Daily globe., 1883-08-08
CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.

To PREVENT boiler incrustation, DR..
Baudet makes a mixture of fifteen
parts sodium thio-sulphate, ten pints
rain water and ten pints glycerole,
which he adds to the water.
DIR. BALL, of the Paris Faculty Of
Medicine, says that there is broad
frontier between sanity and insanity,
and that most of us enjoy this frontier
life" He holds that the number of
persons perfectly reasonable on al
points throughout the entire period of
their existence form small minority Of
mankind.
A GERMAN patent has been taken
out for the manufacture of bottles, etc,
from cast iron containing - per cent
of silicon, compound which is said to
resist action Of the strongest acids.
CHARLES SOMERvILLE, machirist
employed at the lock works at Stam-
ford, Conn, is SO expert at his business
that he can cut an ordinary sewing
machine needle in two lengtuwise, drill
a hole through each half, and then
fasten them together so accurately that
the place where it was separated can
not be seen.
FIVE times as many kinds of insects
are estimated to exist as there are
species of all other living creatures &C.
gether. -Four hundred and fifty species
are fostered by the oak-tree alone and
200 by the pine. Humboldt, in 1919, esti-
mated that between $50, 900 and 40. 900
species were preserved by collections,
and it is now supposed that the number
may be something like 10000 With
how large part of natures production
in this one field can any single indiyil-
ual hope to become familiar?
The latest theories concerning the
sun consider that it gives forth energy,
which appears as heat, light or elec-
tricity, according to the medium which
absorbs this energy. There are as
tronomiGsl phenomena, especially
those in connection with the divers di-
rections taken by the tails of comets,
which can be satisfactorily accounted
for only on the hypothesis of electrical
action, which is supposed to pervade
the interplanetary spaces. The cleo
tricity in the sun is of opposite polarity
to that of space.
A FAvoRTrE antidote for rattlesnake
poison in Mexico is, says Dr.. Croft, in
Chemical Net0S, strong solution OF
iodine In potassium iodide. The author
has tested some Of the poison itself
with this solution, and finds that a
Light brown amorphous precipitate is
formed, the insolubility of which ex-
plains the beneficial action of the anti
dote. When iodine cannot be readily
obtained, o solution of potassium
iodide, to which few drops of ferric
chloride has been added, can, perhaps,
be used as an antidote to snake poison;
it is very convenient test for aka
loids.
The tenth census contains some fig
ures which will serve to give an idea of
the magnitude of the quarryipg inter-
ests of the country, which in 1880 gave
employment to 39,723 men, 6,O59
horses and 651 mules; had 339 ma
chimes for quarrying, 2,290 machines
for hosting, 1908 machines for dress
ing, and used $192, 175 worth of explos-
ives, The capital invested is given at
$25, Ala, ,497, and the value of the prod
uct in the census year at $18, ,356, ,055,
there being 1,525 quarries in all. Mar
BILE and limestone lead the list with
G5, 523, 965 cubic feet, followed by the
sandstone quarries with 24,776,9 $50
cubic feet; crystalline silicious rocks,
with 5, 5,11S,99S cubic feet; and slate
with 457, ,267 squares, or 4, 4,572 go cubic
feet.
The novel, interesting process, an
nounced some time since in France, by
which the wool on sheepskins may be
transformed into velvet, is likely to
prove of industrial Importance. Up to
the present time, sheepskins, tanned
with the wool on, have only been used
for mats, lining for coats, etc, and the
wool, not having been subjected to any
preparation, is always matted or curled
Observing that the innumerable fibers
are naturally disposed in the most per-
feet and regular order, peculiarly fitted
for velveting, an ingenious chemist con-
ceived the idea of cleaning the skin and
wool of all impurities, and of so pre-
pairing and dressing them that the
hairs would be we'll preserved, and not
cntangled one with the Other-the oc-
currence of the latter contingency be-
ing, of course, fatal to the success of
t4e operation. After long and continu-
oUs experiments, success has been
achieved, the article produced being
alike beautiful and serviceable, and
destined, it is thought, TO become
permanent and important article of
.anufacture.