The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-10-09
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

DR.. Percy f. Frankland's experiments
have shown that the best filters for drink
ing water are made Of greensand, coke,
animal charcoal, or spongy iron, but in
every case the filter loses its power to
remove all organic particles after being
used a month.
According to Mr.. w. II. Harris, I'M
wholesome food, defective ventilation
and the diffusion of poisonous germs
produce among bees about the same re-
suit MS among the human family. A
common and very fatal disease of the bees
is dysentery, due to imperfect ventila-
ton and poor winter food.
Most watch dias are made out of
sheet copper pressed into shape, to which
a vitreous or CLASSY solution is applied
end fused on in a gas furnace. The
hours and minutes are painted on by
hand with camel's hair brush. The
paint used for this purpose being also of
vitreous nature, the dials have to be
again put in furnace to fix the enamel
letter.
The following simple resort is recon-
mended for preserving the color of flow
ers After fastening wire to each stem,
dip the flowers separately into a clear
solution of gum arabic, suspend them on
line, and when dry they will be
found covered with glazing interfer-
ing very slightly with their beauty, at
the same time preventing the air from
destroying the color.
From Investigations made by DR..
Alexis A. Julien regarding the life Chat
is, the period before decay appears), of
different stone in this climate, it appears
that the life of coarse brown stone is five
to fifteen years; Illuminated brown stone
twenty to fifty years compact fine bro wn
stone, one hundred to two hundred
years; Nova Scotia stone, untried, fifty
to two hundred years; Ohio sandstone,
from one to many centuries; coarse fos-
siliferous limestone, twenty to forty
years; granite, seventy-ive to two hun
dred years; gneiss, fifty years to many
centuries.
In speaking of Homeopathic per-
fumes" an exchange says the odorifer-
Gus molecules of musk must be incCm-
prehensibly small. We cannot imagine
their smalness, as it is said that the
same grain of musk undergoes absolute ly
no diminution in weight. A
single drop of the oil of thyme, ground
down with piece of sugar and little
alcohol, will communicate its odor to
twenty-five gallons of water. Haller
kept for forty years papers perfumed
with one grain of ambcrgris. After this
time the odor was as strong as ever.
Bordenave has evaluated a molecue of
camphor sensible to the smell to 2, 1862,
GS4, 000th of grain. Boyle has OBJ
served that one dram of asafntida ex-
posed to the open air had lost in six
days the eighth of one grain, from which
Keill concludes that in one minute it
had lost 60, 120th of a grain.
The simplest method of taking nour-
ishment by animals is by absorption
through the skin. The tapeworm, for
example, has neither mouth
nor stomach but imbibes the
1t infests. Many other animals, espec-
tally insects, live upon liquid food but
obtain it by suction, through special
orifce and tube. Thus we find mouth
or sucker, furnished with teeth or lane
ing the skin of animals, as in the leech
bristle-like tube fitted for piercing,
as in the mosquiteo; a sharp sucker armed
with barbs to fit securely during the act
of sucking, as in the louise, and long
flexible proboscis. as In the butterfly.
Bees have hairy channelcd tongue,
and flies have one terminating in a large,
tieshy knob, with or without little
knives at the base for cutting the skin
both lap rather than suck their food.