Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-05-06
POPULAR SCIENCE.
Short and Pointed Notes on Mary Subjects
of Interest.

SNORT anu Folnted NOTES on May SubJects
of Interest.
Pullman, H., is to have an electric belt
railroad five miles long.
The direct action of steam at 212o Is
sufficient to destroy all germs in from five
to fifteen minutes. The efficacy OF heated
dry air Is uncertain.
Waste silk has been shown to be the
most effective non-coEductive covering
for steam pipes. The price is high, but
tie demand is very great.
The largest known flower is the Raft.
esia, native of Sumatra. 1t measures
three feet in diameter, weighs fifteen
pounds and has cslyI holding six
quarts. The odor is offensive.
Railways are said to consume more
than halt the worlds production of iron,
States alone taking more than 2,000,C00
tons.
Mr.. Magnus Yolk has applied cleo
tricity to propel dog cart. The current
Is provided by sixteen accumulators cap
able of keeping up supply for six hours.
The cart travels nine miles sn hour on
asphalt.
About $50 colors are now obtained
from coal-tar, which have almost entirely
supplanted vegetable and animal dyes
Indigo and logwood are the only two of
the latter class considered of much i'm
portance.
An electro-msgnet with q carrying
capacity OF 800 pounds is attached to q
crane IN the Cleveland Steel Works, which
readily picks up billets anc other masses
of iron without the aid Of any other de-
vice. A boy is thus enabled to do the
work Of dozen men.
A patent has been granted in England
for bthe manufacture OF vinegar from
tomatoes. The fruit, when ripe, or nearly
SO, is reduced to pulp and STEPPED in
water for twenty-four hours. The re-
sulting liquor is drawn OF, sugar added,
and the whole allowed to ferm.nt.
OF lightweight species of weeds de-
scribed by Mr.. L. H. Pammel OF ST
Louis as growing in Southwestern Wis
consin and Southeastern Missouri forty
six are of European and thirty of Ameri-
can origin. One-third Of the lister class,
and nearly one-fourth of the entire list,
are composites.
Oil seems to wear out by long con-
tinued use, and to lose to some extent its
gested as resson for this that the
oil is conceived to be made up become
fsttened by the wear and pressure, and
so do not slide and roll over each other IS
easily as before.
DR.. Otto Witt. German authority, at
taches some importance to trou olesome
silk spinner of India-"Grieula trifenes-
trsta"-irom which an excellent fibre has
been obtained. This silk worm is extra
ordinarily productive, the living being
surviving two generations in one year,
and 1t forms new and remarkable source
Of raw material for the silk industry.
An Approximate idea of the amount Of
manganese contained in steel can be as
certained by means Of the magnet. A
magnet capable of lifting thirty pounds
of ordinary steel or iron will only lift
few milligrams II the metal contain 20
per cent. Of manganese. So small
quantity as per cent. OF manganese will
nearly neutraiizs the magnetic attrac-
tion.
An interesting development in photo
grephy is In the use of elockWork in
printing from mega ives. By this
means q continuous web of sensitiz I'd ps-
per is drawn at suitable intervals under a
negative exposed 10 o source of light
After printing the paper is drawn, still by
the mechanism, through "washer,"
'toner"and "fxer" successfully, and APP
pears Aaslly as series of finished pic
lures ready for mounting, and alI alike in
exposure, color and tone.
A new system of sewage works has
been put into operation at Henley-on-
Than g, England. Its OBJECT Is to avoid
the discharge of the sewage into the river
can no longer be allowed-,nd
liIt to level which will permit it to be
used for irrigation. Electors are
plsced In different parts of
ne town to receive the sewage,
and from there 1t is forced b. compressed
sir into tauks about mile distant, and
$50 feet higher in elevation. The method
is not costly, has proved practicable, and
may offsr successful solution of the
question Of the disposal Of the sewage of
lowlying towns.
According 70 Professor Gould's inves-
legations 1t appears thst aerial telegraph
wires on poles trAnfmit electricity at the
rate Of from 1900 to 5000 miles
per second, and that the velocity
Of transmission increases with the dis
lance between the wires and the earth
d, In other words, with the height Of