The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-01-14
POPULAR SCIENCE.

SAIaCYLIC acid is much used in Ger
many TO 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 new electric battery one of
the elements is composed of sheet-iron
less than the ten-thousandth part of an
inch in thickness.
SCIENTISTS have declared that the Blue
Hill Range of Massachusetts, is older, in
n geological point of view, than the Alps
or the Pyrenees of Europe.
WATER filtered through charcoal be-
comes perfectly pure, the charcoal alb
sofbing all disagreeable tastes and
smells, whether they arise from animal
or vegetable impurities.
The great glacier which gives rise to
the Zarafshan River in Central Asia has
been explored and recently described by
Mr.. Mushketof, Russian geologist. 1t
Is fifteen miles long, and mile wide.
IP is known as fact in geology that
below the depth of thirty feet the earth
becomes regularly warmer as we descend.
On an average the increase Is az the rate
Il
fifty feet.
A JOURNEY across Africa from south TO
north is to be undertaken by DIR. Emil
Holub, of Prague, under the euspices 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 BAvARIAN chemist is reported to
have invented an enameling liquid
which renders any species of stone or
cement harder than granite, and gives 1t
the indelible appearance of 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 il
contains, there being but one part of
gluten to thirteen parts of starch. In
wheat there are two parts of gluten to
every nine parts of starch.
SULPHIDE 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 60 in and
out of their nest, and the result is the
immediate destruction of the entire
colony. The aperture should be closed
after pouring III the liquid or forcing it in
with a syringe.
ACCORDING to DR. Edward Smith, an
egg contains 10! per cent. of carbon, |
and 2 per cent of nitrogen. Another /
writer estimates thRt 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 /, ,oS4 is to
900. As fesh-producer one pound of
eggs is about equal to one pound of
beef
ZONE of the leading chemical manutac-
tories of Germany employs six regular |
chemists with salaries ranging from Sl,-
500 TO g., 500 yearly, and in addition en-
gages the services of an eminent chemist /
for theoretical work exclusively, paying /
him nearly $4,000 per annum. 1t is
doubtless TO this liberal patronage Of |
qualified scientists that the superiority 1
of German chemical manufactures is 4
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. Marsh's
latest researches concerning the extinct
reptiles of the Rocky Mountain region.
One mammoth skeleton belonging to a
creature which he has named Stegosau-
rus must have been clothed with body
ms 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 a 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 the Zaro. 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 the general intro |
duction of petroleum, some 400, 900 hogs |
heads of oil year.