The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-01-13
POPULAR SCIENCE.
The fuel Of the living body is food

In. iuoA Va VIC hvhiS DSuy - Aooo-
SALIC1IIc scid is much used in Ger
many 10 keep water free from impurities.
A METEOROLOGICAL station Is to be
established on the celebrated Scottish
mountain, Ben Nevis.
The metals which are found TO longest
retain heat are brass and copper; next
iron, and lastly in order lead.
IN o new electric battery one of
the elements is composed Of sheet-iron
lees than the ten-thousandth part Of an
inch in thickness.
SCrxNrrsrs have declared that the Blue
Hill Range Of Massachusetts is older, in
q geological point of view, than the Alps
or the Pyrenees OF Europe.
WATER filtered through charcoal be-
comes perfectly pure, the charcoal abb
sorbing all disagreeable tastes and
smells, whether they arise from animal
or vegetable impurities.
THE great glacier which gives rise to
the Zarnfshan River in Central Asia has
been explored and recently described by
Mr.. Mushketof, Russian geologist. II
is fifteen miles long, and mile wide.
IT is known as a fact in geology that
below the depth of thirty feet the earth
becomes regularly warmer as we descend.
On an average the increase il at the rate
Of one degree of Fahrenheit for every
fifty feet.
A JOURNEY across Africa from south to
north is 10 be undertaken by DIR. Emil
Holub, Of Prague, under the auspices Of
the Vienna Geographical Society. He
thinks he can traverse the continent
lengthwise in three years.
In his new scientific treatise on island
life, Mr.. Alfred r. Wallace, the eminent
English naturalist, estimates the period
embracing the formation OF all the fossil
bearing rocks, since the Cambrain, at
twenty eight millions of years.
A BAvARrAN chemist is reported to
have invented an enameing liquid
which renders any species of stone or
cement harder than granite, and gives it
the indelible appearance d any min
eral that may be desired.
The leading popularity Of rice is the
very large proportion of starch and the
very small proportion Of gluten which it
contains, there being but one part of
gluten 10 thirteen parts Of starch. In
wheat there are two parts of gluten to
every nine parts of starch.
SULPHrDE Of carbon has been used
with complete success in France for the
purpose OF exterminating wasps. A
small quantity is introduced into the
aperture by which the insects go in and
out of their nest, and the result is the
immediate destruction of the entire
colony. The aperture should be closed
after pouring in the liquid or forcing il in
with syringe.
ACCORDING to DR. Edward Smith. an
egg contains 15t per cent. of carbon,
and per cent. Of nitrogen. Another
writer estimates that the value of one
pound Of eggs, as food for sustaining the
active forces Of the body, is to the value
OF one pound of lean beef as l, ,584 is to
900. As flesh-producer one pound of
eggs is about equal to one pound of
beef.
! !ONE of the leading chemical manufac-
tories of Germany employs six regular
chemists with salaries ranging from 81
500 TO 90, 800 yearly, and in addition en-
cages the services of an eminent chemist
Tor theoretical work exclusively, paying
him nearly $4,000 per annum. 1t Is
doubtless TO this liberal patronage of
qualified scientists that the superiority
Of German. chemical manufactures is
due.
SoME support to the theory that not
the brain alone, but the whole nervous
system may really be the seat of the
mind, is afforded by Prof. o. g. Msrsh's
latest researches concerning the extinct
reptiles of the Rocky Mountain region.
One mammoth skeleton belonging to q
crenture which he has named Stegosau-
rus, must have been clothed with body
as large as that Of an alligator, while the
brain cavity corresponds in size to that
Of dog.
The sources Of petroleum are found in
almost every part of the globe, and the
use of the article would seem well nigh coe-
val with civilization. There is spring
In one Of the Ionian islands, which has
yielded petroleum more than 2, 900 years.
The city of Genoa was formerly lighted
by oil from the wells of Armenia, on the
banks Of tho FARO. In Persia, also, near
the Caspian Sea, at Baku, numerous
springs Of petroleum have been known
from the earliest time; and those of
Rangoon, ON the Irawaddy, are said to
have yielded, before th6-general intro
duction Of petroleum, some 400, 900 hogs
heads of oil year.