Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-10-23
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL

By new process of steaming white
wood and submitting it to pressure, 1t
eau be make so tough as to require Q
cod chisel to split it.
Hot air, drawn over steam pipes that
are heated by exhaust or live steam and
then blown through pipes to various
points where It escapes, Is a satisfactory
method of heating shops.
A new signal torpedo, which is shot
backward by a spring being attached to
a sort oil carriage which enables it to
slide along the rail, but does not allow
tito ia of, is to be introduced on the
Australian railroads.
1t is disappointing to learn that the
eucalyptus has had no visible effect on
the Punishment of malaria from the Ro-
man Campagna, and that whatever has
been done in that direction must be
credited to drainage and the ardent rays
of Old Sol.
Dana finds that the average height of
the land above sea level is about 1000
feet, and that this would probably cover
the bottom of the sea to the depth of 375
feet; so that, taking the average depth
of /, 500 feet, it would take forty times
as much land as exists above sea level to
fill the oceanic depressions.
American inquisitiveness and ingenu-
ity united have produced thread from
the blossom of the common milk weed,
which has the consistency and tenacity
of imported fax or linen thread, and is
produced at much less cost. The fiber
is long. easily carded, and may be readily
adapted to spinning upon an ordinary
f1ax-spinner.
It is proposed to drill holes down from
the surface into the workings of ''tiery
Mines to allow the tire-damp which
accumulates in them to escape much in
the same way as gas is lowed to escape
from the natural gas wells of Pennsyl-
vania. The damp would be collected
in reservoirs and used as gaseous fuel,
while the pits would be freed from
danger of explosion.
Paper pipes for water and gas have been
exhibited in Vienna. They are role
from sheets OF paper. and coated on the
inside with an e.,amel Of secret compost
ton. In winding the paper is soaked
in melted asphalt, and the pipe is painted
outs de with aspha t va n sh. and busted
over with sand. 1t is claimed that such
pipe will resist some 2,0C0 pounds in-
ternal pressure although the material is
only about half an inch thick.
hussian geographers report that nu-
mer US lakes in Siberia, CHIEFLY in the
Tobolsk and Tonsk provinces, are rap
idly dying up and vilag s now stand on
sro;s covered by extensive sheets OF
water a h~ndred ycals ago. Lake
| Tchebakly has shown the most remarka-
BILE change. its ar o being o square
miles c. injury ago, while it now con.
sists of three small ronds, the Ia gest
covering not more than five or six square
miles.
The restoration Of color to fabrics
winch from one cause or another have
deteriorated in this ie$pc t, bias sug.
gestei various hemical APP atlons and
processes. 1t has been customary to em-
ploy a nmonia for the p.rpose of neutral
ling acid, that ha q acc dentally OF
otherwise destroyed the color of the
s.urs, this being necessarily applied i'm
mcdiately. or the color is Usually imre
fectly restored. An application of chloro.
for has the effect of bringing out the
colo as bright as ever. Plush goods.
nnd all articles dyed with anil ne colors,
faded from exposure to light, resume
their original brightness Of appear lnce
after being sponged with chloroform
the commercial chloroform, which is lesl
L,.ssiJ than the purified, answers well fol
| .hib uurpose.