Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-01-04
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC
BLUE GLASS AGAIN.

BLUE GLASS AGAIN.
Prof! Schlager, of Vienna, is RESPONSE
BILE for the statement that blue light has
quoting and soothing influence on the
insane.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
It may interest Psychologists to learn
that on the authority of DR.. Myths only
.001 gramme of oxide of copper was ex-
tracted from the intestines of girl poi
soned with Schweinfurt green, although
$50 grammes of the liver, 80 grammes of
the kidneys, and half the stomach had
been operated upon.
THE LIFE OF SOVEREIGN.
The average life of an English gold
sovereign is about eighteen years. That
is, the coin losses three-quarters OF
grain in weight In about that length of
time. 1t then ceases to be legal tender.
1t is said that of the 9100, 000,0 of
British gold coinage, 40 per cent. is worn
down below the legal weight.
THE NUMBER OF THE METALS.
According to Professor Ordway, the
number of metals now known is seventy
eight. Within five years fourteen new
ones were recognized; but none of them
shave such novelty of character as to
require the remoulding of chemical
hand-books." The names of many of
them simply serve ''to burden our mem
cries with symbols of things remote
from daily life"
SEA FOAM.
The persistent sea foam which some
times rolls IN large masses to consider
able distance inland when the wind
Ill - II, =. - -
by Mr.. J. I'll. Gladstone to be due to the
destruction of sea weed. What labora-
tory experiments he made have seemed
to show that the weed which is tossed
about by every tide plays but "a small if
any part in the formation of such foam.
He ascribes 1t rather to the presence of
the laminaria, which is uprooted and
torn by the waves only when the violent
agitation of the sea reaches sufficient
depth.
DEAF MUTES.
DR.. Alexander Graham Bell denies
the assertion that deaf mutes. when
taught to speak, have the accent of their
native district. Some children do arti-
culate after peculiar dialects, but on in
Veshgation 1t always turns out that they
could talk before they became deaf, and
this cannot correctly be ascribed to
heredlty. He says, also, that by proper
instruction any harsh and disagreeable
character of the utterance may be cor
rected, and he adds that $50 successful
has articulation teaching proved in
America and In Europe that dumbness
will soon be universally recognized as a
mark of neglected education.
"NIGHTsHADEs.
Few persons know how closely related
to the potato are many other well-known
plants. Botanists know them all as So
laneous plants, and under the more
familiar name of Magistrates. In
this class of plants are to be found the
potato, the tomato, egg plant, pepper
and tobacco plant. Then among the
poisonous plants are the belladona and
the jimson weed; the beautiful petuna
also belongs to it. A large portion of
the plants of this solanaceous family are
pervaded by a narcotic principle render
ing the leaves and fruit poisonous. At
the same time some afford nutritious
food, not because free from the narcotic
principle, but because the latter is ex-
PEELED in the process of ripening or cook
ing, as in the case of the potato and
tomato.
LITTLE DANGER FROM ELECTRIC CUR
RENTS.
There have been some cases of death
within the last few years, but these have
all been caused by alternating current
machines, which are extremely danger
GUS when of high electro-motive force.
The continuous current machines, how
Oh
and, In the opinion of many scientific
men, are not dangerous, though capable
of inhicting considerable pain. How
ever, it will be the duty of every electric
al engineer to take care so to place his
leads as to make it almost impossible for
any one to touch both at the same time,
severe shocks being entirely prevented.
On the whole, were every house lighted
by electricity and every factory to re-
ceive it's "power" 10 atform, the dan
gers would be much less than those
which exist now from gas and boilers.
For no bad workmanship or carelessness
can by any possibility cause an explo-
sion to be produced by an electric cur
rent; and, In the event of a fire taking
place, conducting wires would only heat,
and perhaps fuse, instead of feeding the
flames with combustible and explosive
matter as gas-pipes do when fused by
the heat of burning building. The
Saturday ReUieaU.
COVERING BOILERS WITH SILK.
1t is well known that silk is an excel
lent non-conductor of heat, and some re-
cent experiments in Germany would
seem to indicate that it might pay to en-
case boilers In this costly material. In
one trial three boilers of the same size
and make were ranged in order, one
covered with the ordinary felt, another