Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1881-01-12
Popular Science Notes.

hneto crosse hadettenhaus. A company
is also being organized in Paris, France,
for the purpose of establishing lines of
electric street railways in place of the
present system Of horse-railways.
There are now four comets visible to
this earth, through good telescope, none
Of which can be seen with the naked eve.
The first was discovered by Mr.. Schaer-
belle at Ann Arbor, Mich, the second by
Mr.. Hartwig, at Strasburg, Germany, the
third by Mr.. Lewis Swift, at Rochester.
New York, and the fourth by NJ Faye, Of
Paris.
NJ. Lullman, French Savant, has dis
covered that an oil can be distilled from
American grape-vines which refuses to
CONCEAL at temperature above eight de-
grees Fahrenheit, while other oils are
solid at twenty-seven degrees He re-
commends the oil as especially valuable
for watch making and other similar pur-
poses.
In Brazil, large quantities of the best
quality OF pottery are being manufactured
from the ashes Of the hard, siiceous bark
of the caraike tree. which is powdered
and mixed with the purest of clay OBJ
tanned from the beds of the rivers The
ware is said to be extremely hard and
smooth and in every respect superior to
that made by any other process.
n scientific society in Paris has con-
demned Oleomargarine as Il substitute for
butter 1t is claimed that the fatty par
: ticles are absorbed in the organism in
r state OF emulsion, and that the absorb
ton OF the margarine will not be so
| tavOrably effected as that of butter.
, Another ground for condemnation is that
r the substitute in the hands of some man
r utacturers is liable to be adulterated and
) made unwholeSome by the use Of impure
: fats and vegetable oils that are difficult to
digest.
A new telegraph line has Just been
completed by the signal service, across
= the northwestern territories from Bis
= marck, Dakota, to Dayton, Washington
Territory, crossing the Rocky mountains
at the SOhor Pass. Offices for transac-
ton Of commercial and other business
have been established at the following
u points: Bismarck, Rapid City and Dead.
: wood, Dakota; Boteman, Helena and
Deere Lodge, Montana; Spokane Falls
y Colfax, AlmOta, Pomeroy and Dayton
;, " ashington Territory, and Lewiston
Il Idaho.
a A considerable number of very ancient
e tombs and objects of antique art have
a been revealed by recent land slide OF
n the right bank of the river Simet il
a sicily, near the town of Catonia. In
a vestigations having been made, it is gen
orally believed that these tombs belonged
to the ancient town of Simeatus, indl
l., Gated by Pliny and Ptolcmy, the situa
- ton Of which historians have never beer
:. able to agree upon. The discovery i
:, OF great archaeological Importance an,
. will no doubt prove of value in THROWN;
more light on the geological history 0
,, the wide valley of the river Simet
he The scheme of Capt Rondaire for let
lie ting the waters of the Mediterranean int
err the great low-lying basin of the Schatts
Ill and turning the great North Africa
10 desert into an inland sea, is thought to b
ne inexpedient and impractcabc by man
scientists and engineers who have bee
If canvassing the matter and surveying tn
e. territory. 1t would take a canal rivalin
H. that Of the Suez to attain the end i
ee view, while LOoser, Neptha, and othe
k Of the most furnishing cities of tn
I'd Schatt region, would be submerged b
e. the deluge, and as a result, it is feare
k the large date forests of the Djerid woul
ny be destroyed by the production of
o. change of climate which would natural
ly follow.
- A novel method for the taking up an
putting off Of passengers without tn
ny stopping Of trains, is proposed by
ry Harenz, of Paris, and a railway of thu
y section is preparing to put the propos
if ton to practical test. A waiting car
st provided at every station into which pa
lie sengers gather before the arrival of tn
ut train. AS the train passes the station ii
he rear car, which contains only passenger
nd for such station, is cut loose and sid
a tracked, while the waiting car at II
TO depot is gathered up by simple devi,
ut and is coupled on. to act as rear coach {
/ the train to the next station, where Il
in same cutting off and grabbing up proce,
ar takes place-the motion of the tra
,e- being but slightly checked at each poin
"A One who has been experimenting DR.