The Dillon tribune., 1884-11-15
Ghe lino,t !Gribn,,e.
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

Persons walking without landmarks, as
for example in a fog or mist, are said grad.
ually to circle to the left. This is explained
by the fact that the right leg, being the
stronger, outtravels the left.
The blue color Of pieces of Starsturt rock
salt is not due To any coloring matter, but
is an optical phenomenon. 1t has been
mistakenly ascribed to the presence OF
sulphur compound, to sodium subchlorate
and to gases.
Any man living in a large city onght to
have in every room, instead of a pane OF
glass in one of the windows. Il frame of
>erim gauze, but SO constructed that in ex.
:remely cold weather it could be closed. 1t
would lessen the bills of mortality.
The trusses Of the old part OF the Basi-
lica Of ST. Paul, in Rome, framed in Si6,
were found to be sound in 1914. The tim
Der OF the external domes of st. Mark, in
Venice, is in good preservation, after more
than $40 years
Railway and other car wheels are now
made Of leather in France. Cntanned Buf.
lalo skins are cut into strips, made into
solid disks and compressed by hydraulic
power. They are noiseless. not subject to
shocks, and not easily fractured.
Van Nostrand's magazine says a mix.
ture Of 100 parts OF resin (colophony). IS
parts OF gutta percl'a, 50 parts OF paraffine,
20 parts Of ,nagnesia and some mineral oil
is good coating for iron which is to be
pu. under ground.
Gas engines from one fourth horse power
to 500 horse power are made. y sixteen
horse power engine will consume one and
onc.fifth pounds OF coal per horse power
per nour, or about half the amount re-
quired for the most economical and largest
steam engines.
Combined nitrogen, nitrous acid, or
nitrates, or ammonia compounds arc found
to some extent in all soils. Scl,oubein en-
plains it on theory that the mere evapora.
ton Of water in the air is accompanied BY
the formation Of a small quantity Of nitrous
acid, and so the soils acquire it from the
air.
A white fire, which, can be used as an
artificial light in photography, can be made
OF eight parts Of ch!oratc Of potash, four
parts Of sulphide Of antimony, two parts Of
sulphur, two parts Of magnesia in fine fl-
ings or powder. The ingredients are to be
powdered separately and mixed intimately
with bone spatula.
Mr.. Russell, of the United States geo.
logical survey, says that the lava near
Mono lake is the product of recent vol
canic outbursts. He holds that there have
been two ice ages over the world-the Sec
ond, about the time of the advent Of man,
being the most severe. He finds living
glaciers not far from the Yosemite valley.
Ochres are found in this country in Yer.
mont, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The
best deposit is in the Appomattox river, in
Virginia. at Bermuda. 1t was found in
1879, and but for mixture with some sand,
which must be washed out, it is quite equal
TO the French ochres. 1t yields ahou: 1000
tons annually.
Efforts are now made by distinguished
surgeons in England to cure cerebral dis
eases by operation. Secondary infamma
ton can be absolutely prevented, and there
can be a good deal OF diminu,ion Of the
cranial hemispheres without danger. The
seat Of the disease can thus be positively
ascertained, and remedies used to modify or
neutralize it.