Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-01-03
CURIOUS AND USEFUL.
A Few Choice Bits of Interesting Cos
sip from the Scientific
World.
PRACTICAL AND USEFUL IMPORTATION
A DELICATE MICROSCOPE.

no Jar from pass nicles.
LLUMINAIING THE MOUTH.
A Londor dentist uses a small mean
descent carbon lamp to illuminate the
cavity of the mouth during dental oper-
ations. 1t is hltcd into vulcanlte cup
anu covered for rafo Y with glass shade.
The lamp il stared by the inventor, who
freely offers It's advantages to his fellow
dentists. I" to give a bright light Just
where It Is needed, without producing
undue heat.
THE STARS.
In this latitude the stars appear much
brighter III winter than summer which
some suppose is owing to the temper
allure OF the air. bright, frosty
nights Is q common expression. But
clearness, not temperature, is the factor
IN this case. On the coast Of Peru, at
the equator, they often appear rs bright
as they ever do here; and at the Wind
ward islands of the West Indies, where
the temperature Is constantly above TO-
Fahrenheit, through the night, they are
always as bright as In many of our clear,
frosty nights.
SMOKE PREVENTING DEATH.
Some one has at last been found to
say a good word for smoke. The Burs-
lem Town council have been discussing
the death rate IN that town, which APP
pears Just now to be rather high, and
the medical officer consoles them by
pointing out that the deaths would be
more numerous still were it not for the
smokiness OF the town. The evil effects
OF their bad system of drainage are
largely counteracted by the smoke from
the factories, which blends with the at
mosphere, to ac5 as q dGOdOrIzer; and he
was at loss to imagine how ''lntelh-
gent men, and even members of his own
profession" could complain of the
f" smoke nuisance" The doctors may
be left to settle the matter for them
selves; but one must admit that smoke
certainly has some of those offensive
qualities which belong to recognized
deodorizers. Pal Nal Gazette.
AwArCH- CHAIN FROM OTHER WORLDS.
4 celestial watch-chain is one Of the
wonders that The Indiana State Geolo-
gIst has collected and can show outside
of his famous museum. The iron of
which it is made came from the great
Wisconsin meteor, and the polished sur
face shows the e Widmanstettin marks
ton, unlike anything terrestrial known
and the plating is made of nickel from
the same aerolite In the center of each
face is a half-ellipsoid of chrysohte from
the meteor that fell IN Emmett, Iowa,
and weighed three thousand pounds.
The gold rim IN which 1t is set, and is
itself set II, the plated meteOric iron is
IRON Brown County, Indiana. This
chrysolite Is the only precious stone ever
known TO have fallen from the sky.
This nickel plare is the first use ever
made of celestial or lneteoric nickel.
The :" WIdmanstettin marks show
plainly through the plating. 1t Is not
astonishing. says the Indianapolis News,
that the scientists at the great Montreal
meeting, recently, we're as cUriOns about
1t as girls about new doll.
NEW ILLUMINATING GASES.
The Iron Age gives a brief sketch of
the newly invented Illuminating gas,
which is now being made IN Liverpool
and called metallic gas. It is estimated
that the labor of three men will by this
process produce as much gas as the
labor Of 100 men by the old methods,
and the new gas when produced has six
times the luminosity of the old, present.
sort The new gas Is dry, odorless and
not affected by cold 1t can be carried
any distance IN pipes without cOndens-
ing, and is as good months after it was
made as when It was fresh. The light is
white like the electric light. In this con-
nection may be mentioned a new gas
which company I'D New York State has
been organized to manufacture. The
New York company's product is the re-
suit Of the decomposition Of lime. The
operation, it is said, produces almost
pure hydrogen, which, being car
bureted, results IN a gas of between
thirty and fifty candle-power. Thepro-
cess which was discovered by a French
chemist AM improved by q Polish one,
is SAID to be economical, and it is eX-
pected that the gas will supersede coal
for running engines. and possibly III do
nestle heating and cookery. 1t is made
without coal OIL being used III the prepar-
alton.
DUST IN THE AIR.
There is scarcely a solid, however
compact it may appear, which does not
contain pores, and these pores are filled
with air. 1t Is to be found IN abund-
ance in the soil; indeed we're it not so,
numberless worms and insects which in
habit the latter would cease TO exist. The
most compact mortar and walls are pen
etrated by it. and water N its natural
state contains large quantity of air IN
solution. The atmosphere was formerly
believed TO extend no higher than five
miles above the earth's surface, but me-
neurological observations have shown
since that 1t extends to a height Of mora
than 200 miles. Owing to the force of
gravity the air is much denser near the
earth and gets thinner layer by layer, as
you ascend. Ii then the atmosphere
were possessed OF color ii would be very
dark just round the globe, and the tint
would gradually fade into space. There
is no absolutely normal composition of
the ar we breathe, or If there be, it is
not at preseut known. It contains, how
ever, IN all cases. unless under purely
artificial conditions, two essential ele-
ments. which are nearly inyriaple under