Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-27
BITS OF SCIENCE.

A camel can carry a ton, and twenty
| pounds of hair, worth 81 80 a pound, may
| be sheared from his body every year.
A new process in shOtmaking does away
with the tall towers. A strong current of
| air is forced on the lead as it falls into the
water.
/ The tensile strength of glass has been
shown to be between 1000 and 1000 pounds
( per square inch, and the crushing strength
! between 5000 and 10000 pounds.
One thousand shingles will cover 100
! square feet of surface, laid four inches to
the weather; for the above about five
| pounds of nails will be required.
over $4,000 OF the 4, 400, 1929 pieces of mail
matter sent to the Dead Letter Office last
/ year contained checks, money. orders,
ETC., amounting to about $l,030,000.
From statistics recently published by a
! German house it seems that there are 3, 985
/ paper mills in the world, producing every
/ year $4,000 tons of clean paper About
| one-half is printed on, the other half is
| used for writing paper.
Granulated cork is an excellent nom
conductor Of heat, and is on this account
a very desirable material in the cOnstruc-
ton of refrigerator cars. It is also used
in the floors of the passenger cars as a
''deadener" of the noise of the running
gear.
A German paper says that roof can be
made fireproOf by covering it with a mix
ture of lime, salt and wood ashes. adding
little lampblack to give dark color
This not only guards against fire, It is
claimed, hut also in a measure prevents
decay.
At the temples of KrOtO, Japan, is the
great bell cast in 1888. Ii is Is feet high.
8 feet in diameter and 81 inches thick.
Its weight is nearly "A tons. About 1900
pounds of gold are said to have been in
cOrpOrated in the composition. Its tone
IS magnificent. When struck with the
open hand its sound can be heard at a dis
lance of hundred yards.
DR.. johnson once declared, "There is
nothing, think, in which the power of
art is shown as much as is PLAYING on the
VIOLIN" The violin, although it seems
simple, requires great care IN its cOnstruc-
ton. Each variety of wood has its va
riety of sound. The pressure of the four
strings of the violin is said to be equal to
about ninety pounds, and yet the whole
instrument may not weigh more than two
pounds.
A writer in a contemporary journal
says: 81 discovered many years ago that
wood could be made to last longer than
iron in the ground, but thought the pro-
cess SO simple that it was not well to make
stir about il. Posts of any wood can be
prepared for less than 2cents apiece. This
Is the recipe: Take boiled Iinseed oil and
stir in pulverized coal TO the consistency
OF paint. Put coat of this over the tim
Der and there is not a man who Will live
TO see it rot.''
To cleanse oil paintings that have be-
come dingy with SCOT and coal dust, sub
stances are frequently employed which
inJure the paintings by acting upon the
lighter shades. After the dust and dirt
are removed with we'll water a spOngeful
OF soap will do no harm; but this soap,
however free it may be of any excess of
potash, must be washed thoroughly off the
picture If the colors look dull alter 90
ing over it the last time and letting it drv,
give the whole thin coat Of yarnish aud
finish with olive oil.
Paper bottles are now made on large
scale in Germany and Austria. The paper
must be well sized. The following is said
to be good recipe tor the paper: Ten
parts Of rags, forty Of straE, fifty Of
brown wood pulp. The paper is impreg-
mated or coated on both sides with Sixty
parts Of detibrinated fresh EblcOd, thirty
i've parts of lime powder, fVe parts sui
phate OF alumlna. After drying. ten or
twelve rolled leaves are coated again,
placed over each other, and then placed
in heated molds. The aibumen in the
blood forms a combination on pressure
with the lime, which is perfectly proof
against spirits, etc. The bottles are
made in two pieces, which are joined af-
terward.
The metallizatiOn of wood is effected BY
the Rubennieh process as follows: The
wood is first plunged Into prepara-
ton of caustic aikalI, at a tempera-
ture Of between 1JS and 1914 degrees Fab
renheit, where il remains for two or three
days, according 10 its permeability. 1t is
then transferred to bath of hydrO-sul-
phate OF calcium, to v hich Tin from twen-
ty-fOur 10 thirty-six hours Is added a
concentrated solution Of sulphur. 1t re-
mains in this bath tor fOrty-eight hours.
at a temperature OF from % TO 1872 degrees
Fahrenheit, and then lies for forty hours
in a solution of acetate OF lead, at IO4
degrees Fahrenheit. When dry wood thus
prepared takes a beautiful polish and Has
a metallic glitter; II can even lie made
into mirrors. il is also extremely hard.