The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1885-12-20
SCIENTIFIC NOTEy.

Panoramic photographs in connection with mill
tary surveying and the like are now taken by a
simple French instrument called the cylindro-
graph. A semicircular cylinder having a small
lens in the centre moves on axis. and is pro-
videl with dark slide of some material that
bends without breaking When view is to be
taken the lens is moved from one side to the other
French chemist has brought forward new
method of manufacturing gunpowder. The
requisite quantity OF sulphur is dissolved in sui
phtde Of carbon, and this solution is then mixed
with the carbon, which, instead Of charcoal-as in
other modes of powder making-is cotton some
other collulose ibre which is reduced TO an i'm
palpab1e powder. To this mixture is finally added
the proper quantity of saturated solution of salt
capitalization broken up. or it is evaporated in
vacuum. very perfect Incorporation of the sew
eral substances is thus secured.
Pu1verized steatte is coming into use, quite sat
isfactorily, as finish covering for walls and
ceilings. 1t is simply soapstone. 1t takes high
polish is pearl gray in tint, presents the best pos
sbls surface for painting, either in oil or water
color, and will neither crack nor chip. 1t is
claimed for it that 1t is conductor and non
absorbant; that it can be washed without injury
nails be driven into 1t without damage; when
subject to heat, moisture and chemical fumes it
give smell. and does not turn yellow with age.
1t is thought to be specially adapted for hospitals
factories, cellars, markets, etc.
An engineer In Berlin, Germany, is the inventor
of an improved construction of steam engine, the
peculiar feature of which consists in the dead
centre point being obviated. In this arrangement
block is secured to the piston rod, this block
being provided with diagonal slot through which
the crank pin passes. The slot has conceived edges
facing each other, and is provided with recess at
each end. The slide valve Is attached to a rod
provided at the lower ends with tappets. against
which the ends of the sliding block strike, thus
ciprocaIing the slide valve rod The levers from
which the rods are suspended are provided with
spring arms for giving the desired degree Of ex-
pansion.
According 10 NJ Frenzy, nitrogen exercises an
| irnDnrtant infuepca iron and atAel Ia dine not
10 the presence Of carbon alone, but to combina,
tion OF iron with nitrocarburets. Careful analysis
however, shows that there is no fixed relation be
tween the properties of nitrogen and carbon in
either steel iron and also that the proportions
Of nitrogen are found to vary, while those OF car
bon are moro constant. Hence il has been sup
posed that the presence of the former Is more or
less accidental and unimportant, 1t Is known that
there special sores of steel which naturally
produce steel at certain stage of ining but which
by still further inning pass into iron. Again. this
same iron gives steel of a superior quality for ce
mentation. All metals, in fact, undergo remark
able changes under the influence Of exceedingly
small proportions Of various foreign substances.
Copper is partly modified by the meFest trace Of
oxygen, PulpAur or lead; zinc tin by only few
tenths Of ons per cent OF iron, and gold is made
brittle az anthony by one-hundredlh Of one per
cent Of lead or bismuth
paper was recently read before one Of the for.
eign chemical societies. in which the writer showed
that filter paper, ordinarily 80 weak, can be rem
dered tough and at the same time pervious to
density, 142, then washing it in water. The pro-
duct is different from parchment paper made with
sulphuric acid, and it can be washed and rubbed
like piece of linen. 1t contracts in size under
the treatment. and also slightly decreases in
weight. the nitrogen being removed and the ash
diminished, whereas loop formed Of strip
twenty-five millimetres wide OF ordinary Swedish
| Alter paper gave way when weighted with 100 to
| 100 grams. similar loop of toughensd paper
| bore a weight of is Kilograms. The toughened
| paper can be used with vacuum pump in ordi-
nary tunnels without extra support and fits suffi-
GENTLY close to prevent undue access Of air which
| is not the case with parchment paper. For use
| with the pump good filters are made by dipping
only the apex of the paper into nitric acid, then
| washing with water.
Of electricity and magnetism has led M. Decharms
| to devise what is called hydrodynamic tuning
| fork, and which vibrates continuously under the
action of current of water, compressed air or
| steam, automatically interrupted, just as electric
| tuning forks do under the influence Of electric
| current The construction Of this singular appa-
| ratus is based upon these principles: First when
| two currents Of water Of opposite directions, and
directly facing each other issuing from MOBILES
/ with thick tips provided with small disks there
is attraction Of such cufrehts--one of which, at
least, is supposed rcovable--when the distance be
| tween the apertures is butt few fractions oiS an
| inch, this ATTRACTION very Quickly INCREASING Tp
measure rs the DISTANCE dilninishes. Second. Il.
en- the contrary, The nozzles have thin tips there Il
arepulsion; and third, when the currents are not
| exactly opposite ONE another there ia produced.
| when they meet. an Rxial direction that tends 20
| bring them TO parallelism AID coincidence OF
| axes, In all cases there may be Vibrations