Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-26
FINE ART EXHIBITION.
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

Chronic acid according to an English
physician, is good for warts-or rather tits
bad for the warts
Mr.. Bradlee, an architect, has proved
beyond all dispute that Portland cement
does expand. He filled three glass bottles
with cement and closely sealed them.
One of the bottles burst in two days, an
other in eight days, and the third IN ten
days.
The aluminium process for the decora-
ton and preservation Of iron and steel is
intended to take the place OF nickeling,
tuniug and coppering. The coating leaves
the sharpness of the outline unimpaired,
and adheres closely to cast and wrought
work.
A Professor of the Faculty of Sciences
of Marseilles is reported to have examined
a section of French railway with the re-
suit of finding that all the nails which had
been in use for considerable time had be-
come converted into magnets capable OF
strongly attracting pieces Of iron. After
being taken up the rails gradually lost
their magnetism,
Among the many substances formerly
considered vsluelesa but utilized by mod
ern science is the nettle. This weed is
now actually being cultivated in Germany,
where it's fiber is made into a variety OF
textile fabrics. A Dresden manufacturer
has produced from it the finest thread
known to the trade, of which length of
sixty miles weighs only two and hall
pounds.
In the Sinaitic range of mountains there
is remarkable cone of sandy rocks called
Gebel-Nakus. When a traveller attempts
in fine weather TO scale this miniature peak
he hears a sound like that of distant bells.
| When there IS no wind and the sand IS
damp with dew the sound is not heard.
This phenomenon is attributed to the fric.
tion of the silICious sand on the declivities
of the cone. The atmospheric vibration
which is thus started Is supposed to be in
tensiied by cavities which serve as sound
ing. boxes or resonators.
Speaking of the economy of fuel in house
fires, T. Fletcher, f. c, S, says l do nos
find that any person who has choice be-
tween sitting in a room heated by purely
radiant heat and one heated by warm air
will, under any circumstances, choose the
latter, even if the room itself is in other
respects far more convenient and cOmforta-
BILE and so long as coal or lncandescent
gas fire can be obtained at a reasonable
cost, it does not appear at all likely that
any stove viii be adopted in ordinary sit.
ting rooms, whatever its apparent advant-
ages may be.
The remarkable storm which crossed the
/ British Isles between September lst and
81 has been traced by c. Harding, F. K.
NJ. S, 10 two original centers of disturb
ance, one being first shown ct point about
$50 miles to the south OF Bermuda on the
/ 2Gth of August, aud the other to the east
of the Rocky Mountains on the 9th.
These Two disturbances merged on the
/ 29th, when about 300 miles north of Ber-
muda, and formed one great and destruc-
tive gale, which continued to grow in vio-
/ lence as 1t crossed the Atlantic until 1t
/ reached the British COSTS. This storm
crossed the Atlantic at an average speed Of
1 full forty miles ar hour, which IS more
/ than double the usual rate Of storms which
/ traverse that ocean.