The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-11-18
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIEN-
TIFIC

In recent report by Lancaster, on the ia
nous storms of 1873 in Belgium. the conclu-
sIOnS previously announced there are con-
iirmed. namely, that thunder-storms occur
only in the southeast quadrant of the bar
ometric depressions, or great cyclonic storms
that frequently sweep across temperate lati-
tudes.
Mr.. Ellis Lever of Bowdon, Cheshire,
England has offered a prize of $500 for the
invention or discovery of q new method or
composition for treating canvass or other
material used as brattice cloth and air
tubing in mines, which shall AZ a moderate
cost, render such material, al damp and
iIre-proof, and superior to TIM at present
in use.
The demand for pure oxygen gas for med
ical nd other purposes has recently led to
the construction OF machinery for separating
the gas from air by the agency of caustic
baryta. which has the property of absorbing
a certain portion of oxygen in addition to
what it already contains and of yielding up
again 4his absorbed oxygen when heated and
placed in vacuum.
a remnant of the great forests which once
covered the south OF Sweden was recently
dug out at bog at kiuneved. consisting of
boat six feet in diameter followed out OF Il
log. The tree from which il was obtained
must have been twenty feet in circumfer-
encc. The wood, which was blue in color
was very hard, and the boat so heavy that
two bullocks could not move it,
AT the Melbourne Exhibition there was a
complete dwellihg-house made entirely of
paper and furnished with the same material
There were paper walls, roofs, ceilings floor
ines, jOists and stairways. There were paper
carpets, bedding chairs. sofas and lamps.
There were paper frying-pans, and even the
stoves, in which bright fires were constantly
burning daily, were of paper-mache. When
the builder OF this mansion gave Il banquet
the table-cloths, napkins, plates. cups,
saucers, tumbIers, cruets. and even the
knives and forks, were likewise made of
paper.
A New 1erk man has devised plan by
which the Atlantic Ocean can be illuminat-
ed at night. He proposes to employ light
ships, bearing electric candles of enormous
power and connected with each other, and
with a submarine cable by suitably adj
iusted wires. The practicability of this Is
based on what are styled two undisputed
possibilities-namely, that light ship will
lie at anchor in heavy sea without protec-
ton, and that electrical communication may
readily he maintained from such a ship with
the two continents.
few days ago, while some workmen
were pulling down an old building in the
town OF Svenborg, on tie island OF Funen,
lneN came upon a valuable
included ten bars of veyy fine silver and -
IA silver and gold Gains, all dating from the
reign of the Danish King Eric, of Pomeranis
"a. ID. 1396lil2l. The whole lay together,
buried in the basement close to the founds-
ton. Ii is singular that tradition of cen
turtles pointed to this house as place where
treasure had been buried, and the owner,
when selling it a short time since, expressly
reserved the ownership OF any treasure that
might be found on the premises.
A new drug fround by DIR. Buckland is
creating much comment in the medical
world 1t is called evenesca, and is produced
from Scotch oats For nearly half century
chemists have been attempting to extract
and isolate this peculiar alhaloid, but to DR..
auckland, who has achieved quite reputa-
ton as neurOlogist and insanity expert In
New England, belongs the credit of success.
Ii is claimed that its curative actions are re-
markable in brain and nerve disorders and
its use is being generally adopted by the
medical profession for nervousness, paraly-
sis, sleeplessness, sciatica, neuralgia and Ike
disorders with great success. 1t is said to be
perfectly harmless, yet most powerful
nerve tonic.
Professor III. l.. Cohn describes long Sc
ries of determinations OF the relative values
of various forms OF lamp shades. The method
pursued was to measure the brightness OF
white paper lying on a table over which the
source of artificial light was suspended at a
given distance by means of Weber pho
tometer. AS one would anticipate. the gen.
eral effect of shade is to increase very
greatly the illumination Immediately under
. the light, and not modify ii notably at an
angular distance greater than forty-five de-
grees from this region. The experiments,
which dealt with tie illumination requisite
for easiest use for the eyes, of the most gem
eral interest Taking as measure OF the
value of the illumination in this sense the
number of lines which can be read from a
newspaper in minute, and as the unit OF
illumination that of a normal candle at a
perpendicular distance of a metre from the
paper he finds that the best illumination Is
not less than fifty such units. Since even a
fifth of this illumination is very rarely Sc
cured, except Immediately under a lamp
provided with good shade, the author EN-
phasizes the conclusion that few school
children work in a satisfactory light.