Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-26
BITS OF SCIENCE.

! Citric acid has been ascertained by DR..
I Schultz to possess powerful antiseptic
/ properties.
A statistician has calculated that there
| are manufactured so 600. 600 pins every
/ day or about $4,000, co., 600 every year.
| An English firm has begun the manu-
| facture of casks and barrels of steel.
/ They are lighter than wood and more du-
/ rable.
OH is now extracted from the seeds of
[ grapes in Italy. Young grapes yield most
/ and black kinds more than white.
! A tricycle. postal delivery system is to
I be tried by the Postmaster General o.
/ Victoria at Portland, Sale and Ararat,
I with the view of extending II, II it proves
I successful, to other districts of the colony.
To detect cotton oil in olive Gil, mix the
Z oil in question with a solution of basic
I lead acetate and let it stand for II to a
hours. Ii cotton oil is present 1t takes
red color like fresh prepared tincture Of
myTrh.
Mons. Balland has found that the ave-
rage moisture of the flOurs OF commerce
is II per cent. 1t varies with the hygrO-
metric state Of the air and is generally
from to , per cent. greater in winter than
in summer.
A German paper trade journal says that
waterproof paper which Will shine in
the dark can be made of 40 parts paper
stock, 10 parts phOsphOrescenJ powder, 10
parts water, part gelatine and l part BIZ
chrOmate of potash.
The making OF large lenses is a matter
of many difficulties, as may De inferred
from the fact that there have been nine
teen failures to cast the thirty-six inch
glass for the great Lick telescope to be
mounted in California.
Bronze is a mixture of copper and tin,
and sometimes lead, the proportions Of
which vary somewhat, but are usually as
nine to one, 1t is often adulterated with
zinc. but when this is the case its surface
hOneycOmbs on exposure.
An establishment in the Hebrides which
treats seaweed for iodine, according to
Mr.. Edward Stanford, +. G. $, obtains an
illuminating gas as a by-pTOdUct. The
process also Yields a very light and porous
charcoal, ammonia and tar.
In order to make plaster set quickly,
mix il with water into which little sui
phate Of potash has been dissolved; to
make II set slowly mix it with fine slaked
lime. The time Of setting may be regu-
lated by changing the relative quantities.
1t has been found that a mixture of
seventy parts OF air and thirty parts OF
hydrogen gas ignites at a temperature
between 1,026 degrees and 1,O2S F., while
the ignition point of a mixture of coal gas
with air in similar proportions varies from
1902 TO !, 2I5 degrees.
Mr.. John Trowbridge, an authority on
the subject, says; mot one of thousand
lightning rods at present upon our build
ings is Of any use, for the simple reason
that the rods are not ledintO moist ground,
and therefore offer great resistance to the
passage of an electric discharge"
Experiments have for some time been
made in Belgium for preserving wood by
exhaustng the air from the pores and
filing them with liquid gutta-percha. The
gutta-percha is liquefied by mixing il with
parafine and subjecting to heat. After il
is introduced into the pores it hardens as
it becomes cold.
Red-hot lead is an excellent thing in
which to heat a long plato Of steel that re-
quiIes sOftening or tempering on one edge.
The steel need only be heated at the rate
required, and there is little danger Of the |
metal warping or springing. By giving
sufficient time thick portions may be heat
Ell equally with thin parts. The ends OF
wire springs that are TO be bent or riveted
may be sottened for that purpose by this
process alter the springs have been hard
ened or tempered.
The photographic Nelrs in a late issue |
states that Photography has finally been |
applied to assist leather merchants, deal I
ers or manufacturers, whatever il may be, I
Ia initiating alligator skin. The photo /
graph is taken, presumably on a large |
plate, Of the genuine alligator hide. This I
IS then reproduced in the bicrOmate CELIA /
tine, from which in turn metal die is I
made. The die is then used on any kind /
of cheap leather, calfskin CT otherwise, /
and all the curious markings are trans |
ferred to the bogus alligator hide so eX-
actlY that only experts can detect the [
imitation.