The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1888-08-16
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.

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magnesium fash has been applied to &
stu y Of tho pupil Of the eye as it rests
il total darkness.
According to Richard 4. Proctor,
the scientist, there are twenty-six miles
Of sweat tubes il the body Of an ordi
nary man, and an average theatre audi
encc perspires ton Of water every
hour.
Pr,f. Leclcrc, writing IN Cosmos,
maintains that odors are due, not to the
emanations, as such, of so-called odor-
iferous bodies, but to the vibratory
movement among such emanations, dus
to processes of oxidation Scent, On
this theory, is analogous to sound.
The latest medical theory is that
there should be only two really sub
stantial meals day. breakfast and din
Dcr. A solid aad highly nutritious
meal should end it, The people who
take rapidly eaten lunch are apparent
ly excused for their supposed unhy'
gionic proceeding.
There are already about 10, 900 cleo
trio motors in use in the United States.
They are used for running sewing ma
chimes, printing presses, ventilating
fans, dental instruments, street cars, for
coal and ore haulage in mines, for
pumping water, washing bottles, and
for many miscellaneous purposes in ma
chine shops, shoe factories, book bind
cries, knitting works, etc.
NJ. Faye, the astronomer, has drawn
the attention of the French Academy of
Sciences to the apparent geological law
that the cooling Of the terrestrial crust
goes on more rapidly under the sea than
on the land surface. From this he ar
CUES that the crust must thicken under
oceans at more rapid rate, so as to
give rise to aswelling a up and distortion
of the thinner portions of the crust; in
other words, to the formation of noun
tain chains.
Both in China and Japan, soapstone
has long been largely used for pro,
tccting structures built ofsoft stone and
other materials specially liable to atmos-
that powdered soapstone in the form
Of paint has preserved obeIisks formed
of stone for hundreds of years which
would, unprotected, have long ago
crumbled away. For the inside paint
ing of steel and iron ships it is found to
be excellent. 1t has no anti-fOuling
quality but IS anti-corrcsive.
BY means of bath consisting of 300
grains of acetate Of lead, 600 grains of
hyposulphito of soda and one quart of
water, it is said that eleven different
colors may be impaired to we'll cleaned
copper, and eight to nickel-platei OBJ
jects. After the salts are dissolved,
the solution i3 heated to boiling, and
the metal is afterward immersed there
in. At first gray color is obtained,
and this, on the immersions being con-
tlnued, passes successively to violet,
maroon, red, ETC., and finally to blue.
Mr. John AItken, II well-known in
vestigator of the atmosphere, has re-
Gently made series Of experiments on
the number of dust particles in ordinary
air. So far his results show that out
side air, after wet night, contained
sci, 600 dust PARTICLES per cubic inch;
outside air in fair weather contained
2, 119, 600 PARTICLES in the same space,
showing that rain is great purifier OF
the atmosphere. The air of a room was
found to contain 80, 318, 900 particles in
the same space; that near the ceiling
containing IS, 346, 900 particles per Gu
bic inch.
Quicksand is composed chiefly OF
small particles of mica mixed largely
with water. The mica is so smooth
that the fragments slip upon each other
with the greatest facility, so that any
heavy body which displaces them will
sink and continue to sink until a solid
bottom is reached. When particles of
sand are jagged and angular any weight
pressing on them will crowd them to.
gcther until they are compacted into a
solid mass. A sand composed of mica
o. soapstone, when sufficiently mixed
with water, seems incapable Of such
consolidation.
The electric lighting of the Winter
Palace at st. Peters burg, Russia, appears
to have given rise to sOmo unexpected
and undesirable results. According to
the electrician, the sudden change from
the sunless days Of the northern winter
to the binding light of the ban nqueting
halls, aided probably by the artifcially
heated and drier atmosphere of the
rooms causes the leaves of the plants
used as ornaments to turn yellow, dry
up and fall off after being exposed to
the light for a single night, The rapid
ity of the injurious action and its
amount is in direct proportion to the in
tensIty of the illumination, since plants
partially shaded from the light, or in
inches or similar places, were found to
remain uninjured.