Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-09-14
BITS OF SCIENCE,

Soar in solution mixed with picnic
acid when impregnated into timber is an
excellent preservative against rot usually
resulting from moisture.
A SOLUTION of pulverized gum shellac>
in ten parts by weight of strong ammo
mia is recommended for stopping leaks
when rubber rings and plates make con-
nection between steam and other plates.
It is well to allow the ammonia to act
on the shellac for several weeks before
using the resulting mass as lutte.
To BURN petroleum economically,
Herr Deutcsh adds four grains oil of tur-
pentine and two grains camphor per
litre. The wick is covered with dis
solved tallow to prevent passages of gas
out or in. The inventor maintains that
petroleum so used will burn six or seven
hours longer, and with a brighter light,
than an equal quantity in the ordinary
way.
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, who has just pub
hshed valuable work on ants and
wasps, takes his scientific labors for re-
creation. He can only devote to them
what little leisure is left from his bust
ness and official duties, and most of his
observations have been in hours secured
to him by early rising. Sir John Is one
of the greatest living authorities In pre-
historic ethnology. and his two works on
the subjects are already classics.
AIR as expired by phthisical animals
when inspired by others through car
bolized cotton did not cause consump-
ton in them, while, as M. Giboux's ex-
periments 60 to show, the breath of the
phthisically afflicted introduced twice
a day for los days into wooden case
containing young rabbits, the grated
apertures of the case being closed for
two hours, tubercles appeared in the
rabbits lungs. Too great caution can.
hardly be exercised in dealing with con-
sumptives.
MIR. MUYBRIDGE, who was SO success
full in photographing the horse in mo-
ton, says there is no such thing as a
"dead heat in horse races. And he
suggests that photography should be
| called in to decide where judges disagree.
With the aid of photography, the astron-
omer, the pathologist, the chemist and
the anatomist are enabled to pursue
| the most complex investigations with
| absolute confidence in the truth it re-
veals; why should those interested in
trials of speed not avail themselves Of
| the same resources of science? And he
ventures to predict in the near future
that no race of any importance will be
undertaken without the assistance of
photography to determine the winner of
what might otherwise be a so-called
/ "dead heat"
| ENGINEERING skill has not yet sue
ceeded in utilizing as motive powers the
vast forces represented by the ebb and
| flow of the tides and the action of sea
waves. Various attempts to accomplish
this have, however, been made, and two
recent schemes have been lately de-
scribed. In the plan proposed by M.
Victor Ganchez, a large bell moves up
and down in stone Enclosure, and is
connected with large float in the sea.
The rising and falling of this bell is used
to force air into a chamber, and this
compressed air may be employed to
drive machinery. In the scheme adopt
ed by Prof. Wellner, of Brunn, there is
fixed along sea wall sort of air-trap
"a metallic case, open below, now in
air, now in water, as the waves beat
upon it, At the top this commune
Gates through valves and pipes with a
reservoir, in which the air is compressed,
and the force thus supplied may be di-
rectly utilized for mary purposes.