Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-09-22
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

It is said that if common yellow African
! diamonds are immersed for a few minutes
| in an aqueous solution of aniline violet,
they acquire fine steel blue tint peculiar
to the beat stones.
The Scientific american says: The
idea that lightning ia not SO destructive in
the United States as it used to be, because
the network of railroads and telegraph
| wires lessen the number of accidents, is
met by the record of the summer. Fatal
thunder storms have never been more COM
mon"
DIR. P. P. Deherain maintains that the
electric light contains rays which are hurt
full to vegetation, but these, he says, can
be held back by transparent glass. The
light itself, he finds, contains enough OF
the rays useful to vegetation to maintain
the life of plants for two months and a
half but the quantity of favorable rays is
too small to bring crops to condition OF
maturity.
A scientific expedition for the explora.
ton of Africa ia in course of organization
under the charge OF DR.. Emil Riebeck.
Much is expected of it. Herr Gottlob
Adolf Krause will lead the party and see
that the plans are carried out. The imme-
diste object is described as the investiga-
tion of the languages and social condition
of the inhabitants of the region about the
| Niger, Benue, and Lake Tsad.
1t is pointed out by DR.. X. Heumann
that if sulphur is heated on plate of
metal or porcelain its vapors in the dark
give off a phosphorescent light. The fame
is pale, scarcely blush, and very different
from the fine blue fame given by the COM
bustion of sulphur at higher temperatures.
In place of sulphurous-acid gas, the phos-
phorescent sulphur emits vapors having an
odor which recalls at once that of hydrogen
bisulphide, of csmphor, and ozone.
Recent excavations for public works in
Paris have laid bare store of native sui
phur in masses of mixed rubbish. The
crystallization is evident to the eye, and
under the microscope the crystals are seen
to be octahedral. NJ. Daubree explains its
presence on the supposition that sulphate
of lime and organic matters, such as ma
nure, leather, bones and vegetables,
associated with it in the mass, have acted
chemically on each other. In some places
the sulphur is rich enough to pay for ex-
tracing. 1t appears in a brecc,a of small
pieces, incrusted with crystals of sulphur
When the bed was opened by the excava.
tors it exhaled powerful odor resembling
that of phosphorus, which was attributed
to phosphureted hydrogen.
The Russian Chemical Society having
established competition for the best lamps
for burning the intermediate oils of the
Caucasian naphtha, which have density
from $50 to o S75, found that the four
competing lamps satisfy the required con-
ditions, the best of them being that of NJ.
Kumberg. According to experiments made
by Professor Mendeleef, the new lamps
burn not only the intermediate oils, but
also purified mixture of all Installations,
the heavy, greasy oils which have density
of 0 9l0 at l5' included. Like the Ameri-
can naphtha, the Bsku naphtha would thus
yield more than two-thirds (nearly three.
quarters) of it's weight of oils available for
lamps, the oils from this last being far less
dangerous than those of the former 1t
yields, besides, nearly thirty per cent. OF
greasy oils of great value.
Perhaps the Belgian War Department.
method of making soldiers uniforms water.
proof might be tried for the clothing OF
railroad servants and other employees OF
corporations, such as the policemen, fire.
men, etc., in cities. This is the process
Acetate of alumina is obtained by making
solutions of equal parts of alum and
acetate of lead in separate vessels, and
then mixing them together, when sui.
phste of lead will be thrown down, leaving
acetate of alumins in solution TO be de.
canted. In this solution the fabrics to
| be water-proofed are soaked and with
out being wrung, dried in the air.
Perspiration will escape from cloth
ing so treated, but rain will not
penetrate it, and 10 injury is done the ma
terial. As the method involves considera
BILE expense, it must be conducted on
large scale to make it economical.