Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-03-30
BeHrurratit Nurthmssi.
Scientific Gossip,

AAASAsAAe NS~@Afa
Glyeerine is recommended as pre-
servative for many organic substances
BY NJ. II. Dancer, Of Lyons, France.
According TO the Engineer, some Of
the best American cast-iron rs used for
guns and railway wheels will stand a
tensile strain of as much rs $500
pounds or 1917 tons to the square inch.
The presence of chiccory, dandeliOn,
&c. in coffee may be ascertained by
boiling with sodium carbonate. and
then treating with dilute bleaching
powder solution, when the chiccory and
dandelion are bleached, the coffee being
Enacted on.
In seeking for a substance which
would destroy the microscopic animals
in water without injuring it for drinking
purposes, DIR. Langfeldt found that cit
ric acid (one-half gramme to every litre
of the water) killed all the living organ
isms, except cyclOps and those with
thick epidermis, within two minutes.
What reasons had been advanced by
Mr. Howorth to establish his hypothesis
that the mammoth had suddenly disap-
peared from Siberia do not appear to be
sufficient. Mr.. G. Reid says that the
mammaliferous deposits cannot have
been formed all at once, rs there are
numerous sheets of clear ice presenting
strata which must have been success
sively frozen.
Before one can safely say that milk
has been adulterated, it is necessary to
take into account the percentage of fat
as well as that of solids not fat. Mr.. B.
Dyer has made analysis of the milk of
cows, stall-fed and at gaass, showing
that the milk of the former is the richer,
and that an individual COW well fed can
frequently give milk yielding an average
Of 81 per cent. solids, not fat
Du Caux endeavorS to maintain that
The herring is not a migratory fish, and
that it does not move far away from the
spot where it is spawned, whether that
be in deep water over a sand-bank, or
near shore. He says the herrings spawn
Mt least twice year, and that the
spawn reaches maturity, not only at
the bottom of the sea, but near the sur
face. Few old fishermen will be found
to agree with him.
The Scientific american says that the
prejudice against American hemlock-
tanned leather has disappeared, and
English tanners now appreciate its eX-
cellent qualities. Its capabilities for re-
sisting water and withstanding wear by
attrition in the soes of boots and shoes
are said to be quite equal to those of
the best English sole-leather, and great
ly superior to the leather of English
''mixed' tannages or the generally poor
sole-leather made on the Continent of
Europe.
The finest lubricating oils in the
market, says writer, in the supple
ment'' to the Scientific American-th
is to say, such lubricants as are employ
ed for watches and similar delicate
pieces of mechanism-are chiefly pre-
pared from sperm oil by digesting it in
trays, with clean lead shavings, for
week or longer time. Solid stearate
of lead is formed, and remains adhering
10 the metal, while the oil becomes more
fluid and less liable to change Or thicken
on chilling.
According to the Secretary of the
Manufacturing Chemists Association of
Illo OHltcu CtdteS, Ile Capllal Invested
in the chemical industry is $S5, 900;
The annual production is worth $118,-
100000; the number of manufacturing
establishments is 1876, using 100000
tons of coal and employing 10000 work.
ing people, whose wages amount to
$12,000,000 year. The industry is not
only great in itself, but it affords a side
light on the magnitude of other manu-
factures which require chemicals for
their production.
A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer
has discovered remedy for the worms
that play so great havoc among currant
bushes. The ordinary black ant is an
inveterate enemy of the currant worm.
He encourages ant colonies near the
bushes, and the result has been that
while his neighbors had few or no cur
rants, his crop was abundant At one
time he took pains to destroy the ants.
This is another instance of the necessity
of a knowledge of the habits of insects
to the fruit-grower and to agriculturists
i'm general,