Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-12
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.

SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
A MECHANICAL COTTON PIcKER.-A
combination cotton. picker with fingers of
iron, which, it is claimed, will make a re-
duction in the price of harvesting of two
cents per pound, is reported from the
South. By means of beaters and fans, the
machine takes the fiber from the ball, re-
moves the seed and all impurities and de-
livers it Strengthened and ready for the
bale.
CALoMEI--C Considerable doubt has been
expressed whether calomel is or is not lia-
BILE to decomposition in the human system,
with production of corrosive eublimate.
According to experiments described by P.
Hoglan Chem. Necs) calomel is slowly
changed by the action OF water at the tenn
perature of the body with formation of
corrosive sublimate and this change is
accelerated by the presence of eitric acid,
sodium chloride, or sugar
BLACK YARNIsH. excellent black
varnish can, it is said, be produced on iron
and steel by applying with hair brush q
mixture of turpentine and sulphur boiled
together. When the turpentine evaporates
there remains on the metal thin layer of
sulphur, which unites closely with the iron
when heated for some time over spirit or
gas flame. The varnish protects the metal
perfectly, and is very durable.
ELECTRIC RAILwAY.-The first electric
railway in Upper Silesia has been erected
in connection with the colliery of the
Donnersmarckhutte Company, to super
sede the ordinary horse railway. The eur
rent is conveyed by wire ropes, supported
on poles in the same manner as telegraph
wires. The maximum speed will be eight
miles per hour. The locomotive is similar
to that exhibited two years ago at the In.
dustrial Exhibition, but is somewhat
smaller.
RAIL TESTS IN GERMANY.-For steel
rails the German Railway Union have
| agreed upon the tests to be made at the
works. A rail placed on supports three
feet four inches apart must bear a load of
twenty tons for several hours without per-
| manent set. 1t must resist drop test of
LOO pounds falling thirteen feet twice,
and must bear drop of five feet without
injury. The rail must be capable of being
bent cold, either way, to the extent of two
inches, without showing cracks or fissures.
AN ELECTRIC ELEVATED RAILRoAD.-
| M. j. Chretien has elaborated project for
| building in Paris an elevated railroad to be
operated by electricity. The plans are
given in some detail by the Rerue IndustYj.
ellie. From the drawings given il appears
that the roadway is to be built on single
pillars, and that the cars are to be run
singly. No special effort seems to be con-
templated to make the structure any less
unsightly than our own, which, however,
makes the impression of having much
greater stability. The proposal to use elec-
tricity is nothing new, as Siemens urged
more than year ago at Berlin.
PAPER BLANKETS. "A Manchester firm
have invented process for manufacturing
paper blankets. This blanket is called the
Chdrtaline, and it is claimed that ventila-
ton is secured as fully as beneath the
wooden blanket The new article is made
of two sheets of paper, 30 manufactured as
to be free from all rustling and cracking,
between which is layer of wadding,
chemically prepared. The edges are
strongly whipped, and while resembling
the woolen blanket in appearance, it is
claimed to be warmer while it is much
lighter. They are made at a trihing cost,
and sold for small sum. Our American
paper mills would do well to consider the
matter.
FIRES FROM ELECTRIC WIREs.-The pos-
sibility of fires from electric wires is occa-
sioning uneasiness among the insurance
companies, but, as would appear, without
reasoning. True, cablegrams assert that
the fire occurring few days ago at Il 9
Paris electric exhibition, was due to some
wires put up by the Fox Electric Light
Committee of England, but the Chairman
of committee appointed by the Board of
Underwriters soma time since, to investi-
gate the whole subject, is authority for the
statement that the committee are fully
convinced that if the wires are properly
insulated there is less janger from fire
from electricity than from leaky gas mains
and kerosene oil, and it is their intention
to SO report.
BARoMETRIc PRESSURE AND THE DIS
CHARGE OF SPRINGs-The belief current
among many millers on the chalk streams
of England that they could foretell the ad-
vent of rain. fall from sensible increase of
| the volume of water in the streams led
| Baldwin Latham, well known authority
on water supply, to investigate the matter.
| Believing that there was some relation be.
tween the barometric pressure and the dis
charge of water from the springs, Mr..
Latham made series of observations, the
results of which he has submitted to the
scientific world in paper read before the
British Association at York. Setting up
gauges on the Bourne flow in the Caterham
valley, near Croydon, he found that when
ever there was rapid fall in the barome-
ter, there was a corresponding increase in
the volume of water flowing, and that
with rise of the barometer, there was a
diminution of the flow, the huctuation at
one period exceeding half million gallons
per day. He attributed an increase of
flow to the expansion and escape of the
gases held by the water under low barom-
etric pressure, which caused the water to
escape more freely.