The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-07-29

the resistance will amount to fifty pounds
per square foot at that speed. Ii is perfectly
safe TO say that with high wind the resist
ance alone might easily require :, 800 horse
power, in addition to that needed for hauling
the train.
A recent Paris invention is known as veg
etable leather" 1t smade of gutta percha,
sulphur, raw cotton. zinc white, kolkothar,
and oxide of anthony. The proportions are
varied according TO the purposes to be served,
but the material is said TO be fully equal to
the animal product.
A cement very much used at the present
day IL China and Japan is made from rice.
1t is only necessary TO mix rice -four init
mately with water and gently simmer the
mixture over a clear fire, when IL readily
forms delicate and durable cement which
answers all the purposes of common paste.
The London Lancet mentions the arrange
ment of person who makes himself deaf to
all noises by the simple expedient of taking
a small piece of spermaceti ointment, not too
soft, about the size of pea, and wrapping IL
in a tiny square of thin, limp cotton cloth,
tying the corners together with thread, TO
make a small plug. One of these pressed
gently in each ear shuts out all sound.
Thomas Taylor, NJ. d., microscopic of the
Department of Agriculture, gives the follow
ing test for butter: If few drops OF sui
tity of pure butter the butter will assume
first an Opaque white yellow color, and after
the lapse of about ten minutes IL Will change
TO a brick red. OleOmargarine made of beef
fat, when treated in the same manner, chang
es at first TO n clear amber, and after a lapse
of about twenty minutes 10 deep crimson"
The best shining black ink, used for
mourning paper, and the manufacture of
which has, up 10 the present time, been kept
secret by the makers may be prepared
according TO the Papier Zeitung of lamp
black, borax and shellac. The ink is made
as follows: In one litre of hot water sixty
grammes of bOrax are dissolved, and to this
solution three times the quantity of shellac
is added, the whole being constantly stirred.
Should the luStre not be satisfactory, more
shellac is added.
Fine French silks, according to the Ameri-
can Machinist, have been imported" from
Patterson, y. j.. for number of years. Lat
terly Vienna brentwood furniture has been
imported from Charleston, S. c., and the
business has been so brisk that another fac
tory, TO make 200 hundred brentwood chairs
a day, is TO be erected at once in Columbia,
S C.. There are many people who will not
buy dress goods or fine furniture of Ameri-
can manufacture, if they know It; hence the
deception. When they discover that silks
and brentwood furniture can be made of rs
good quality in the United States as any
where in the world it surprises them.
\ Scotch gentleman of keen observation
has found out that Atlantic tides serve the
purpose of natural storm warnings with a re-
markable degree of reliability. Writing "a
SymOns' Meteorological Magazine he states
that in the Hebrides 1.-THE waters of the At
lantic rise abnormally high for forty-eight
hours and downward before the arrival of q
cyclone the height and time-period varying
with the force of the approaching disturb
ance." He therefore suggests that if the daily
records of the tides were faithfully kept and
reported they would afford data for forecast
ing storms with greater certainty than by the
barOmetric gradient now prevailing. There
can be no doubt that tidal observation:
would often give timely notice of n coming
storm before the sluggish barometer falls low
enough 10 awake apprehension. Ii is not un
common when West India hurricanes are adj
vancing westwardly toward the Florida
coast for them 10 announce their approach
two days or more ahead of their arrival by
unusually high tides at Charleston, and even
on the upper North Carolina coast.
Not many people of those who have wit
messed during pyrOtechnic displays the burst
ing of those wonderful bombs which sent
out showers of gold and parti-colored stars
have any idea of how they are made and
fired. The principle is the same as III the
military she'll the casing being made of pa
hemispheres are charged with innumerablt
conical-shaPed stars made from compressed
colOring matter, and when the halves are
joined together and paper sealed they are
thrown from mortar. Unless the stars are
very carefully arranged they are apt to deto
nate by the force of the powder exploded in
the mortar. The distance to be travelled by
a shell before the stars shall break is regula
ted with fuse running four, five, ten, fifteeI
or twenty seconds. This fuse which is &
necessary adjunct to all fancy fireworks is g
simple cOntrivance. 1t is made by soaking
ordinary cotton wick in a compound Of
meal powder, gum arabic, alcohol and water
and is very cOmbustible. At the moment
the shell leaves the mortar the fuse ignites
and is gradually consumed until the flame:
reach an interior cavity of the shell holdIns
charge of powder Instant explosion en-
sues the shell breaks with loud report anC
sheds the burning stars in perfect shower
of beautiful color.