Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-10-04
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC
TO TEST TIN-PAPER.


ton in a leading foreign technical Jour-
nal. A drop of concentrated acetic acid
is let fall upon the suspected leaf, and a
drop of a solution of potassium iodide is
added. Ii there is lead present there is
formed in two or three minutes q yellow
ish spot of lead iodide. DR.. Kopp moist
ems the leaf to be examined with sui
phuric acid. If the tin is pure the spot
remains white, but if lead is present there
is black spot.
SCIENTIFIC GAsTRONOMY.
DR.. George johnson has given an in
teresting list of articles of food and drink
which should be used and avoided by
those who do not wish to grow fat.
Such persons may eat lean mutton and
beef. veal and lamb, thin soups, beef
tea, poultry, game, fish and eggs, bread
in moderation, green's, crosses, lettuce,
green peas, cabbage, caullfower, onions,
and fresh fruit without sugar; but should
abstain from fat meat, bacon, ham, but
ter, cream, sugar, potatoes, carrots,
parsnips, rice, sage, tapioca, macaroni,
custards, pastry, buildings and sweet
cakes.
| To WASH CHAMOIS SKINS.
Dirty wash leather is frequently
thrown aside and wasted for the want of
knowing how to clean it. Make a solu-
ton of weak soda and warm water, ruo
plenty of soft soap into the leather and
| allow it to remain in soak for two hours,
| then rub it well unit it is quite clean.
| Afterward rinse it well in weak solu-
ton composed of warm water, soda and
yellow soap. 1t must not be rinsed in
water only, for then it would be so hard,
when dry, as to be unfit tor use. 1t is
| the small quantity of soap left in the
| leather that allows the finer particles of
the leather to separate and become soft
| like silk. After rinsing wiring it well in
a rough towel and dry quickly, then pull
it about and brush it well, and it will
! become softer and better than most new
feathers. In using rough leather to
touch up highly-polished surfaces, it is
frequently observed to scratch the work;
this is caused by particles of dust, and
even hard rouge, that are left in the
| leather, and if removed by clean, rougy
! brush it will then give the brightest and
| best finish, which all good workmen like
| to see on their work.
AUTUMN LEAVES.
It is well known, now, that the autumn
coloring of the leaves of the maple, oak
and other trees on this continent is not
due to the action of frost, but to certain
| chemical changes which accompany the
ripening of the leaves. American naples
taken over to Europe will perfect their
| foliage for few years-that is, the bril-
liant coloring will be put on-but they
rapidly lose the habit, and in few years
the leaves fall from the trees while still
green, according to the habit of the Eu-
ropean species. Mr.. Meehan, the we'll
| known Philadelphia horticulturist, now
says that in the New Jersey marshes
| there are many trees of European species
which, though failing to color their
| leaves at their home, manage to put on
the most brilliant hues here. Mr. Nee
han also mentions from his knowledge
that In some parts of this country, i'm
| ported European trees do not assume the
autumn colors, even after the trees have
| been raised from seed, for several gen.
erations. Hence it would seem that the
cause of the color is climatic, but that
| the same causes do not operate in ali
parts of this continent.
AN ELECTRIC BALLOON.
The large electric balloon projected
by M. Tissandier, is to have the follow
ing dimensions: The electric machine
is to weigh 5cwt., and the secondary bat
teries 17cwt., representing about five
horse power. These will be carried by
an ellptical balloon of a volume of LOG, =
900 cubic feet. The balloon is to be 131
| feet long and its diameter in the center
60.7 feet The balloon would have a
lifting power Of 81 tons, and conse-
quently would be able to support one
ton weight of passengers, ballast, etc.,
besides the batteries and machinery.
With the air calm, its speed would be
from twelve miles to fifteen miles per
hour, which, of course, could be main
tanned for only few hours. nj. It's
sander intends constructing such q bal
loon shortly, and undertaking voyages
| with 1t over and around Paris. The
problem of aerial navigation can by no
means be considered as solved with this
balloon, says Galignani's Messenger.
! Even If the first experiments should not
give satisfactory results, some advantage
| will be gained by the general evidence
they will supply of the practicability of
| the idea.
PRUNING FOR OIL PAINT.
O. Kali, of Heidelberg, prepares a
substitute for boiled oil by mixing ten
parts of whipped blood just as it is fur
nished from the slaughter-houses, with
one part of air-slaked lime sifted into it
through a fine sieve. The two are we'll
mixed and are left standing for twenty
four hours. The dirty portion that col
lects on top is taken off, and the solid
portion is broken loose from the lime at
the bottom; the latter is stirred up with
water, left to settle and the water
poured off after the lime has settled.
The clear liquid is well mixed up with
the solid substance before mentioned.
This mass is left standing for ten or
twelve days, after which solution of
permanganate of potash is added which
decolorizes it and prevents putrefactio1.
Finally, the mixture is stirred up, dill
ted, if necessary, with more water to
give it the consistence of very thin size,
then filtered, few drops Of oil of laven-
dar added, and the preparation pre-