The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-06-12
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

A Russian inventor has devised means
of so impregnating wood with a certain
chemical that matches made from it can
be used several times over, thus effecting
saving of at least seventy-ive per cent.
a ledge Of white stone, which some
what resembles marble, and is suscepti-
bic of a high polish, exists In Paradise
valley, Nevada. When quarried, it is
said to be much lighter and softer than
ordinary rock, but hardens upon ex-
posure.
Glucose is used principally for the
manufacture of table syrup, as a substi.
tute for barley malt in the brewing of
beer and ale, as substitute for cane
sugar IN confectionery and in canning
fruit, to adulterate cane sugar, to manu-.
facture artificial honey and in making
vinegar.
An enterprising Frenchman has in.
vented revolver which, though so small
as to be conveniently carried in the vest
pocket, can be fired ten times without
reloading, and with greater ease and GER
tainty than those of the old pattern.
The whole length of the weapon is four
inches, which can be reduced to two and
fve-eighths by unscrewng the barrel.
A new alimentary substance, the seeds
OF the Bolivian cotton tree, has attracted
the attention of the Academic DIES Sci.
ences. 1t is rich in nitrogenized sub
stances, and contains twenty-three per
cent. of fibrine and six of casein. NJ.
SAGE thought that flour from the seed
would be very suitable for pastry and
sweets. 1t is likely to be used in sugar
making as substitute for Carbonc acid.
a variety of prehistoric oh ects in honr,
such as amulets cups, knives, daggers,
rings, buttons, bracelets, etc, have been
found in stratum, existing at a depth
OF about five feet in the mud of Lake
Neuenburg, Switzerland. The finder,
Herr G. Kaiser, believes them to be older
than the stone and bronze implements of
the same locality, and he proposes to call
the period to which they belong 1.-THE
age Of horn"
The great sand dunes along the banks
of many rivers, and particularly along
the shores at the southern end of Lake
Michigan, are due to the presence of the
Ammophilia Arenaria, or sand gathering
grass, which possesses a remarkable
power of drawing up moisture, Indeed,
it may almost be called miniature water
pump, for it is able to keep the earth wet
for several inches around it. This wet
earth catches and holds the drifting sand.
The process goes on, the grass growing
and the sand collecting, until a great
sand dune is the result.
A curiosity in the way of watches was
shown by Mr.. +. Sordet, director of the
watch makers school at Geneva, before
the Theological Section of the Society of
Arts. This wonder is nothing less than
a watch with one wheel, manufactured
in Paris in the last century by NJ.
Gautrin. The watch was presented to
the National Institute in 1890, being
then in - deplorable state; but the
teacher OF the repairing section of the
school, VI. Emile James, has, after many
hours Of labor, succeeded in re establish
ing harmony between the various organs,
so that now it is in good order The
great wheel which gives the watch its
name occupies the bottom of the case
and the centre of the plate. In has sixty
teeth, and is thirty three nm. in diane
ter. Its axis carries two pinions, one of
which receives the motive force from
barrel, and the other carries the minute
work. The function of this great wheel
is quadruple. First, it acts on lift,
then on a lever operating on an another
destined to lower the axis of the watch
and lastly on a third lever, the latter
serving to return power to the great
wheel at the moment when the action
relents by the rise of the axis.