The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1885-10-28
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

Lenses OF rock crystal taken from the
ruins of Nineveh," said member at the
meeting of the microscopists in Cleve-
land the other day, suggests that mi
croscopes may have been used in those
days" No one knows, indeed, who did
invent the magnifying glass.
AS tissue exhaustion resulting from
toll, privation or anxiety promotes the
development of cancer, an English med
ical authority thinks the marked increase
in the death-ratc from that disease dur
ing the last century may be readily ex.
planned by glance at the history of our
laborious age.
The bridge to be constructed over the
Hawkesbury river, New South Wales
will be remarkable work This double
track railway bridge will be 5000 feet
long, and the piers, according to the
plans, will require to be sunk about 170
feet in all below tide. The estimated
cost is not less than $4,000, 900.
In report of experiments to the Glas-
gov Philosophical society it appears that
a live rabbit survived an hours exposure
to temperature of 100 degrees below
zero. 1t was not frozen, its body heat
being reduced only to forty three de-
grees Live frogs became solid in half
an hour at thirty degrees below zero, and
in two instances recovered.
Some silicious pebbles which are quite
numerous in the quarternary gravels of
the LONG valley, France, have been de-
scribed by Meunier. These stones
about an inch and a half in diameter
are remarkable for being hollow, and en-
closing liquid water, together frequently
with a loose, stony nucleus. Meunies
suaposes that the water must have pene.
trdted the pebbles through their pores,
for not sign of crack can be seen
even by the aid of strong glass.
The production Of Stag wool and the
industrial applications of the article APP
pear to be largely on the increase. BY
the action of strong Jets of steam the
Stag is transformed into fibrous, whit
ish silicate cotton, which, being miner.
al, is incombustible. like asbestos; it is
advantageously and extensively used in
England in the construction OF new
houses with Mansard roofs, the space
between the interior lath or paneling
and the exterior covering of zinc, slate
or tin, being filed with this Stag wool,
the elect being to protect from the
rigor of frost in winter and from intense
heat in summer 1t is also said to pre-
vent freezing and bursting of taps,
spouts and watar pipes if these are GOV.
cred by the wool in winter.
A new sugar is now obtained from the
seeds of the Taurus persea, a tree grow
ing in the tropics. This sugar has on
previous occasions been noticed by chem.
lists, but was supposed by them to be
manuite. 1t is extracted by boiling al
cohol, from which it crystaizes on cool.
ing. Its point of fusion is lS4.5 to 1874
degrees, while that of manuite is twenty
degrees lower it is very soluble in hot,
less so in cold water, and even in concen.
trated solution it has no action in the
polarimeter; on adding borax, however,
to a four per cent. solution, it gives a
rotation to the right Of 0.55 degrees. 1t
does not reduce copper solutions, and
is not fermentable. Boiling nitric acid
converts it into oxalic acid, without the
production of mucic acid. There are
also some other chemical characteristics
peculiar to this new sugar.