The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-06-14
SCRAPS OF SCIENCE.

A GERMAN chemist has established the
valuable fact that wood imprcgnatcd with
porafline oil is preserved for many wears
from rot, even under circumstances most
favorable to decay.
A CORRESPONDENT of Nature gives tho
| following natural experiments with polar
| ized light: Break of plate of ice aud
| hold 1T between the sky and n pool of
water. Its reflected image will show the
beautiful colors due to polarizcd light.
The incident rays should come from n
part of tho sky about ninety degrees
from the sun, and reflection should take
place at the polarizing angle for water,
and the plate will probably require al
usting to bring out the maximum cf-
feet.
ALTHOUGH DR.. J. Gwyn Jcfrreys has.
during n period of between forty and
fifty years, dredged, rs nh explorer, I'LL
the seas of the British Isles besides &.
considerable part of those on the COASTS
of North America, Greenland, Norway,
France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and
Italy, he never found anything of value
except to natralist, nor any human
bone, although many thousand human
beings must have perishcd in those seas
The gems, "dcad bones," etc, that was
thought to form tho floor of the ocean
appear to exist only in the imagination
of the poets.
The artificial means by which drowsi-
ness may he induced have been invcSti-
gated lately in Germany hv Prcvcr The
ordinary drowSincss Of fatigue suppose i
to be caused by the introduction into tho
blood of lastic acid, II compound pro-
Cceding from the tlistingeration OF the
bodily tissues of nerves and muscle 70
ascertain whether this view was correct.
Preyer administered large quantities of
the acid to animals, and found that it
would induce drowsiness and slumbcr
apparently identical with formal sleep,
and from which they awaken seemingly
much refreshed Not only lactatc soda,
butsour milk and whey, fed to animals
which had been fasting, produced this
artificial sleep.
The conditions prescribed by the Brit
ish Government III the manufacture OF
glnpowder for thepublic service provide,
among other things, that tho wood
dogwood--for the charcoal shall be OF
the utmost cleanliness, any traces of bark
adhering to it constituting an impurity
insuring its immediate condemnation
and the wood must also be cut in the
spring of the year. If the latter opera.
ton is performed when the sap is rising
the bark is easily removed, and the Woo
is leftperfectly clean; but wood cut later
in the year or i'll winter is perfectly rs
good. only in this case the removal of tn,
bark Is n much moro difficult matter; The
process of separation involves the boiling
of the wood, or, if this is impracticable
the whole of the bark must be shaved
off with knife. The objection chicii,
characterizing both thc boiled nnC
shaved, Tor gunpowder manufacture, tina
they do not keep SO we'll when stackc,
as the spring cut wood, going to dcca,
much faster.
RUsT.-Professor Barff, of London
has discovered how to treat iron vessel
so as to render them wholly safe from
tendency to rust, SO that boilers, if TIL
iron of which they are made had bce
thus treated, would be safe against th
corrosion caused by the water, and COOK
ing vessels would no longer need eithc
to be made of copper or furnished wit
n tin lining, while spades and rails mn
iron kccls and plates, and the locomc
tivcs on our lines, and all the counties
iron Instruments of our modern lif
would be safe against the most destruC
tive of all the agencies which waste thcl
away. The process is to coat the iro
with the magnetic or black oxide of iron
which is not only incapable of rust, br
harder than the iron itself, and whic
ndhcrcs to iron with tenacity create
than that with which the various STRAIT
Of the iron adhere together. rrofrSsc
Barfl subjects the iron to s,lr"rh"ato
steam at n temperature Of from 800 t
1900 Fahrenheit, and if the exposure
continued from five to seven hours thi
coating is fairly formed, and if the latte
temperature is secured it will adhere &
} closely that not oven tile will scrapc
off Professor Barff left iron vessc
thus treated out on the lawn for six wccl
! during the late rainy weather, and whc
, brought in they were as bright aa hefo
their exposure. Tho coating does n
affect the surface, except by turning
t black.