Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-01
SCIENCE AND ARTS.

The lronclad Italia, Ia, 000 tons, covered
throughout with armor plating three feei
thick, and said to be the most powerful
vessel ever constructed, was succ essfully
launched recently.
The use of the telephone in the collieries
of the United Kingdom is extending. The
latest issue of Iron contains an account of
two collieries in which this instrument has
been introduced as means of ready COM
munication to the miners
Dieulafait has shown the presence of
copper IN the ashes Of plants grown on
primitive rocks. In many cases the
amount of copper found was considerable
enough to give distinct reaction with
ammonia, from one grain Of the ash
The art of diamond-cutting is reported
to have been developed to a HIGH state of
excellence In this country. TIE report of
the special Census Agent on this subject
has the statement thar our dealers are re-
! ceiving the best Amsterdam eut gems from
abroad, to be recut here and returned.
1t is reported that works ioT the manu-
faoture Of glass from Stag have been started
at Poughkeepsie, n. Y, though with what
succ IS we are not informed The process
has met with considerable success abroad,
aud there should be no difficulty in making
! 1t profitable here.
/ J. D. Weeks, Secretary of the Western
/ Iron ASSOCIATION, who has returned from
! an examination of the iron ore beds in the
! vicinity of Lynehburg, Va, pronounces
them to be the greatest he has ever seen,
! not even excepting the Iron Mountain or
Lake Superior districts.
Nearly 400 men are reported to be at
work on the Cape Cod ship-canal. Its
undertakers expect TO have the work fin
| ished within two years. The length Of the
waterway will be about eight miles the
canal will have a width at bottom of &C
feet, and at top of $50 feet. The cost of
! building is estimated at 81 800, 600.
The town of Leeds, in England, it is re-
ported, is supplied with gas at a cost of Is.
l0d. per 1000 cubic feet. This is said to
| be the lowest price at which gas has ever
been sold in Great Britain-and we may
safely add-or elsewhere. The cheapen-
ing of price, it is added, has greatly stimu-
lated the general use, in the borough, of
gas for fuel and for running gas, engines.
At the Dusseldorf meeting of the British
Iron and Steel Institute, it was stated, as
the result of experience, that, although
the plant as yet introduced is imperfect
and unsuitable, the average waste in de-
phosphorizing is under l6 per cent, and in
some cases under y per cent. This is
bringing the figures very close to those of
the waste in the ordinary Bessemer opera
ton.
The Womens Silk Association of the
United States, with headquarters in Phila-
delphia, shows signs of vigorous vitality.
AT the late State Agricultural Exhibition,
held in the main building Of the Centen-
Nal Exhibition, the Society had an ad-
mirable display of silk worms, cocoons and
reeled silk, which attracted universal in
terest, and which was properly acknowl-
edged by the award of number of prizes.
The French patent of NM. Barbieux &
Roster, under the title OF Savon de Benzine,
| describes method OF saponifylng all the
| natural mineral oils, as well as those OBJ
tanned from schist, asphalt, and similar
sources, by adding to the oils in question
about IL per cent. of stearic acid, and then
three parts OF animal grease to two parts of
the acidihed petroleum. Such a process,
if it works smoothly, should possess great
practical value.
One of the industries that, within the
past few years, has attained position of
great Importance IN the Southern States is
the manufacture and refining Of eotton-seed
oil. This product is so admirably manipu-
lated that it is largely used as substitute
for olive oil, not only in this country, but
also in Italy. OF the 5000, coo of gallons
of cotton seed oil exported from this
country during last year, nearly all went
! to that country, and most of 1t doubtless
| found its way back again in the guise of
/ genuine olive oil.
1t has been a favorite theory with some
that the form of lightning-rod had de-
cided influence on its electrical conductive
capacity, the f.vorite notion being that,
! the greater the extent of surface, the bet
ter. This idea, though it never had any
| scientific supporters, has been effectually
disposed of by the English electrician,
Preece, who has lately made series of
! experiments with number of conductors
Of various apes-ribbons, tubes and solid
cylinders-all of same weight. He found
no appreciable change in the resistance,
and the fact was experimentally proved
that the extent Of surface does not affect
the rapidity of naturalization of an elscFus-
ca discharge, and that, whether in the
form of cylindrical rod, tube, or wizc
rope, hghtning-rod is equally effective.
The London Telegraphic Journal ed.
torially doubts the accuracy of the con-
illusions drawn by Professor Graham Bell,
expressing the opinion that, while it is
possible that Professor Bell may have
made more numerous experiments than.
those described bv him in his paper, those
detailed are hardly conclusive on the point
that the observed phenomena were due to
the action Of Hght-rays alone. The Jour
nat is disposed to give Professor Bell the
highest credit for the discoveries made, but
at the same time remains doubtful of the
! accuracy of all the conclusions drawn from
! them. So far as we have examined Pro-
! fessor Bells statements the conclusions he
draws from his experiments appear to be
/ incontroverhble.