The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-07
Popular Science.

Railways are said to consume more than
half the worlds production of iron, the car
wheels required in the United States alone
taking more than 100000 tons.
The largest known flower is the Raffiesia,
a native of Sumatra. 1t measures feet
in diameter, weighs 10 pounds and has a
calYx holding quarts. The odor is often
sive.
Mr.. Magnus Volk has applied electricity
to propel a dog-cart. The current is pro-
vided by 16 accumulators capable of keep
ing up a supply for six hours. The cart
travels nine miles an hour on asphalt.
About $50 colors are now obtained from
coal-tar, which have almost entirely sup
planted vegetable and animal dyes. Indigo
and logwood are the only two of the latter
class considered of much Importance.
A patent has been granted in England for
the manufacture of vinegar from tomatoes
The fruit, when ripe, or nearly SO, is re-
duced to a pulp and stepped in water for "a
hours. The resulting liquor is drawn of,
sugar added, and the whole allowed to fer
ment.
OF So species of weeds described by Mr..
L. Ii. Parnmel, Of st. Louis, as growing in
Southwestern Wisconsin and Southeastern
Missouri AS are of European and 80 of
American origin One-third of the latter
class, and nearly one-fourth of the entire
list, are composites.
Oil seems to wear out by long-continued
use and to lose to some extent its lubricat-
ing qualities. 1t has been suggested as
reason for this that the minute spherical
globules of which the oil is conceived to be
made up become fattened by the wear and
pressure, and so do not slide and roll over
each other as easily as before.
A new system of sewage works has been
put into operation at Henley Thames,
England. Its object is to avoid the dis
charge of the sewage into the river-which
can no longer be allowed-and lift it to a
level which will permit it TO be used for ir
rigatiOn. Electors are placed in different
parts of the Town TO receive the sewage, and
from there it is forced by compressed air
into tanks about a mile distant and $50 feet
higher in elevation. The method is not cost
ly, has proved practicable and may offer a
successful solution of the question of the
disposal of the sewage Of low-lying towns.
According to Prof. Gould's Investigations
it appears that aerial telegraph wires on
poles transmit electricity at the rate of from
Il 900 TO 10000 miles per second, and that
the velocity Of transmission increases with
the distance between the wires ami the earth :;
or, in other words, with the height of sus-
pension and that subterranean wires, like
submarine cables, transmit with reduced
rapidly. Again, WHO WlIts SuSpenueu dD
a feeble height are known to transmit sig
mails at Il velocity Of some 1900 miles per
second, those that are suspended higher give
n velocity of from 5000 to "A 900 miles.
Wheatstone's claim of 2SSO00 miles in his
experiments appears never TO have been
confirmed.
Alloys. caused by melting two or more
metals together, present some very inter
esting characteristics, One of the most Gu
rious is the fact that the melting point Of
the alloy is usually lower than that Of any
Of its components. Woods alloy, for in
stance, which consists Of lead, tin, cadmium
and bismnth, melts at above l5O' f., while
the lowest melting pointof any of the metals
separately is that of tin, 4i6' II has al
ways been supposed that this alloy could
only be formed at a comparatively high
temperature, but Mr.. William Hallock has
recently shown that when the several metals
are mixed together in filings and exposed for
"a hours 20 the heat Of an ordinary water
bath C212D, the alloy is produced and the
mass becomes fluid, and that the previous
fusion of either constituent is unnecessary.