Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-11-22
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
THE PERSIAN ROSE.

or mayweed. The value of the powder
made from the flower as an insecticide
can hardly be estimated, since it is sure
death to many of our most destructive
pests, and yet utterl Y harmless tohuman
beings and the larger animals.
sILICIUM IN ELECTRIC LAMPS.
By the use of silicium Mr.. Werder-
mann is said to have produced an incan-
descent lamp in which vacuum is not
required. Should this prove true, we
shall see a great change in electric
lighting. Silicium gives us as good a
result as carbon, and the great point,
hitherto unattainable is gained, to dis
pense with a vacuum GaLiq1a07ai' s
Messenger.
TO CLEAN GOLD.
Dull gold may be cleaned in this way
Take 80 grams calcium hypochlorite, 80
sodium bicarbonate, and 20 sodium
chloride, and treat the mixture with 3
litres of distilled water. It must be
kept for use in well. corked bottles.
Goods to be cleansed are put In basin
and covered with the mixture. After
some time they are taken out, washed,
rinsed in alcohol and dried in sawdust.
The articles then have the same appear
ance as if new.
AN ELECTRIC ORCHESTRA
A curious musical entertainment has
been arranged at circus in the Champs
Elysees. Instruments, including bells,
flutes, cymbals, drums, hautbOys of
special nature, etc., are placed round
the circus, and connected by wires with
an electric keyboard in the center.
There is also below the circus ma
chine similarly connected, which gives a
rumbling sound like that heard In earth
quakes. A piece is performed on four
trumpets III the center of the circus, and
one of the performers presses now and
again on the keyboard, bringing into ac-
ton the distant instruments as desired.
He is also enabled in the same way to
produce distant detOnations and ignite
blue lights.
AN IMPROVED PIANO.
A Munich inventor has brought for
ward an improvement in the construc-
ton of piano-fortes which, it is claimed,
meets the problem of equaliziug the
strength and fullness Of the different
octaves. A series of tuning-forks are
freely suspended over the three highest
octaves Of the piano, each fork having
the exact pitch of the string over which
it is suspended. The vibrations of the
string are communicated to the fork,
which In turn reacts on the string, and
thus full and sustained tone is secured,
in strong contrast to the usual short and
dry tones of this instrument. The
changed quality of the higher notes
which is thus produced also improves
the character of the lower ones.
LIGHT UNDER THE SEA.
A commission appointed by the French
minister of marine is about to superin-
tend some experiments in the port of
Marseilles with submarine electric ap-
paratus, which will enable divers to
light up every nook and corner of sub
merged vessels. The apparatus consists
of q powerful regulator contained in a
cylinder, closed at the bottom by piece
of glass, and having at the top a re-
Hector which diffuses the light over a
circular space of at least one hundred
feet in diameter The diaphanous linn
pidity of the sea is much greater than
that of fresh water, and the mineral and
organic substances which it keeps in a
state of dissolution seem to increase in
transparency. The divers and the cleo
trio apparatus having been dispatched
to the work, one or two of them will
first explore the wreck and ascertain
the exact position of the hull, and then
inform their comrades by means of the
telephone, which will be attached to the
diving bell, to what depth the electric
apparatus is to be lowered. The inven-
ton is very clever one, and the expert
ments of the next few days will show
how far it can be made of practical use.
WHY WE EAT OYSTERS RAW.
Our practice in regard to the oyster
is quite exceptional, and furnishes a
striking example Of the general correct
ness of the popular Judgment on dietetic
questions. The oyster is almost the only
animal substance which we eat habitu-
ally or by preference In the raw or un-
cooked state, and it is interesting to
know that there isia sound physiologi-
cal reason at the bottom of this prefer
ence. The fawn-colored mass which
constitutes the dainty of the oyster is it's
liver, and this is little less than heap
of glycogen. Associated with the gIy-
cogen, but withheld from actual con-
tact with it during it's life, is it's appro-
pirate digestive ferment, the hepatic di-
astase. The mere crushing of the dainty
between the teeth brings these two bod
les together, and the gIycogen is at once
digested without any other help than by
its diastase. The oyster in the I'M
cooked state, or merely warmed, is in
fact, sef-digestive; but the advantage of
| fhis Y1rovision is wholly Lost NV oookino
for the heat employed Immediately de-
stroys the associated ferment and the
cooked oyster has to be digested like any
other food, by the eaters own digestive
powers. DR.. WalIi0na Roberts.
AN IMPROVEMENT ON NATURE s DIET.
The fact that all animals, even the
herbivora, are at first nourished on diet
OF milk, which must be considered as
purely animal, led M. Regnard to sug-
gest that an animal diet might be en-
ployed with advantage at a subsequent
epoch in their history. The idea is not