Huntsville gazette., 1882-01-21
NUMBER 10.
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

"A school Tor railroad officials has
been established in Germany. Here
employees are instructed in railroading.
Housewives will be interested in
new discovery. Instead of ironing
clothes with hot iron on cold table,
the garments would be better done up
by using cold iron on hot table.
"A tincture of Calabar bean has been
found exceedingly efiicacious in preserv-
ing chronological and other natural
history specimens from the destruction
caused by mites. 1t can also be used
with advantage in keeping furs and 9TH
er articles of dress from moths. A very
small quantity is sufficient.
Chemical science has recently sue
ceeded in extracting the coloring matter
from human hair. Three coloring pig
ments are found-yellow, red and
black-the various shades being pro-
duced by mixture. 1t appears that in
pure golden hair there is only the yellow
pigment; in red hair the red is mixed
with more or less yellow; while in dark
hair the black is always mixed with vel
low and red-even the blackest hair
containing as much red pigment as the
very reddest-the lighter colors being
overpowered by the black.
The results of soundings over the
bed of the Atlantic have made clear, it
is believed, the existence through the
middle of the ocean, extending from
north to south, of sunken ridge, often
less than 1000 fathoms from the sur
face, while on either side the water has
a depth of from 5000 to more than
$3.50 fathoms; so that the elevation of
the oceans bottom required to make
these depths dry land would bring up
between them mountain range from
5000 to $4,000 feet in height The
higher points of this sunken ridge now
form the islands Of the Azores.
The English journals, in discussing
the question of domestic poisons, sug-
gest as a protection or remedy law
prohibiting the use of arsenic in the
manufacture of any and all fabrics for
domestic purposes-that is, in all those
processes which leave the arsenic in the
finished goods. 1t appears that the
trade interests involved in this practice
have been subjected to scientific investi-
cation, and the alleged advantages in
employment of arsenic for wall papers,
etc., are shown to be for the most part
imaginary. Among the paper stainers
the use of arsenical pigments is being
abandoned, and in other industries also
they are much less resorted to than for
merly. But, Notwithstanding this, and
the well-known fact that two or three
grains of the article will destroy life,
the production of arsenic in England
last year was nearly 5000 tons.
"A recent writer on the phenomena of
friction asserts that a large portion of
the friction of engines is the result of
tight cylinder packing, and that in set
ting out packing it should be only tight
enough to keep the steam from passing,
this being also best done by degrees,
setting out the rings little, then block
ing the crosshead, and testing by allow
ing steam in the crank end of the cylin-
der. When no steam passes, the rings
are tight enough. In cylinders that
have run for some time it is impossible
to make piston tight without reboring
Care is also requisite, in making COM
plete revolution of the engine by hand,
after setting out the rings, to see that
the packing does not stick in any of the
smaller portions of the cylinder. Again,
an engine that requires constant lubri-
cations in the cylinder to prevent squeak
ing needs attention, as generally the
rings will be found too tight or the cylin-
1er out of line.