Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-22
BITS OF SCIENCE.

Lead veins are thickest in limestone,
thinner in sandstone and thinnest in slate.
Tie latter, however, contains the greatest
percentage Of silver.
A new metal has teen discovered by
Prof. Webster, which he proposes to call
"Idunium." 1t is one of the components
of native vanadate of lead.
The great increase in the demand for
pyrOgalic acid, caused by the discovery
of the dry-plate process In photography
has had the effect to greatly cheaper the
price.
Turpentine in small quantities may be
used with advantage in the laundry, but
resin, which is usually found IN soap is
Injurious, discolOring some goods and
shrinking wOOlens.
Tine juice of the curious ink-plant of
New Granada requires no preparation
before being used for writing. The color
is reddish when first applied to paper, but
| soon becomes deep black, which is very
durable. This ink Is now used for public
records and documents.
Pipe-clay made into paste with cold
water will, it is said, remove grease stains
from papered or plastered walls II put on
without rubbing, let stay over night and
then brushed off Nightly. Where the
grease has been on for some time several
applications may be needed.
If a chicken-bone be left in dilute mu-
Ratio acid several days it may be tied
into knot. since the acid has dissolved
the lime, leaving nothing but cartilage
and connective tissue. If a bone be
| burned it becomes light, porous and brit
! tie, the lime alone remaining.
The largest organ in the world has Just
been completed by Walck, of Ludwigs-
burg, and placed in the cathedral church
of Riga. The instrument measures SO
feet in width, 80 feet from back to front,
and is 50 feet high. ItcOntains t, 500 pipes,
distributed among 124 sounding stOps.
During the masticatiOn Of food, by which
the relative surface is Increased, it is
mixed with saliva, which mOistens the
food and turns part of the starch into
grape sugar. We find the most abundant
saliva in those mammals that feed on
herbs and grain, but it's action on starch
is extremely feeble.
The pearls of commerce found in the
mantle of some mollusks are similar in
structure to the shell; but what is the in
nermost layer in the she'll is placed on
the outside in the pearl and is much finer
and more compact. The pearl is formed
around some nucleus, as an organic par
ticle or grain of sand.
The Pittsburg Penny Post sums up the
cost of ton OF steel rails at PittsbuTg as
follows: Cost OF pig metal, including ore,
limestone, labor, repairs, etc, $15 10; cost
of ingots, per ton, $22 As; cost OF steelPails
per gross ton, $26 80. 1t is also stated that
the cost of making ton of steel rails in
England at present IS 500 II.
"Delta metal" discovered by AleXan-
der Dick, of London, combination OF
zinc and iron, is said to be as much SUI
periOr to brass as steel is to iron. 1t is
very tough, showing a tensile strength OF
62 tons 10 the square inch when drawn
into wire Of % gauge. 1t does not tar
nish as easily as brass and takes a high
polish.
Every plant begins life like an animal
a consumer, not a producer. Not until
the young shoot rises above the soil and
unfolds itself to the light of the sun, at
the touch OF whose rays chlOrOphyl is
created, does real constructive vegetation
begin. Then the plants mode Of life is
reversed; carbon is retained and oxygen
set free.
AS result of the Investigations of DIR.
Rudolph Emmerick, Bavarian pathOlO-
g1st, he has reported the discovery of bac-
terra, resembling in form and size those
found IN diphtheria, in the blood of cholera
patients, and, furthermore, he has de-
scribed experiments in which he appears
10 nave produced the disease in guinea
pigs by incubation with those bacteria.