The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-11-24
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Careful measurements Of seventy hui
man skeletons have shown the lower
limbs to be equal in only seven. It ap.
pears that persons legs may differ in
length from an eighth of an inch to an
inch and tive-eights, without any de.
formity being recognizable.
A Frenchman, Mons. Rohart. has dis.
covered that waste grease, like that OF
sleeps wool, very readily absorbs sui
phuretted hydrogen and other sulphur
compounds, and that it will then form a
cheap and excellent soap with alkaline
carbonates. The operation is very rapid,
requiring less than an hour; and further
economy results from the fact that the
alkalies do not have to be used in a
caustic state.
Imitation amber is being largely used
in Germany for the mouthpieces of pipes,
owing to the dearness and scarcity of the
real article. From time immemorial
amber has been chiefly found on the
Konigsberg coast of Prussia, partly by
dragging and partly by mining. The
Palmnicken Mines yield about 5000
cwt. annually, and large pieces of amber
produce $50, per kilogram 1.-TWO pounds)
when taken from the mines. Most of
this goes to Vienna, where the largest
manufactory of amber mouthpieces e1-
lists.
Much interest has been excited among
engineers by the construction, under the
direction of the Russian Government, of
some locomotive cars of special type
for the Transcaspian Railway, and built
80 as to meet two difficulties, viz, the
waterless character of large section of
tbe line, and the insignificant ordinary
traffic. To meet the former the locomo-
tive car is provided with tanks contain
ing sufficient water to last seventy miles;
and, as the waterless stretch from Mi
chaelovsk to Kazantchik is about fifty
miles in length, this supply is amply suf-
ficient under any contingencies that may
occur. With regard to the second diff
Guilty, the locomotives is constructed with
car connected to it and capable of con-
veying eighty passengers. The locomo-
tive car IS warmed by the exhaust steam
from the engine, by which arrangement
an important economy in the consump-
tion.ot fuel results.
A recent number of the japan Weekly
Mail contains short account of night
ascent of the active volcano Asamayama.
The party left Karnisawa in the after
noon, and commenced the ascent from
the eastern side about sunset. The sky
was perfectly clear, and the summit was
reached an hour before midnight. The
wind, blowing from the south, carried
the sulphurous vapor away to the north
ward, and thus the ascent was made less
uncomfortable. The party saw quite to
the bottom of the crater, which pre-
sented the appearance of furnace filled
with glowing Goals. The sound of the
roaring. Kissing, and bubbling is de-
scibed as loud and awful. The walls of
the crater are of light brown color, and
are composed of successive layers marked
out with striking regularity like the seats
in an amphitheatre. Allowing ten of
these layers to each interval of twenty
feet, the depth from the surface to the
incandescent matter would appear to be
200 feet. The periphery of the crater is
about half a mile. although the japanese
calculate it at two miles and half.