The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1881-02-03
SCIENTIFIC.

Avine with tuberous roots and herb
| aceOus stem has been discovered by NJ.
Lecard in Soudan. 1t yields abundant
and delicious grapes.
Hufner has obtained from putresccnt
blood long purple-red crystals of ppmo-
| glObine, many of which were above q
millimetre in length.
Capt. Lawson, when in New Guinea.
| found that Mount Hercules was 81, 7SG
feet high. If his calculation is correct
that mountain must be taken, in the alb
sence of other and more accurate. de-
terminations, to be the highest in the
world.
If steel be left long in the fire it will
lose its steely nature and grain and as
sumo the nature of cast iron. Steel
should never be kept hot any longer
than is necessary for the work to be
done.
A very large vacuum-pan has been
made by n firm in Chicago for a Cali
fornia sugar refinery, 1t holds 1900
gallons, yields at each 'sstrike" from
a heating surface of 1000 square feet
in the inclosed copper coils.
The subcutaneous injection of sui
phuric ether, in three-drop doses, at in
tervals of twelve hours, is recommend
ed by Dr.. Comegys for the successful
treatment of sciatica; and he thinks
that the substitution of ether for ergo
tine in dealing with tic-doloreuX would
give good results.
As the cold produces change in or
ganic substances closely resembling
those caused by heat, a Hungarian
chemist proposes to cook fresh beef by
exposing it to a temperature of 33 de-
grees below zero. 1t is then placed in
Theoretically sealed cans, and is thus
preserved in perfect condition for long
time.
Large quantities of pottery are man.
ufactured in Brazil from the hard, 81
hcious bark of the caraipe tree. In the
process the ashes of the bark are pow
dered and mixed with the purest clay
that can be obtained from the bed of
the rivers-this kind being preferred,
as it takes UP a larger quantity of the
ash, and thus produces a stronger kind
of ware.
While Prof. Graham Bell was con-
ducting some new photophonic expert
ments in Paris Il short time ago, using
the light from the electric arc as his
means of transmission, he found that
all the Irregularities and vibrations of
the light caused a sort of murmur in
the telephone receiver, but, at the same
time, articulate speech was heard SUI
perimposed, as it We're, upon the
''voice" of the arc.
A comparative analysis of the statis-
tics presented in the suicide records of
France and Sweden has been made by
M. Bertilion, of the Anthropological
society of Paris, with the result of es-
tablishing, on what he thinks quite sat
isfactory evidence, the two following
laws: l. WidOWerS commit suicide
more frequently than married men. g
in the house diminish the inclination to
suicide in men and women.
There has lately been turned out at
Milan new kind of bread made with
blood from raw flesh. 1t is said to be
preventive of scurvy, and to do away
among peasants with all desire for al
coholic drinks: The difficulty of blood
coagulation being overcome, the s.blood-
bread'' will last for years. Twenty per
cent. of its ingredients consist of blood,
its cost is only two-thirds of a cent per
loaf, and it is more nutritious than the
ordinary loaves at one cent each.
Siemens and Halske, of Berlin, are
now constructing an electric railway be-
tween Lichterfelde and Telton with a
branch line to Crosse Kadettenhaus.
These same men have just patented
hammer and rock-borer propelled di-
rectly by electricity. A rod of iron or
soft steel moves within the axes of three
coils. A constant current in the mid
die coil mapnetiZeS the rod and alter
mating currents through the other coils
cause the rod to be forced in and out
with great rapidly.