Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-06-14
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

Paper is now made which closely resem-
bles satin. Common paper Is covered with
size and moist asbestos is sprinkled over it
The asbestos is dyed, and with aniline col
ors desirable effects are produced.
Red ink is made by taking two ounces
best Brazil wood, one-half ounce pulyer-
lied alum, one-half ounce crystals of BIZ
tartate of potassa, and sixteen ounces of
distilled water Boil down to one-half and
strain. Then dissolve in it one-half ounce
gum arabic, and add one and one-half
drachms cochineal, dissolve in one-half
ounces of alcohol OF specific gravity .S39.
Blindness is steadily decreasing in Eng
land, owing, it is considered, to the advance
in surgical treatment of the eyes, and TO
the decline of such diseases as smallpox
etc. among children. For thirty years this
affiiction has gradually lessened, but with
in the last decade the improvement is
specially noticeable, and the last returns
reckon some 3, S32 blind persons-about
one in every ,13o.
Curing bacon by hanging it up, after
proper sailing, in a tobacco barn. is recon-
mended by Kentucky correspondent as
making a sweet and perfect cure, with no
necessity for smoking and leaving no taste
of tobacco in the meat 1t is thought proba-
Bile that the aroma given off by the tobacco
has a mild antiseptic effect such as that
which belongs to creosote, carbolic acid,
and other substances which occur in wood
smoke.
Resin is easily removed from violin boys
by rubbing them carefully with a piece of
flannel saturated with paraffine oil. The
varnish will remain intact, but the hair
must not be touched The process. ought
- fem f,r1-.
Wipe off the surplus oil with clean, soft,
dry rag. A simple application of soap and
water should remove all the scales from
the hairs, but if this is not enough the bows
had better be rehaired.
The cement used in patching the uppers
of fine shoes is generally made by disSolv
ing gutta percha in chloroform until the
mixture is about as thick as syrup Scrape
and pare clean around the hole to be COW
cred, and thin carefully with long cham
fer the edges of the bit of leather to be APP
piled Only a little of the cement is
needed, but the surfaces must be pressed
close together. The parts will adhere
firmly in few minutes.
A singular accident is reported from the
Derry (England) Standard to have hap
pened in Connection with the insulated
electric rail on the Partrush Electric Tram
way. ploughman returning from work
on Thursday stood upon the rail 10 mount
his horse and on applying his hands to the
back of the animal. the brute fell dead,
while the man was uninjured, as though
the current of electricity must have passed
through his body to the horse.
30 Several accurate photographs of light
ning-fashes have been secured by Robert
Haensel. of Reichenberg, Bohemia. The
flashes are shown as long, continuous
sparks, and in one of the pictures the
point where the spark met the earth may
be seen. The landscape is clearly defined
in the photographs, affording a means for
calculating the length of the lightning's
path through the air, which, in one in
stance, was estimated at more than mile.
The popularity of the Cruto incandes-
cent lamp is that the carbon is deposited
upon a very slender flament of platinum
serving first as a core and ultimately form
ing compound possessing the endurance
of the carbon and the conductiyity of the
platinum. Selected Cruto lamps are said
to have given 17-candle power with an ex-
penditure of only 81 volt-amperes, while
not less than 60 volt-amperes are required
for most other 16 to 20-candle power lamps.
Physicists have lately been trying 10 deter
mine by experiment whether the electrici
tv of thunder-stOrms is generated by the
evaporation of water or by the condenSa-
ton of vapor Freeman and Blake have
each obtained results which indicate that
no electricity is produced by the evapora-
ton of pure water. s. Kalischer has since
made some investigations with delicate APP
paratus, which have failed to show that
condensation or the formation of hail is a
source of atmospheric electricity.