Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-05-02
POPULAR SCIENCE.

PAPER treated with a mixture OF cam
phor oil and linseed oil becomes water
proof.
A steel car-wheel is expected to run 3d.
600 miles, bnt very few Ct them ever make
that distance.
A new material called "leatherine is
an English manufacture. 1t can be sold
at 5 or cents pound, is said to be as
tough as leather, and is designed for pack
ing and bagging.
Verre Givre, or boar frost glass, is an
article now make in Paris, SO called from
the pattern upon it, which resembles the
feathery forms traced by frost on the IN
side of the windows in cold weather.
The Engineer says there is 40 properly
recorded instance of locomotive ever
attaining greater speed than eighty miles
an hour, and quotes Charles r. Martin as
saying that higher speeds are mythical.
If gelatine be suspended in ordinary al
cohol it will absorb the water; but as it is
insoluble in alcohol that substance will re-
main behind, and thus nearly absolute
alcohol may be obtained without distiIla-
ton.
The new machine just invented for
printing postal cards prints them from the
roll and turns them out in packages ready
for delivery. It runs them off at the rate
of 300 a minute, with paper bands pasted
around each twenty-five. II is said one
man can look after two machines.
A Pittsburg mechanical engineer has in
vented a novel movable dam, by the use of
which he claims boating stage of water
may be obtained ii shallow rivers at all
seasons of the year. The invention has
been examined by old river men and pro-
nounced practicable. The inventor is 81
years old.
Experiments have proved that the ten
sile strength Of wet rope is only one-third
that Of the same rope when dry; and a
rope saturated with grease or soap is
weaker still, as the lubricant permits the
fbers to slip with greater facility. Hemp
rope contracts strongly on being wet, and
q dry rope % feet long will shorten to "a
on being wet.
Oil of peppermint in vapor diluted even
to part in 100000 will kill cockroaches
in an hour, they dying in commissions.
One drop Of the oil placed under bell
jar covering 4 cultivation of cholera bacilli
will kill both bacilh and spores in forty
eight hours. 1t is also regarded as among
the best surgical antiseptics, and of great
value in phthisis and diphtheria.
The american Cuiticator recommends a
mixture Of hydraulic cement and skim
milk for painting farm buildings and
fences. The cement is placed in a bucket
and sweet skim-lnilk stirred in until tbs
mixture is OF the consistency Of cream
The proportions are about one quart Of
cement to a gallon Of milk. Color may be
added if desired. The paint is cheap and
durable.
Nearly twenty years ago DR.. Wilks di.
rected attention to the fact that trans
verse furrow appeared on the nails of tbs
hand after a serious illness. Medical lit.
erature has since then contained few
references to the subject He again brought
the subjeci before the Pathological Society
at Its meeting on March Goth, and related
remarkable case. In that case the fur
row was caused by three days sea-sick-
ness.
A very good and sensitive barometer
may be made by gluing together strips o.
red cedar and seasoned pine. A strip Of
red cedar about thirty inches long. one and
ChS-Laii iiiNiiSo hluS, anu OuS-elBHLD OF an
inch thick, is cut with the grain, and to
one side of it must be glued strips of pine
oil equal thickness, with the grain running
across that of the cedar. This combina-
ton is set on end, and will, according to
the state Of the weather, be found to have
bent over on one side or the other and this
may be determined by trial-Mdnlyactu.r-
erS GGzette
Fire under water can be produced by
placing a small piece of phosphorus in a
conically shaped glass filed with water,
and some crystals of chlorate of potash
covering the phosphorus, and then pour
ing through long tube funnel, or glass
tube, few drops of sui phuric acid down
on the mixture at the bottom of the glass
Tongues Of flame can be seen flashing up
through the water. The intense chemical
action produces sufficient heat to iniame
the phosphorus under the water Where
there Is sufficient heat and oxygen fire will
burn, whether in air or water.