The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-05-30
POPULAR SCIENCE.

POPULAR SCIENCE.
A. steel car-wheel is expected torun
50, 900 miles, but very few of them ever
make that distance. ~
a gun of $50 tons weight isnow being
constructed at Essen, Germany, by
Krupp. It is similar to the 100 ton gun,
but is longer, and will have q much
greater range. :..tl.zs &.
The Engineer says there is 40 properly
recorded instance Of locomotive ever
attaining greater speed than 80 miles
an hour, and quotes Charles II. Martin as
saying that higher speeds are mythical.
If gelatine be suspended in ordinary
alcohol it will absorb the water; but as
it is insoluble in alcohol, that substance
will remain behind, and thus nearly abb.
solute alcohol may be obtained without
distillation. @ e
A APittsburg mechanical engineer has
invented novel movable dam, by the
use Of which he claims boating stage Of
water may be obtained in shallow rivers
a! all seasons of the year. The invention
has been examined by old riYer-men and
pronounced practicable. The inventor
is 80 years Old
Chronic poisoning by coffee has been
studied by Guelliot, of Reins, who finds
it among well-to-do overfed Individuals,
while tea-poisoning occurs in hard
worked and half-starved women. The
symptoms of coffee.poisoning are want
of appetite, sleeplessness, and nervous
tremblings, with various indications Of
indigestion and torpor of liver.
Experiments have proved that the ten
ale strength of wet rope is only one-j
third !hat of the same rope whentdry;
and rope saturated with grease or soap
is weaker still, as the lubricant permits
the fbres to slip with greater facility.
Hemp-rope contracts strongly on being
wet, and a dry rope twenty-five feet long
will shorten to twenty-four on being
wet. S, s. -
y Oil of peppermint in vapor, diluted:
even to one part in 100000, will kill
cockroaches in an hour, they dying in
convu.sions. One drop Of, the oil placed
under beil-jar covering cultivation of
cholera bacilli will kill both bacilli and
spores in 48 hours. It is also regarded
as among the best surgical antiseptics,;
and of great value in phthisis and diph-
liberia. g1'-f - -.
The theory that the increased brittle
ness of human bones with advancing
years is the result of an increased per-;
centage of inorganic salts is contradicted
by the experiments Of Mr.. Mason. From
determinations Of the ash in bones of fifty
subjects of different ages, ho has found
that after reaching manhood no variation
in the quantity Of ash takes place with
increasing age. at.--....a
a comparison or the lengths of the
first and third fingers has, been many
years in progress. Ancient Greek art
seems to have found the greater beauty
in a longer fore.fnger, but in the,
Apollo Belvidere there is no appreciates
difference in the lengths of the two.
Gorillas, orang.outangs and bushmen
have longer third finger, while among
Europeans and Americans the longer
finger is sometimes the first, sometimes
the third, and sometimes both appear OF
equal length. -
Ten species of North American birds
are named by Mr.. E: N. Hasbrouck as
missing. Of these, two-the great aux
and the Labrador duck believed to
have become extinct, while the following
eight, through scarcity or diminutiye-
ness, were sIost" with the taking Of the
first specimens, and are now being
eagerly sought: The carbonated
warbler, blue mountain warbler, small
headed warbler, Cuyier's kinglet, Town
sends bunting, Brewster's innet, Bach:
mans warbler and the Cincinnati
warbler. e...s.,,,e.s :
In some experiments with ozone as q
curative agent, an English lady, SO far,
advanced in consumption that her case
appeared hopeless, has been treated with
limitations of this gas, with results de-
scribed as marvellous. After months
treatment the appetite was regained, the
sleep calm and refreshing, and there was
very good prospect of recovery. The
ozone was prepared by passing stream
of oxygen through the current of an in-,
duction coil, and was administered with
atmospheric air in the proportion of one
in five. The experimenter has reached
the conclusion that the ozone treatment
is specially applicable to all germ dis
eases.