Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1888-09-29
Raoans sciar..fc Progress.

0Rdlu Us W NV ~ VA 5AA a. 0A>1&esNAG
in her own country.
Theirs are $500 niles Of mains for
conveying natural gas in this country.
Texas is putting down artesian wells
one Of which is to yield million gal
lons per day.
The probable cost Of the Nicaragua
Canal is put at between SAC, 100000
and S50,0O0,000.
At MarseiIies a chimney 11S feet
high and five feet internal diameter at
the top was swayed in storm so that
the greatest oscillation was twenty
inches.
China is favoling the exploration OF
the upper Yang-tso River, and the
Government has posted notices to the
effect that the natives must be friendly
to the explorers.
The correct grade for toboggan
slide should be cycloid curve. tits
that curve which a hawk make when
swooping upon its prey. Oppikofer
has just showed that the beds OF riv-
ers are true cycloids.
OF the fast trains OF the country the
longest continuous RIM is that OF 113
hours 25 minutes upon the Southern
Pacific line from San Francisco to
New Orleans, 1885 miles. The aver
age speed upon this line is twenty-five
miles per hour.
The italian admiralty has been ex-
perimenting with olive and castor oils
for fabrication aboard ship, and now
tue order is given forth that castor oil
is to be used for all exposed parts of
the machinery, and mineral oils in cyl
inders and for similar fabrication.
The Watt;ns position-fnder, for
which the British Government paid
1925 900, has been proved to be ve.y
efficacious in finding vessels and like
Objects that could not be seen LON
the battery which was aimed at them,
and such objects were struck very trS
quently by the guns from such battery,
although invisible therefrom.
Recently q paddle-wheei steamer
was changed into the Twin screw type,
the result being to Increase the carry
ing over of the vessel by 100 tons,
large additional cattle-cag1 ing space
being gained, while the net register is
decreased 247 tons. The speed has
been increased considerably and the
fuel consumption reduced go r Or cent.
The question as to wether or not ex-
citement shortens life is being agita-
ted, and it is held that anything which
qu;ckens the action of the heart, any
kind of excitement, taxes and reduces
the storage of life Almost everyone
knew this long ago, and it is only re-
Gently that the matter has been con-
sidered in the light OF percentage.
A New process for purifying mer-
curry is to pass current of air through
it for forty eight hours. All oxides of
zinc, lead, tin, etc, collect at the top
in the form of black powder. This
does not, of course, take out the gold
and silver which may exist in the mer-
crry but which are no harm If it is to
be used for filing thermometer and
barometer tubes
A railway pass for ''self and family
hae been held to include the grantees
descendants; these descendants beng
dis family This makes it neces-
sary thas the Boston and Providence
Railway carry for oll times the descen-
dante Of John G. Dodge, of Attleboro'
Mass. There will be time-some
Jew generations hence--when there
VIII he a good many deadheads on
thatl ino. Suppose family to double
every twenty years, that will make in
500 years about 10000 people.
At recent meeting of the Photo
graphic Section OF the American Inst
tute there was shown new magnesi-
UNI light, which employed powdered