Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-09-02
SCIENCE AND INVENTION.

ACCORDING to M Dreulafait the
mean daily evaporation of the water
of the season on the southern coast
of France is at least six milimeters.
ORANGE peel is now said to be col
lected, dried in ovens and sold for
kindling fires 1t burns readily and
with great fierceness, and is safer than
kerosene.
The complete destruction of the
carcasses of animals that have died OF
contagious diseases is recommended
by M. Girard. He would dissolve the
bodies in cold concentrated sulphurlc
acid.
Ii is reported in the Gaceta Indus
Trial that the Metallurgical Society OF
San Juan de Alcarez has succeeded in
manufacturing excellent copper tubes
without soldering, and so as to be able
to compete with all other similar
products.
PERACK, in the Malay Peninsula,
now produces about as much tin every
year as Cornwall. Last year Perack
exported not less than 1000 tons of
that valuable metal. In the mining
works there are 10000 Chinese en-
ployed at present.
THE Dutch government isnot to give
the prize of 10000 guilders for the dis
covery OF q northeast passage" to the
intrepid Swedish explorer Baron Nor
kenskJOld. 1t is refused because the
route is rather q scientific than COM
mercial one, and it was for the discov-
cry of the latter that the reward was
offered.
The scintillation of stars, Montigny
asserts, increase during auroras, the
increase being very marked in winter.
The difference is most noticeable in
the northern stars. When magnetic
disturbance is Indicated at the Brus-
sells Observatory the frequency of the
sclntlllation becomes greater with the
intensity of the storm. Considerable
obscurity hangs about this whole sub
ject.
THIS is new German method for
preparing q pressed enamel upon
glass: A mixture of dry enamel, thick
pine oil, and dammer lac is laid on the
glass in a semi-dried state. After dry,
ing the drawing is pressed in. The
enamel is then burned. In this way
it is possible to reproduce the forms Of
figures in slight relief, the feathers Of
birds, the hairs of animals, and the
veins of leaves.
FRANCE takes mineral water from
l,O27 sources of supply. Puy de
Dome has 81 of these; Ardeche, II
Vosges, 76; Ariege ct Pyrenees Orien
tales, 90, and Hautes Pyrenees, Ga
AS to the chemical nature of these
springs, $40 are classed as sulphurous
357 AS alkaline, 1876 as iron and 215
salt. About 651 of them are thermal
their waters having a temperature o
more than15o G.
For preparing unglazed pottery tt
write upon it with ink this method
has lately been invented: A whey i!
used, which is obtained by adding {
small quantity of acid to SKINNED
milk, and separating the precipitat,
by filtration. The plates prepared
from white pipe clay are impregnatet
with the nitrate and dried, and thel
1t IS quite as easy to write upon then
as upon imperfectly sized paper. Th
process is simple enough.
| Dh1Cho ctU a. IlSH GSIu
perature with asphalt are being sue
cessfully used in Berlin for street pave
ment. By driving out the air art
water with heat, bricks will take VI
from Is to 20 per cent. Of bitumen
and the porous, brittle material be
comes durable and elastic under pres
sure. The bricks are then put end
ways on a beton bed and set with ho-
tar. 1t is said that the rough usag
which the pavement made of thes
bricks will stand is astonishing.
FROM geological paper by M
Michaud on the material collected ant
observations made by him in the val
ley Of the Ogoone, in Central Africa
some interesting facts are given. TIL
temperature is nearly constant a
about 90 Fahrenheit. Maize, mani
oc, and tobacco are grown. ALTHOUGH
the people are peaceable, they are yer,
brave. The sheep have no wool, AM
but very little hair. In the forest
there is a dark, fierce species of cattl
found IN great abundance, probabl,
because thefear with which the native
regard them allows these animals t.
multiply without the restraint OF tn
chase. There are no indigenous borse
in the region.
A LITTLE more than a decade ago
new disease began to despoil the pota
to near Stavanger, Norway, and i
has been steadily increasing in viru
lence year after year. FungoiC
growths infest thestem, reducingits in
terror in the first place to a sort o
pulp, and at last so prey upon tn
plant that the stems are mere hollow
reeds which readily fall to the ground
The ripe germs Of the fungus are abou
the size of small bean, and whel
they remain in the earth all white
they are found when the warm sea
son commences sending out minut
spores, which attack the plant befor
it shows itself on the surface. Tn
ravages of this pest are more marked
about the end of July and the begin
ming of August.