Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-08-25
SCIENTIFIC scINFIllArroNs.

Last year Great Britain made nearly
2,7G0, 600 tons OF puddled iron and i'm.
ported go, 900 tons beside.
1t is proposed by some very scientific
persons TO test the interior of the earth in
search of natural heat for mechanical pur-
poses, and they propose to sink their shaft
and money in Japan.
1t is said that plaster of Paris of hard
ness sufficient to be employed as mold
for metal may be made by using ten per
cent. of alum in the water which is in.
tended to be mixed up with the plaster.
MIR. FL. P. Amersby asserts that large
amount of humus in a soil implies an
abundant previous amount OF vegetation,
and this In It's turn implies soil of at least
moderate original fertility.
Electricity ig now applied 70 pile-driving.
waterwheel furnishes the power, which
Is transmitted by two dynamo.electric ma
chimes and connecting wires to pile.drivers
at considerable distance.
The longest inch rod ever made was
rolled at the Albany Iron Works recently.
1t IS 2o3 feet long, plump from end to end
and free from flaws. The next longest rod
ever made was 40 feet shorter.
a cheap paint is made for brick walls by
SIMPLY mixing up good hydraulic cement
IN water. The natural tintis neutral and
pleasing, but may be readily varied This
paint cannot be washed off by storms, nor
peeled off by the sun.
A Paris company is trying the distribu-
ton OF power for small workshops by
means OF vacuum. It has already built
the service Ter 700 yards and operates sue
cefsfully. a powerful engine with arr
pumps makes a vacuum of about three.
quarters of an atmosphere, with which mo.
tors are connected.
NM. Mace de Lepinay and Nieati were
some time since on a mountain excursion
and spent some five hours amoDg tire
snow. When they returned they found all
artificial light in the town to appear dis
tlnctly green, and this effect of temporary
daltonism induced by fatigue lasted about
three hours
In the rivers rolling to the sea, says the
american Contract Journal, are millions Of
horsepower daily running TO waste. We
DO not appreciate the brook and river be-
cause they are go near and have been there
so long. Had they commenced flowing but
to-day we would have fastened to harness
them.
A German paper says that cheese is
made In Thuringia and Saxopy from thc
pulp of bolted potatoes mixed with sour
milk. These cheeses have this advantage
over other kinds, that they do not eneen-
der worms and keep fresh for number of
years. provided they are placed in a dry
situation and in well-closed vessels.
Is iron TO go cut Of fashion? A young
man at Pittsburg proposes to make nails
from Bessemer steel, TO weigh but half as
much as the iron article, and yet be so stiff
that they can be driven into the hardest
wood and tough enough to clinch, and has
invented machine which is said to cut
them three times as fast az the old kina
are made.
Compound amor plates, iron faced WITH
steel, will probably be used by the French
Government in building men-of.war Iron
backing gives the required tenacity, and
the steel resists penetration. When steel
alone is struck it fractures and falls to
pieces. and heavy shot easily passes
through considerable thickness of iron.
Tower City, d. T., is supplied with water
from remarkable artesian we'll. When it
had been sunk to depth of $50 feet, salt
water was obtained AT $50 feeta gravelly
stratum also yelling salt water vas
struck after boring GOA feet fresh water
mixed with quicksaad cana M, and now =