Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-03-11
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

COPPER wires transmitting electricity
of high electro-motive force become
brittle after awhile
A DIVER, at 600 yards distance from
the persons communicating with him,
can converse with ease with persons
above water by means of the telephone.
A RARE operation in surgical science,
known rs rephrectomy, is the removal
of q kidney. But nine such have ever
been performed in this country, and but
seventy-five in the entire world
A VISITOR to the st. Bernard morgue
writes that in the wondrous air of the
Alps, 5000 feet above the sea-level, pu-
trefaction is unknown, and the bodies of
those lost in the snow are perfectly pre-
served from change.
NICKEL is proposed to be substitute
for bronze in coinage in France 1t is
also suggested that the new coins shall
be octagonal instead of round, so that
the people may not mistake them for
silver in the hurry of business.
MILK has the power to absorb obnox-
ious gases and effiuvia from the air
around it, and it should not be forgot
ten that the purest butter ever made
may become tainted and poisoned in one
short hour by Objectionable surround
ings.
A MEDICAL exchange noting the fact
that workmen in sulphur mines are
rarely subject to malarial diseases,
makes this comment: cit will be a
great comfort for some to know that
though the bottomless pit is feverish
there can be no real malaria there"
The London Lancet says it is dam
gerous to wear red stockings 1t finds
that tin salt is used as a mordant to
fix the dye. Becoming more easily SOL
uble at each washing, it forms with acid
eXcretions from the feet, an irritating
fluid which often produces dangerous
trouble.
DIAMONDS, Mr. A. B. Griffith consid-
ers, had been formed by the action of
Ehighly-heated water or water gas, aided
by great pressure, on the carbonaceous
matter of fossils in the sedimentary
rocks, followed by cooling and conse-
quent deposition of carbon in the crys-
talline condition.
A CALIFORNIA physician claims to
have discovered the ''love parasite or
bacillus" He inoculated bachelor
fifty years old, who soon exhibited
symptoms by having his whiskers dyed,
ordering new set of false teeth, bot
tie of hair restorer, guitar and copy
of Byron's poems.
The manufacture of bricks from gran
ulated blast-furnace slags will soon be
begun in Germany The slags are run
into water, and the grit thus obtained is
mixed up with lime, concrete, or plaster
of paris, and formed into bricks, which
are dried for month. They possess
greater solidity than common brick, and
seem to resist much greater pressure.
The life of working bee lasts only
six to seven weeks. Stimulating arti-
fetal breeding in winter has tendency
to destroy the working force during the
honey season. Success can be attained
only by having a strong working hive
at time when honey can be secreted
tplentifully. If they are "spring-poor"
they will only build up by fall. Any
disturbance of the hive is apt to rouse
them to an injurious consumption of
honey. Feeding is advisable until about
six weeks before honey can be procured
outside by the bee.
The increasing cost of wood in this
country has led to great number of
experiments in preserving from decay
all kinds of wooden structures exposed
to the weather. Among the more re-
cent plans suggested is one for impreg-
mating wood with asphalt, combined
with some kind of antiseptic material.
The finished wood, ready to be put to-
gether, is first submitted to heat to drive
out the moisture, and is then placed in
hot bath composed chiefly of asphalt
and carbolic acid. On cooling, the SOL
vent of the asphalt evaporates, leaving
skin or coating of the asphalt on the
surface of the wood that resists water
and keeps the antiseptic material Sc
curely locked within the pores of the
wood. The exterior of the wood pre-
sents a smooth, black surface that does
not need to be painted.