Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-02-08

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ends like whitewash, the chloride of cal
cium formed attracts moisture and pre-
vents splitting.
MAGNETIC CHEsS-MEN.
An iron chess-board provided with
magnetic chess-men is Berlin novelty.
The small magnets concealed in the fig
ures cause them to adhere to the iron
board and retain their place IN spite of
considerable shocks, such, for instance,
as are received on shipboard or on rail-
way trains.
HARDENING TOOLS.
The practice is common among the
engravers and watchmakers of Germany
of hardening their tools In ceiling wax.
The tool is heated to whiteness and then
plunged into the wax, withdrawn after
an instant, and plunged again, the pro-
cess being repeated until the steel is too
cold to enter the wax. The advantages
claimed for this method are that the steel
becomes almost as hard as the diamond,
and when touched with little oil or
turpentine, the tools are superior for en-
craving, and also for piercing the hard
est metals.
TRANSPORTATION OF INSECTS OVER WATER.
"F. A. L., Tin Wards Natural Science
Bulletin, has this note on the transpOrta-
ton of insects for long distance over
water: "Some years ago it was my for
tune to be on sailing vessel bound from
Peru to London. One evening, in the
South Atlantic, we had several severe
squalls of wind and rain, coming from the
direction of land, during which many
o01
morning gathered about fifteen species,
mostly small moths, although there was
one large sphinx among them, and one
or two delicate butterflies. The nearest
land was the coast of Brazil, distant
nearly 800 miles, and Judging by the
number of insects that reached us many
must have gone much further.
EFFECT OF ICE SHEETS.
In note by Mr.. w. J. MCGEE on To-
cal subsistence produced by an ice sheet,
he calculates that O sheet of ice three
miles thick ought to depress the crust of
the earth about 500 or 600 feet, and then
he goes on to say that "the hydrostati-
cal principles in accordance with which
determinations beneath thick ice sheet
must occur equally demand that the
crust should return to its original form
after the melting of the ice, and it is
manifest that as much time would be re-
quired to produce this secondary as the
primary reformation. Assuming, then,
that the periods of advance and retreat
or of growth and decay of the ice are of
like duration, it follows that the earth's
surface must continue below the normal
level at any latitune after the withdrawal
of the ice for as long a period as that
during which the ice remained stationary
at that latitude"
AN ATTRACTIVE EXPERIMENT.
With SO simple an article as red cab
bage, o very old but pretty little chemi-
cal experiment may be made by the
young people, with the result of anus
ing and astonishing those around them.
The effects may be strikingly shown IN
this manner: Cut three leaves of the
cabbage into small pieces, and after
placing them in basin, pour in pint of
boiling water over them, letting them
stand an hour, then pour off the liquid
into decanter. 1t will be of fine blue
color. Then take four wine glasses,
into one put six drops of strong vinegar;
into another six drops of solution of
soda; into third the same quantity of
strong solution of alum, and let the
fourth glass remain empty. Fill up the
glasses from the decanter, and the liquid
poured into the glass containing the acid
will quickly change to a beautiful red,
that poured with the soda will be fine
green, and that poured into the empty
glass will remain unchanged. = Youths
Companion.
SOME WE'LL PRESERVED WOOD.
Some old wooden wheels were discov-
cred some years ago in the mines of Por-
tugal, supposed to have been once used
by the Romans for hydraulic purposes.
The wheels were eight in number, the
spokes and felloes of pine, and the axle
and its support of oak. They are sup
posed to exceed ], $50 years of age, yet
the wood was in q perfect state of preser-
walton, having been thoroughly immersed
IN wator charged with salts of copper and
iron. A similar instance occurred in San
Domingo, where an old wooden wheel
was discovered in disused copper mine.
How long it had been there is uncertain,
but it was completely preserved, owing to
its having absorbed considerable quan-
ties of iron and copper. The preserving
quality OF these minerals for the 1mpreg-
nation of wood is we'll illustrated in the
mines of Hallien, in Austria, the timber
used being the same which was originally
introduced anterior to the Christian era,
and which is even now in a perfect con
dition.
THE SCIENCE OF POPPING CORN.
Probably one of the first crops raised
by boys is popcorn, and boys soon find
out that popcorn is different from COM
mon corn. It is usually hard, Ainty
kind, with the kernels much smaller
than the kinds of field corn. What
makes it pop? Chemists who have ex-
amined Indian corn find that it contains
all the way from six to eleven parts in
hundred (by weight of tat. BY proper
means this fat can be separated from the
grain, and it is then thick, pale oil.
When the oils are heated sufficiently in
closed vessels, SO that the air cannot get
to them, they are turned into gas, which
nooI1ToinS MANY tio,ac tho hill