The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-08-18
Scientific Miscellany.

The pachymeter, lately patented in Vienn
which measures the thickness of paper to tt
one-thousandth part of an inch is outdone b
the micrometer caliper, now coming into us
in this country, which determines the thicl
ness OF paper or anything else to the tel
thousandth of an inch.
j. Landerer has stated to the French Aca(
envy reasons for believing that the mate
rials Of the moons surface are analogous t
those of the silicate rocks so abundant on on
globe.
A practical experiment in military baloor
ing has been applied by committee of tn
English Government, the result ofwhich seem
to show that balloons may be readily destroye
three thousand yards. In the experiment i
question, q captive balloon was brought dow
GA the second trial by shell from an eigh
inch howitzer at distance of two thousan
| one hundred yards
| Like animals, plants differ greatly in thei
| habits and the food upon which they subsist
| The brOad-eaved clovers, turnips and man
| gels abstract from the air large portion o
their growth, while the narrow leaved grain
| and grasses partake more largely of minera
food, which they draw from the soil. In thi
fact lies the great advantage to farmers of 70
tation of crops
After an analysis of the black mud existiLe
beneath the pavements OF Paris, M. Henri De
vile concludes that the condition Of the soil il
not such as to cause disease, but is instead
COL ducive to the health of occupants of the
city.
Scientists have distinguished about eighty
two thousand different species of plants, Of
which number nearly four thousand are differ
ent forms of grass
An English inventor has devised process
Of utilizing old steel in the production of a
new metallic compound which is said to pos
sess remarkable strength and ductility. The
process consists in mixing old steel with a
patented compound, and subjecting the whole
to an intense furnace heat, when the particles
amalgamate. Steel made on this plan sells at
high price. 1t is claimed that the process is
second in Importance only to Bessemers in
vention, and an especially valuable application
of it will be the making use of old Bessemer
steel rails.
The discovery of phosphorescent bodies has
been traced back to the year 1902, when a cob
bier of Bologna, pursuing in his leisure the
alchemist's search for the philosophers stone
found very heavy mineral which, after being
heated with charcoal, became luminous in the
dark. The mineral with which the Bologna
cobber attained so remarkable result was
barium sulphate, which by the operation in
Iue CruClDlc WAS Cudugtu W Ddrlum SulpnlQe
one of the most phosphorescent substances
known.
The worlds supply of Chan turpentine,
which DR.. John Clay has found to produces
surprising curative effect in cases of cancer, is
very limited, the turpentine trees of Chic,
numbering, it is reported, only about one
thousand. In consequence of this scarcity
and the fast growing demand for the drug, the
price is very high, and many limitations are
sold.
According to DR.. Kedzie, of Detroit, the
adulteration ofsugar with glucose is rapidly in
creasing and the adulteration is being effect
ed more and more skillfully. Pure glucose
is not in itself poisonous or even injurious,
but it makes sugar less sweet, so that great
er quantity is required to produce a given
sweetening effect. Manufactured glucose
however, DR.. Kedzie states is injurious to
health, because poisonous substances are al
ways associated with it. Glucose is also said
to be constituent of nearly all candies and
syrups.
A peculiar disease of the coffee plant, caused
by the very rapid development OF fungus
upon its leaves, has caused such serious losses
in the island of Java during the last ten years
that reward of $100 900 has been offered for
a cheap and effectual remedy.