Daily globe., 1883-05-25
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

CURIOUS AND SClENTIFIC.
In spite of the bilious opposition Of
the London Times, the British Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Science
will meet in Canada next year.
MILK of improved quality has de-
creased the death-rate among children
under years of age in New York from
so to 46 per 1000, says the Medical
Record
CAREFUL experiment has shown that
trichine are not killed by keeping the
meat inhabited by them in salt for fifteen
months Mice fed with such meat be-
came infected with the parasites.
The smallest circular saw is the size
of a nickel, and is used to cut slits in
gold pens. 1t is as thick as ordinary
paper, makes 400 revolutions per sec
ond, and although so thin this rapid
motion keeps it rigid.
A STORY is told of woman in Boston
who discovered and located leak in
the waste pipe of a wash-bowl, by tax
ing advantage of the fondness of cats
for the oil of valerian. Having put
two cats in the parlor where an Of
fensive odor was perceived, the woman
poured the oil into the basin of an upper
room and watched for the result. The
cats shortly began to sniff the air and
move toward closet through which
the waste-pipe ran, then jumped upon
a shelf and purred as if enjoying
great luxury. The wall was cut away
to expose the pipe, and considerable
leak was found at the very spot pointed
out by the cats.
AN experimenter says: "I discovered
many years ago that wood could be
made to last longer than iron in the
ground, but thought the process so
simple that it was not well to make a
stir about it. [ would as soon have
poplar, Eastwood or ash as any other
kind of timber for fence posts. L have
taken out Eastwood posts after having
been set seven years that were as sound
when taken out as when first put in the
ground. Time and weather seemed to
have no effect on them. The posts can
be prepared for less than 2 cents a
piece. This is the recipe: Take boiled
linseed oil and stir in pulverized coal to
the consistency of paint. Put coat of
this over the timber, and there is not a
man who will live to see it rot"
owe ive," says recent medical
authority on the germ theory of disease,
'at the bottom of a vast aerial sea,
thickly peopled with dead and living
things. Of course, the bulk of the dust
of the air is not made upon the germs
of disease, but the common bacteria of
putrefaction enter largely into it's COM
position, as we soon find when we leave
exposed to the air any organic matter.
These germs seem to circulate in clouds,
or, we might say, focks, as we observe
when number of test tubes containing
organic matter are exposed to the air,
that they are not all affected a5 the
same time or alike. When disease ap-
pears in country or a part of the
country we see the same thing in its
attack Ct certain regions or individuals
and escape of Others"
A REMARKABLE proof has lately been
given by M. Jansen of the great puri-
ty and dryness Of the atmosphere on
the high desert-plateaus of Algeria.
At Mecheira, a military station there,
at which he spent month, devoting
his attention specially to the atmos-
phere of Venus, he was able to see the
satellites of Jupiter with the naked
eye; and to apply an eight-inch tele-
scope, magnifying $50 times, to the
study Of the lunar craters illuminated
merely by earth-shine, the moon being
four days old. Thus favorahly placed,
and using highly dispersive and perfect
spectroscopic apparatus, he is obliged
to confess that, relying on spectrum
analysis alone, there must be more re-
serve than has been shown about af-
firming the presence of aqueous vapor
in the atmosphere of Venus. Any
optical evidence of it III the spectrum is
very slight.
A NEW substance has been prepared
for the purpose of supersediDg cellu-
loid. The new material possesses all
the hardness and brilliancy of the cellu-
loid, and has the advantage OF being
tire-proof. A solution is prepared Of
200 parts of caseine in 50 parts of am
monia and 400 Of water. To this the
following are added: Quicklime, 24O
parts; acetate of alumina, $50 parts;
alum, 30 parts; sulphate of lime, 1,2O0
parts; oil, 100 parts-the oil to be
mixed in last. When the mixture has
been well kneaded together and made
into smooth paste, it is passed through
the rollers to form plates of the de-
sired shape. These are dried and
pressed into metallic molds previously
heated, or they may be reduced to a
very fine powder. The objects are
afterward dipped into the following
bath: Water, 100 parts; white glue,
6 parts; phosphoric acid, 10 parts.
They are then dried, polished and var
nished with shellac
Big BanknOtes.
The largest amount of a banknote in
OlT ,r-nr OOA =.