Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-11-29
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
ALCOHOL IN CHICORY.

VI olbSUdhCCS easily COuNoEblUlo luUO
sugar, and the alcohol obtained by it's
standardization, fermentation, and dis
tillation is characterized by pleasant
aromatic taste and great purity.
THE SAW.
Regarding the antiquity of the saw, it
is instanced that frame saw is shown
in a painting at Herculaneum. The
sawyers are at each end, one standing
and the other sitting. The bench to
which the timber is secured by clamps
is supported by four-legged stools. The
saw blade is strained in the middle; the
teeth stand perpendicularly to the plane
mon in Egypt many centuries previous
to that time.
DELICATE INSTRUMENT.
Yale College has recently received a
heliometer from Germany, and owing to
the delicacy of its mechanism it had to
be packed with such care for its trans
portation that its case could not be safe
ly opened by the revenue officers at New
York, and so, by permission of the
secretary OF the treasury, an officer of
the custom house was sent to New
Haven to look on while it was being I'M
packed, and satisfy himself that it con-
tanned nothing dutiable.
WET COAL.
A series of tests was made recently at
Bochum, Germany, to determine the
values OF wet and dry bituminous coal
IN the making of steam. Washed slack,
holding Is per cent. of water and 90
per cent of ash, evaporated 81 pounds
of water per pound of fuel; while the
same coal with only three per cent. Of
water, made from 8 to s 5 pounds of
steam. Making due allowance for mois-
ture by reducing to a standard of like
quantities of coal, free from moisture,
there is found to be direct loss by
using wet coal of IA per cent.
UTILIZING MICA.
New uses are being found for mica.
1t has been used heretofore principally
for stove doors and lanterns, it's fire-re-
sisting qualities and it's transparency
rendering it well adapted for such pur-
poses. The clearest and best sheets can,
however, only be thus used. A patent
was recently granted for journal box
of cement, ground mica, and -four; the
ingredients are mixed, pressedinto shape,
and then baked. A patent has also been
taken out on an apparatus for reducing
mica to an impalpable powder and pre-
pairing 1t for use as q mixer In starch
gloss and oily compositions.
A NEW KING OF GAS.
The electric light is not the only rival
which invention has raised up against coal
tai, has just been organized to make gas
by the decomposition of steam and liquid
hydro-carbon on highly-heated lime.
The operation produces almost pure by
drogen, which, being carbureted, results
in a gas of between thirty and fifty can
dle-power. The process, which was dis
covered by a French chemist and i'm
proved by a Polish one, is said to be
economical, and it is hoped that the gas
will supersede coal for running engines,
and possibly In domestic heating and
cookery. It is made without coal-oil
being used In its preparation. Some
New York gas companies are proposing
to substitute it for the ordinary article,
and, if half what is told of it proves true,
1t is destined to work great notifications
IN avarious operations connected with
light and heat.
ILLUMINATED BUOYS.
Some of the Illuminated buoys intro
duced In European waters have been
made to burn thirty days, and some four
times that period-those of a certain
size containing gas sufficient to furnish
the light for one year, the flame being
constant night and day, and requiring
no attention whatever after being once
put in operation. The lantern attached
to the buoy admits air enough to feed
the flame, but not particle of water
can enter. The most violent gales, or
the greatest force of the waves produce
no effect upon this light. It burns with
undimmed brightness as long as gas is
IN its reservoir, and the light, it is as
serted, can be thrown six or seven miles
in clear weather. The reflling of the
buoy at certain intervals, which is per-
formed by tender, requires but a few
minutes time. It is accomplished by
simply passing the gas from a store
holder, by means of flexible tube, into
the buoy.
DREAMS.
The British Medical Journal describes
some interesting experiments on this
subject that have been made by M. G.
Delaunay. According to psychologists,
dreams are generally illogical and
absurd. NJ. Delaunay, however, by COW
ering his head with layer OF cotton
wool, rendered at will his dreams healthy
and Intelligent. According to his ex-
perience, the dreams which people have
lying on their back, are sensuous, agi-
tated and erotic. Those which occur
when the dreamer is lying on the right
side are changeable, full of exaggera-
ton, absurd, and relate to old recollec-
tons. Those which occur when lying
on the left side are intelligent, reasona-
BILE, and relate to recent occurrences.
People often talk during the last-men-
toned dreams. The author considers
that dreams, intelligent or otherwise,
erotic or sober, can be induced by caus-
ing variations in the cerebral circulation
and by the nutrition of the various
regions of the brain, either by elevation
of the cranial temperature or by decubi-
tus. They, therefore, form an interest