Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-06-28
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
REIENTIEssNEss OF NATURE.

Ln0TO De SaluUIy IudIbyI LII ouO A"lAO'
The tide surges in, though Christian
| maiden be bound to the stake In It's
course. Leap over the precipice, and
you are dashed to pieces. There is no
mercy in the electric cloud, in the ocean
or in the land. Everywhere you see
wisdom and power in creation and provl-
dence, but not mercy.-W. M. Idytor.
SCHOOL BOOKS ON TINTED PAPER.
Complaints have of late years been
often made in Germany of the fast in
crease of short-sightednes among young
people at school, and similar ones are
nov heard in France. A committee ap-
pointed to investigate the subject have
reported that the cause of the evil lies
in the school books, which are printed IN
fine type on white paper. The suggest
that larger faced type be employed here
after, and that white letters be printed
upon tinted paper.
HARDENING COPPER.
Mr.. A. Getchell, of Boston, Mass,
claims that he can harded copper and
convert it into an anti FRACTIONAL metal by
the following process: The copper is
first heated to about redness in a cruel
BILE, and composition is then added
which, for twenty-five pounds of copper,
consists of one and one-half pounds of
potash or soda, one pound of alum, one
fourth pound bone dust or other phos-
phate, and one-fourth pound tin or zinc.
After melting this mixture of copper and
composition and removing the Stag, the
whole is ready to pour into molds. At
ter having removed the Stag and while
pouring, the metal should be covered
with charcoal to prevent oxidation. The
resulting metal is said to be especially
useful for bearings in machinery.
PRESERVATION OF WOOD.
The increasing cost of wood in this
country has led to great number OF ex-
periments IN preserving all kinds of
wooden structures exposed to the wealth
Ell from decay. Among the more recent
plans suggested is one for impregnating
wood with asphalt, combined with some
antiseptic material. The finished wood,
ready to be put together, is first SUBJ
mitted to heat to drive out the moisture,
and is then placed in hot bath COM
posed chiefly of asphalt and carbolic
acid. On cooling, the solvent of the
asphalt evaporates, leaving skin or
coating of the asphalt on the surface of
the wood that resists water and keeps
the antiseptic material securely locked
within the pores of the wood. The ex-
terror of the wood presents a smooth,
black surface that does not need to be
painted. The process is about to be
tried upon large scale. Century.
NEW SCIENTIFIC PREPARATION.
Antimerulion is new preparation for
preventing mold, mildew and dry rot
1t is produced in three forms. The
liquid compound consists of boracic acid,
common salt, and silica, and is applied
by means of a brush or pencil to wood
work or lmasonrv. In factories where
moist fumes and vapors are evolved,
which favor the production of mold and
fungus, this acts as a protection for the
building. The so-called doubly pre-
pared antimerulon is made of infusorial
silica with the addition of thirty per
cent. of boraic acid. 1t is to be scattered
in moist or damp places. The simple
antimerulion contains, besides the IN
fusorial earth, only three per cent. of
boracic acid. 1t is less active, and it is
used principally for protecting moist
places from mold, for insulating mate
rial, and for excluding the heat of the
earth and of the air from ice cellars and
| ice chests. 1t makes a good covering
| for ter-pipes and heating appliances.
| In places where mold and dry rot are
feared, the antimerulion is packed in.-
| NeaU York Tribune.
| GLIDING.
One plan for gliding ornate designs Of
| ivory or glass, is to paint over the de-
| sign with fine camel's hair brush mois-
| tened with nitro -muriate of gold. Then
| hold the glass or ivory thus painted over
the mouth of a flask in which hydrogen
| gas is being generated (by the action of
dilute sulphuric acid or zinc scraps.
| The hydrogen will reduce the gold chic
ride to metallic gold on the painted sur
faces, and the gold film thus deposited
| will IN short time be found to have con-
| siderable luster, when the operation may
| be stopped. The gold film is exceed
ingly thin. Another method suggested
for the same purpose, which will answer
for glass, is the following: Make some
| gold powder by putting into an earthen-
ware mortar some gold leaf with little
| honey or thick gum water, grinding the
mixture until the gold is completely re-
duced to powder, and then washing out
| the honey or gum by repeated additions
of warm water and decentation. Mix
the gold powder with strong solution
and paint over the design with it. When
dry, place the glass in a stove and give
it a considerable heat. This will vitrify
the borax and cement the gold to the
glass with much frmness.
TIMED COsTrrMrc
We referred week or two ago to an
| alleged invention of a German chemist by
which wooden and cotton fabrics could be
coated with layer of dissolved silk and
made to assume the glossy and soft ap-
pearance of actual silk goods. Expert
ments IN somewhat similar direction
appear to have been made by French
chemist, who, however, coats his mater
ial with thin layer of tin instead of
silk. The modus operandi is described
as follows: He first makes mixture of
zinc powder and dissolved albumen,