Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-08-31
Essex County Herald.
Y. B. BISHOP, Publisher.
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POPULAR SCIENCE.

The iodide of mercury is now used to
some extent in France in tanning skins.
Chaussier dried a man in kiln and
there resulted only twelve pounds of
solid matter.
Photographing in colors seems to be
the object of considerable experiment
ing, but so far with little or no success.
). Paris has thirty miles of pipe for car
rying compressed air for power The
engines are 5000. horse power and the coal
consumption fifty tons daily.
Numerous cases of sickness have been
traced to the use of fruit from tin cans.
Such fruits contained salts of tin which
have been hitherto supposed to be harm
less.
1t is found practicable at last to make
the waste of pine saw mills available for
paper pulp. In reducing the wood to
pulp bisulphate of lime has been used,
this powerful chemical acting on the fibre
only when heated.
A Vienna engineer has taken out q
patent for a new smoke abating process.
BY means of electricity he proposes to
condense the solid part of the smoke as
it arises from the coal, the carbon thus
formed falling back into the furnace.
A new instrument for the measure.
ment of color, as applied to the estima-
tion Of carbon in steel, has been patented
by j. w. Lovibond of Salisbury, and
may be used for matching carbons in
steel by the Eggertz color method or by
Stead's alkali method.
The principle of the thermometer, the
instrument which is generally used for
measuring the velocity of the wind, and
which is, essentially, a small, delicately
poised, self-registering windmill, with
fiat or cup-shaped arms, has been applied
to device for registering the speed of
vessels.
+ Telegraph poles are preserved in Nor
way by making an auger hole about two
feet from the ground, in which four or
five ounces of sulphate of copper in
coarse crystals are placed and plugged
in. The chemical is gradually absorbed
by the wood until its whole outer sur
face turns of greenish hue. The sui
phate requires an occasional renewal,
and is said to be perfect preservative.
= A novel electric railway is undergoing
construction in suburb of st. Paul,
MINI. The railroad is an elevated struc-
ture, and the cars are hung below it close
to the street level. They hang from sets
of wheels taking their power from the
tracks, which are charged with cleo
tricity. The Engineering and Building
Record says that speed of from eight to
ten miles an hour is claimed for the cars.
Grant Allen suggests that the evolu-
tion of pottery may be traced to the
gourds of various forms used by the
primitive savages for containing water.
The gourds were probably smeared with
wet clay to protect them when held over
the campfire, as is still done by savages,
and the durable coating thus produced,
outlasting the inner shell, gave the acci-
dental lesson in molding dishes from
natural objects.
To furnish the music of the harp,
without requiring the skill of the harp
ist, has been the object of M. Dietz, of
Brussels, in desiging the clavharp. The
instrument is provided with key
board, upon which any pianist may
play, but the strings are mechanically
plucked as by the fingers of the harpist
instead of being struck by hammers.
The strings are of metal, with an insu-
lated covering to give the tone of catgut.
W. A. Lyman, of Milford, Conn, is
making the smallest possible specimen
of an engine. 1t will be made from a
silver half dollar. The boiler is to hold
about eight drops of water, but with
four drops the engine can be worked
several minutes. When finished it is
to be placed under a glass case three
quarters of an inch in diameter and an
inch and one eighth in height. Some of
the parts will be so fine and delicate that
they cannot be made without the use OF
magnifying glass.