The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-01-24
POPULAR SCIENCE.

An expert, in a London will case.
: recently stated that pencil marks rub
bed out revive When the texture of
the paper returned to its normal con-
dition. The existence of these marks
/ proved most embarrassing in the case
! ID question. The Boston fire, too,
/, proved that pencil writing was more
! enduring than ink.
PROF.. Nordenskioid has presented a
meteoCic bicck, which he found, with
others, In 1910, at OYipak. on the
Disco peninsula, Greenland, to the
llc!sinfors University, where it has
lately arrived from America, its
weight being about 10000 pounds.
Nature says the block is 20 be kept
out in the open air, as it has been dis
c overed that these stones waste away
in d room.
To detect ground rice in buckwheat
-four: Heat quantity OF concen-
trated I've, mixed with water, in half
as much flour, to the consistency of
paste. Ii there be rice flour in it the
mixture Will appear yellow, land on the
addition OF muriatic acid, white; if
buckwheat alone, the paste will be
dark g-een, and with muriatic acid
added, red. On pouring spirits of
wine containing murlatic acid over
1t, the mixture, if rice flour be con-
tanned in it, will be colorless; il buck
wheat alone, brownish. Seen under
the microscope, there is no difference
IN the starch grains of the rice and
the buckWheat.
Two scientific Investigators, one
Swiss and the other French, have
been Analysing the Alpine air. They
ascertained that entirely pure air is
not found until an altitude is reached
OF from 5000 to 1900 feet above the
level of the sea. The atmosphere
around the lakes below that level,
however pure and healthful apparent
", was found to contain bacteria.
Nevertheless, it was pure enough by
comparison with that Of the French
capital, where the bacteria contained
in square foot Of air are 1000 times
more numerous than those in the
same quantity of air in one of the |
Swiss valleys.
Musty grain, says the Milling
World, totally unfit for use and which |
can scarcely be ground, may be rem
dered sweet and sound by simply i'm
m ersing it in boiling water and letting |
it remain until the water becomes |
cold. The quantity of the water must |
be doubled that OF the grain to be |
purified. The muSLy qualities rarely |
penetrate through the husks of the |
wheat, and in the very worst cases it J
does not extend through the Fart |
which lies Immediately under the
skin. In the hot water all the decay
ed or rotten grains swim on the sur
free SO that they can be removed, and
the remaining wheat is effectually
cleaned from all Impurities without |
any loss. It must be completely and
dried afterwards.
According to 1.-THE Gazz. Med. Ital.
Venete, Prof. Suvestrini has made
series of experiments to ascertain If
the miasm Of malaria really exists, as
is generally supposed, in the dew and
the sail. He collected soil and dew
.''r' '''-' 80 ~ unwhoiesome places,
dHu 80 .u.,. illusions of them under
his skin. havlIg first ascertained that
they held various forms of sporifer-
Gus and other bacilli. No evil results
were experienced. He tried similar
on his wife, and he and
his friends made tifty-tWo expert
ments with dew and infusions of soil
collected from many places. All of
them proved innocuous. The profess
sor denies, therefore, that a primitive
infection is the cause of malarial
feYeTs.