piece of clay or putty on the part
where you wish to make the hole. Make
a hole in the putty the size you want the
hole, reaching to the glass of course.
Into this hole pour little molten lead,
when, unless it is very thick glass, the
piece will Immediately drop out.
IF the earth could be suddenly stop
ped in her orbit and allowed to fall I'M
INSTRUCTED toward the sun, under the
accelerating influence of his attraction,
she would reach the central fire in about
four months. But such is the compass
of her orbit, that, to make it's circuit in
year, she has to move nearly nineteen
miles second, or more than fifty times
faster than the swiftest rifle ball, and,
in moving twenty miles, her path de-
viates from perfect straightness by less
than one-eighth of an inch.
A FRENCHMAN has invented simple
apparatus for the use of bathers who
can not swim. Inflated India-rubber
bags support the swimmer, and enable
him to sit upright with head and Shout
a hntvn co of hn al
himself. The principal novelty of this
continuance lies in the propelling de-
vice, which is constructed so as to COL
lapse when pulled forward, and to spread
open when pushed back, like ducks
foot when swimming. The propellers
are suspended by chains or cords at
tached to the buoying jacket.
A LARGE refrigerating building has
been built near Smithfeld Market, Lon
don's greatest market, in which the
owners will test the possibility of keep
ing beef forty days, the time of passage
from Australia; and if successful they
will fit several steamers with their APP
paratus. The temperature is to be kept
evenly at 33 degrees by chemically
made ice, the machinery costing but
$4,000, including gas engine of eight
horse power, which runs at cost of
$40 a day, the ice costing twenty cents
a ton. The same process will be tested
at Boston before the warm weather is
over, with a view to its application to
Atlantic steamers. If meat can be
brought to England from Australia,
American shippers will meet with lively
competition.