The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-10-31
vUErous. UsEFUL .No SCIENTIFIC.


An ingenious apparatus called a fire.
damp indicator has been invented in Gen.
eva. Every hour or half hour the air of the
mine is forced into the burner by a bellows
and the result is registered in the central Of
fee.
Mr.. G. X. Gilbert, in a recent publication
of the United States Geological Survey, de-
clares that the Wahsatcb range, the greatest
mountain mass in Utah, has recently in
creased in height, and the presumption is
that il is still growing higher.
Electrical omnibusesrecently travelled from
Paris 10 Versailles. about fourteen miles.
There was no serious hitch on the trials.
Only one time there was stoppage owing to
the heating of a coil by excess OF current, but
the delay did not take up much time.
In Swedan the enormous accumulation of
bleached and blanched moses is being utal-
lied IN making paper. A large mandatory
has been begun. and all kinds are being
turned out from tissue paper to sheets three
inches in thickness. The latter is harder
than wood.
writer in the Journal of Science, in an
article on Gram and its Amenities" claims
that brain work is not per sc physically in
bounds, it is distinctly favorable to long life;
and he enforces his argument with some
happy illustrations.
Germany has 500 mills for the manufacture
of wood-pulp. Such a degree of perfection
has been attained in the treatment that even
for the better qualities of paper the wood
pulp is substantiated for pulp made from
rags. 1t constitutes 10 per cent of the paper
stock used throughout Germany.
The difficulty OF dealing effectively with
leprosy in India is that it is hereditary, and
it was not until late years that a rational
system of treatment was adopted with the
lower order of natives Now the isolation
which had been practiced with this terrible
disease since the days of Moses and proper
hospital care may in generation abate the
evil.
A work containing Petrarch's songs,
printed in Venice about the end of the fif-
tenth century, and of which a single copy
does not exist in this country, was sold in
London not long ago for not less than 50, $50,
the highest price paid for a single volume
within the last decade. OF course, it was the
scarcity of the book and not its intrinsic
merit which gave it its value.
Carrier pigeons are sometimes attacked
and destroyed by birds of prey. Lately it
was resolved to try how well ravens would
perform the same functions as the pigeons.
The test was made at COblenZ with young
birds. The point OF arrival was asmall place
on the Moselle. near Traves, distant from
Coblenz about forty miles. The sable mes
sengers did their work admirably.
The deepest sea-Sounding ever made, says
the Scientific American, was made In the
Pacific Ocean near the entrance to Behring's
Sea. Bottom was struck at 1855 fathOms.
The cast was made from the United
States school ship Tuscarora.
The shallowest water in the mid.
die of the Atlantic, 731 fathoms, shows the
subsistence Of mountains 1856 feet.
The electric railroad from Portrush to the
Giants Ca9seway, Ireland, seems to have
been opened very auspciously. The power
to work the dynamo-electric machines costs
little besides tear and wear of the machinery
a waterfall with head of "a feet in the Riv-
Ell Bush setting in motion turbines which
gave an effective energy OF about 90-horse
power. The line is only about six miles
long and has but three-feet gauge. An I'M
derground cable conveys the electricity to
the ends of the rails. What defects exist on
the road are two sharp curves and two steep
grades. One foot in 80 will tell eventually
on the rails and the rolling stock.
A scientific commission is to pass on the
question whether the manufacture of gas in
Paris can not supply their illuminant cheap
er. The report can not fail TO be Of wide in
terest the world over The probability is
that it will be against the company and in
favor of the citizens from what every chemist
knows OF the commercial value of the Incl
dental products of the industry. From the
progress making in the manufacture of APP
pliances for producing, distributing, and
using electricity gas as source of light APP
pears TO be doomed. But the production of
gas will go on, nevertheless, and On a grander
scale. If electricity is to give humanity
light in the future, gas will take the place of
coal in heating houses and for cooking pur-