The Osceola times., 1882-01-28
Sparks Of Science.


a substitute for the ergo of rye.
The total miles of single track rail.
road in the United States is estimated at
/ l97, 900.
The public lighting of Paris for the
present year cost about ss50,000. Both
gas and oil are used.
! Silver is the most perfect rejecting
metal, absorbing less than per cent. of
the rays of light.
/ A Florida company has been so sue
cessfufn making paper from palmetto
that il is said twenty mills will be
erected in sections of the state where
palmetto trees are abundant.
/ A machine has been invented by a
German doctor foI executing criminals
by electricity. The criminal sits in
chair and is quietly, panlessly, instant
ly and genteelly ushered into another
state OF existence.
Piping OF elliptical cross section has
many advantages over water pipes OF
equal perimeter, but of circular cross
section The chief one is, however, that
elliptical ripes are not So liable To burst
in times of severe frost.
The Chinese still use the primitive
rhlls for grinding grain which are en-
ployed in Normandy for making cider,
in South America for pulverizing ores,
and this county for powdering the SEQ
ria Of assaying pots.
Aqueous glucose loses its water after
having been heated to about 90o in the
water bath. The evaporation of the
glycerine then continues very regularly
at the rate of .003l7 gramme per hour
and per square meter of surface ex-
posed.
Last year the German wire mills cup
piled England with 10000 tons of wire,
-ilnd Russia with 10000 tons. France
received from Germany from $1,000 to
1000 tons of steel wire for sofa springs,
and America not less than 10000 from
the same source.
From s 900 hypsometrical instruments
Dr. Chavanne has calculated the aver
age height of the entire continent of
Africa to be not less than 2, l50 feet. This
high figure is evidently due to the great
extent of the high plateau in that coun-
try, surprising even that OF Asia.
A California inventor has devised a
plan by which il is claimed that every
railroad train while in motion can have
its own telegraph Office, His idea is to
stretch two wires paraslel with the track
and extending from one end of the road
to the other. The wires are over the
moving train and are connected with it
by short wires and wheels, by which
connection with either end of the line is
established.
In testing the effect of cold on the
voltaic arc NJ Tommase used as rheo
phores copper tubes, placed vis-a-vis
horizontally, through which ran cold
water. He found that the luminous
power of the arc was considerably
weakened and made very unstable; that
the arc does not ignite paper held
0.000im. above it; that it is very mobile;
that ii is attracted and extinguished by
a magnet, and that more ozone is gone
rated than when tee arc is not cooled.
:. The success of Muybridge, the San
rrancisco ph"tographer, in securing rev.
eral excellent plates of trotting horse
in action, has stimulated foreign photog.
tiaphers to attempt equally remI.a95ka t61
ieats. Mr. i5lsiiGitsib 5liii iboaf in active motion
clear plate of the shore at Berck. on
the French coast, with all its bathers
and promenaders. An English artist
has photographed swallows on the wing,
and fixed the reflection they threw on a
pom in passing over, while Frenchman,
NJ Audra, has photographed young girl
jumping a rope.
The excessive use in which bromide
ofpotassium has come renders the asser.
tlon of Herr Maschke of great import
anee H He slglaSds tbfhtbjSsr is largely
contaminated with lead The samples
he tested were only roduced 20 cIear
linuid after the addition OF n@ n.@@ent 10 |
UydrosnI phurfo acid is fhc pest "soHV w
use in making the test, win lhe eNcep-
ton Of perhaps, sulphide Of ammonium.
Lead poisoning is a dire alternate for
nervousness or sleeplessness.
Says the Boston Journal Of Chemistry
at is stated tina. not less than 100000
pounds of aniline were imported into
this country in 1880, the greater part
coming from Germany and Switzerland.
At an average value Of 81 per pound
these were worth 81 100000, and paid a
duty of 81 100000. Notwithstanding the
heavy duties imposed on these colors,
their manufacture in this country docs
not seem to flourish, and we know of but
two establishments where they are made
at all. and there only the reds and
blues.'
Lime is employed by Herr T. Schloes
ing in obtaing magnesia from sea water.
One cubic metre Of the water when al
lowed TO preciptate and settle during
twenty-four hours, yields a gelatinous
deposit of magnesia Of about so litres.
To this precipitnte dilute solution of
phosphoric acid is added, thus throwing
down tribasic phosphate of magnesia,
which condenses on settling, is capable
of being filtered through cloth or the
ordinary press, and combines readily
with ammonia TO form an ammonium
magnesium phosphate.
Considerable quantities of beautiful
objects of artificial amber are now being
produced in Vienna. The substance
employed in 1t Manufacture is chiefly
colophony, or resin, obtained by decom-
position of turpentine, though several
other ingredients are used to give it the
requisite qualities. The imitation is said
=, 80 y 49,, --d the production has
the electric properties OF amber. lnge-
Nous manufactures have even introduc-
ed into the substance foreign bodies, in
sects, etc, to make the similarity more
striking. Natural amber requires tenn
perature of 2s5o to 2S70 c, TO fuse il while
the imitation becomes liquid at much
lower temperature.