Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-03-01
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC
DISINFECTING AGENTS.

Ing TO Mr. w. n. Hamlet, are IN general
those capable of exerting an immediate
and powerful oxidizing action, and that
it is active oxygen, whether from the
action of chlorine, nitric oxide, or hydro
gen peroxide, which must be regarded as
the greatest known enemy to bacterial
life.
PHOTOGRAPHY IN GAS FITTING.
Gas filters have recently made most
useful application of photography. They
photograph the gas flames. given by
different burners or jets, SO that GUS
toner can see if the shape and form of
light will suit him before he gives his
order. AS the flames are, moreover, de-
picted IS life size," the purchaser can al
ways tell whether his Jet is up to the
standard.
MAKING CLOTH WATERPROOF.
In Remnants process for rendering
cloth waterproof the fabric is passed
slowly by machinery through a tank
divided into three compartments, the
first containing warm solution of alum,
the second a warm solution of lead
acetate, and the third pure water, which
is constantly renewed. The cloth on
passing from the latter is brushed and
beaten to remove the salt adherinc to
the surface, and finally hot-pressed and
brushed. In this case lead sulphate is
deposited on the fibres.
CoLORING METALS.
Metallic objects may be colored by i'm
mersing them III a bath formed of $40
grams of lead acetate dissolved in 3, 450
grains of water and warmed from 39o to
900 Fair. This mixture gives precipi-
tate of lead in black flakes, and when the
object is plunged into the bath the pre-
cipitate deposits on it. The color given
depends on the thickness of the skin.
and care should be taken to treat the OBJ
lect gradually, SO as to get a uniform
tint. Iron treated thus acquires a blush
aspect like steel; zinc, on the other hand,
becomes brown. On using an equal
quantity of sulphuric acid instead of
lead acetate, and warming a little more
than In the first case, common bronze
may be colored red OF green with very
durable skin. limitations of marble are
obtained by covering bronze objects
warmed to 1902 Fair. with solution of
lead thickened with gum tragacanth, and
afterward submitting them to the action
of the aforementioned precipitate of
food
NAPTHA AS A LOCOMOTIVE FUEL.
Some experiments have been made of
late, says the Journal of the London So
ciety of Arts, by the administration of
the ..Tsarkoe-Selo Railway Company, for
burning naphtha as fuel in locomotive
engines. A tray of cast iron is fitted in
the ordinary fre-box of the engine over
the bars, and above this tray is fixed a
grating of wrought iron pipes placed
crosswise and perforated with a number
of holes in the lower side. By means of
a larger pipe these pipes communicate
with cylinder of tin in the tender of the
locomotive. This cylinder is divided in
to two unequal compartments, one con-
tanning naphtha and the other water.
The flow of these liquids from the two
compartments into the funnel END of the
pipe leading to the hollow grating in the
fire-box is regulated by valve. The
water acts as pulverizer, and separates
the stream of naphtha, bringing In this
way a larger quantity of air in contact
with the fuel, and so, it is said, causing
more rapid combustion and increased
heating power. The engine expert
mented upon gave excellent results, and
the railway company have applied to the
government for authority to use this
system of heating on train lines. The
use of naphtha IN some parts of Russia
will be more economical than either coal
or wood.
EFFECT OF COMPRESSION ON SOLIDS.
A German chemist has recently pub.
ished an interesting memoir, giving the
results of series OF experiments as the
effect of powerful compression on vari-
ous bodies. The substances expert
mented with were taken in fine powder,
and submitted, in a steel mould, to
pressures varying from 1000 to 1000
atmospheres, or about Z, 000kilogrammes
per square centimeter. Lead filings, at
a pressure of 1900 atmospheres, we're
transformed into solid block, which no
longer showed the least grain under the
microscope, and the density of which
was IL. 5. while that of ordinary lead is
1873 only. At 5000 atmospheres the
lead became fluid and ran out through
all the interstices of the apparatus.
The powders of zinc and bismuth, at
5000 to 5000 atmospheres, gave solid
block having a crystalline fracture.
Toward 5000 atmospheres zinc and tin
appeared to iquefy. Powder of pris-
matte sulphur was transformed into a
solid block of octahedric sulphur Soft
sulphur and octahedrlc sulphur led to
the same result as prismatic. Red
phosphorus appeared also to pass into
the denser state of black phosphorus.
A certain number OF pulverized salts
solidify through pressure, and become
transparent, thus proving the union OF
the molecules. At high pressures the
hydrated salts. such as sulphate OF soda,
can be completely iquefed. Various
organic substances, such as fatty acids,
damp cotton and starch, change their ap-
pearance, lose their texture and conse-