Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-03-05
SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

FISH. CULTURE MUSEUM. late Frank
auckland bequeathed his valuable museum
of economic fish culture to the people of
of Great Britain, and on the decease of his
wife the sum Of S25, 900 will revert to the
nation, to be applied to the purpose of
founding a professorship of economic pis-
ciculture in connection with the auckland
Museum and the science and art apartment
at South Kensington.
THE PERKINS SYSTEM OF STEAM Pro-
! PULsIoN THE Board of United States
Naval Engineers gives q most favorable
report of this system, as shown in its ap-
plication to the machinery of the little
steamer Anthracite, affirming that any
theoretical doubts regarding the practica
biIity and economy Of the method are suffi-
GENTLY dispelled by the voyage of that
steamer from Great Britain to this country.
UNINFLAMMABLE TEXTILE GooDs.-Ac-
cording to the Bulletin de la Societe a. En-
couragement pour rIndustrie NdtioRale, NJ.
]. A. Martin has been awarded a prize of
/, 200 francs for his method of rendering
uninhammable textiles, paper goods and
similar articles. For light goods, NJ. Mar
tin uses mixture OF pure ammonium sui
phate, s kilos; ammonium carbonate,
kilos boric acid, 3 kilos pure borax, 2
kilos; starch, 2 kilos, or 400 kilo dextrine
or gelatine and water, 100 kilos.
ADVANTAGES OF STEEL-Dr Siemens,
whose thorough competence is universally
known, claims that in every case when
strength and magnitude are both required
the use of steel is without a rival He
asserts that even for an ordinary house
- II tv / han xUp0d ls Al
or eight times as strong, and costs less. He
thinks that before many years elapse we
shall see steel introduced into buildings of
all kinds, and that it will gradually sup
plant iron, in the same way that iron al
ready tends to take the place of wood.
Echo Industr.
SOLUTION OF BRoMINE AS A REAGENT.
Bromine is more and more employed as an
ANALYTICAL reagent. Used alone, it is not
convenient, and solution in water or IN
hy drochloric acid has been recommended.
The former has the defect of belrg very
dilute the hydrochloric solution Is much
more concentrated, but strongly acid. For
three wears L. L. De Koninck has success
fully used the solution of bromine in 10
per cent. solution of potassium bromide.
The author recommends 1t for the preeipi-
tation of manganese from an acetic solu-
ton. for the conversion of arsenious into
arsenic acid and for the detection OF nickel
in presence of cobalt in potassium cyanide
solution.
LIGHT AND ELECTRICITY 1874 w.
C. Rontgen was led by observing that a
glass plate which had been fractured by
the electric spark become doubly refract-
ing, to inquire whether a similar influence
might be exerted by electricity without
fracture. Kerr, Gordon and Mackenzie
subsequently published a series of expert
ments upon the subject, none of which
seemed very conclusive until kerr's COM
munications appeared in the Philosophical
Naqnzine for 1879. Rontgen was then IN
duced to experiment with various sub
stances. and he found that transmitting
light undergoes changes through electric
influences which are precisely similar to
those of ordinary double refraction. The
intensity varies in the electrical field with
the electrical force, and it increases with
the difference of potential between the
electrodes. By these experiment he has
succeeded in thoroughly confirming the
classification of fluids as positive and mega
tive.
TRANSFORMATION BY ROPES IN MINING.
H. Rider has recently patented in Eng
land improvements in apparatus for the
transport or removal of everything earth
or strata in getting ironstone or other ores
Instead of wheeling away the earth on
planks, transportation is effected by means
of rope strained across the chasm and
serving as guide, along which travels
tub holding the earth. The rope, anchor
ed at one end, is supported at any de-
sired hight above the ground by tripod
or other convenient support on the bank
the rope being supported at the other
end by post set near the working sur
face OF the excavation. The end of the
guide-rope is attached to slide on the
post and for raising this slide, when re-
CURED. another rope or chain is led up
from it, over pulley hung from the top
of the post, and this lifting rope is taken
to a winch or other power conveniently
placed on the surface. a steam winch
would serve for many sets of transporting
gear The tub is hung from pulley or
pulleys running along the guide-rope, and
when filed, the slide is drawn up on the
post until the guide is inclined so that the
wheels from which the tub hangs run by
gravity along the guide rope over the
other side, until the tub reaches the bank.