The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-05
POPULAR SCIENCE.

SULPHUR and naphtha are used in the
manufacture of rubber cloth.
The delicate perfumes of melilot and
woodruff are made from coal tar.
CoLoR1Na matter known as cauline has
been obtained from the red cabbage
DILUTED in alcohol, in the proportion
of one to 100, nitro-glycerine can be kept
safely.
A RIVER moving with a velocity of two
miles an hour viii move pebbles as large
as hens eggs.
THERE is no organic reason why fishes
could not breathe air if the gills could
be kept moist and free.
The daily movement of the great
Swiss glacier, the Mer de Glace, is from
seven to thirty-six inches.
IT HAS been calculated that the gold
of gold lace is not more thana third of a
millionth of an inch thick.
In THE Kaga ware the red is first baked
in, then the gold added and the porcelain
again submitted to the fire.
THE ordinary work of horse is stated
at 22,500 pounds raised one foot in
minute for eight hours day.
The fogs of London have great in
fuence on its death rate, which increases
with their heaviness and frequency.
RECEIPT for chapped hands is q piece
OF camphor the size of a walnut melted
with half aoupful of mutton tallow.
A BAR of iron seventy feet long, at a
temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit,
heated to 212 degrees, expands one foot.
FoUR million of a young spiders
threads, which are not so large as those
| OF grown spider, are not as large as q
single human hair.
The alabastrile marbles of the ancients
were not marble paper, but q hard car
Donate of lime, identical with stalagmite,
the modern alabaster.
A VEGETABLE green, perfectly harm
less, for the use of cooks and confectiOn-
| ers, has been discovered. 1t is made
from the grains of raw coffee
ITAs said that lead tank will spoil
petroleum In a week, causing it when
burned to choke the wick. Stoneware
or slate suggested for tanks.
HARD lubber, for ornaments, is made
from the saoutchouc by mixing with it a
large PROPORTION of sulphur, and baking
at tempeture of 800 degrees.
NOTHING is so fatal to oysters as a sand
storm or covering their beds with mud.
The mud and sand accumulate in the
oysters delicate breathing organs and
suffocate it.
THE effectof diet of fish seems to
be sedative, quieting, producing dull
ness, rather than intellectually. That
phosphorus Is a brain food is one of
Agassiz's fewmistakes.
DARWIN found that of eighty-seven
kinds of seeds sixty-four terminated
after an immersion of twenty-eight days,
and few survived immersion in salt
water of one hundred and thirty
days.
PULQUE is made from the agave or
American aloes 1t is Il popular error
that trees belonging to this genus re-
quire a century to arrive at maturity.
The flower is sometimes put forth in ten
years in hotclimate.
If A piece Of tissue of mixed wool and
silk is plunged into hydrochloric acid
the silk is soon dissolved, while the wool
remains, so that by carefully weighing
before and after the operation, the pro-
portion of the two fbers is easily ascer-
tained.
A FUn1lfont of Japanese type COM
prises $4,000 characters, of which 3, 200
are in CONSTANT use. Each Japanese word
havi.g adistinct character, the telegraph
hss been useless to that nation, and the
telephone Is likely to prove blessing to
them.