The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-10-20
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Analysis OF natural gas shows the
proportion of each constituent in 100
parts of the gas to be as follows: Car
bolic acid and carbonic oxide, 6-10
each; oxygen, $40; defiant gas, l.;
ethylic hydride. 5; marsh gas, 81; hy-
drogen, %; nitrogen. 3.
The handmade time pieces Of the
Swiss and French, who have so long
held the supremacy as clockmakers, are
not now regarded as superior to those
ofAmerican machine make. The Amer
lean machine-made watch is as finished
and accurate as its foreign competitor,
and is, of course, vastly cheaper.
An English fireman writes to the
London Fireman his belief that fires
may be put out by a mixture of plaster
of-paris and alum. His plan is to
throw the mixture confined in a COM
bustible bag upon the fire. An incom-
bustible pulley-blocl<, to haul up the
bag, must necessarily be affixed to
every building to render his plan prac-
ticable.
DR.. Jastrow, of the University OF
Wisconsin, has collated considerable
evidence which goes to show that the
ear is the dominant organ of the mind
in some people and the eye in others.
Those in whom the ear is the dominant
organ are designated as ear-minded;
.tkose in whom the eye is the domi-
nant organ are called eye-minded. A
dog is usually smell-minded, or nose
minded.
"A new method Of weather predic-
ton has been discovered by Oh. Mon
tigny, a French physicist. He has OBJ
served that the scintillations of stars
increase before many storms, indicating
disturbance of the upper atmosphere,
hours before the meteorological instru-
ments show any change. The fiercer
the storm, the more is the strength of
the scintiilations increased.
"A belief has hitherto generally pre-
vailed that printing was invented by
Gutenberg, about the middle of the
fifteenth century. 1t is said, however,
{ that Professor Karabaceti has recently
demonstrated, at a conference at the
museum of Vienna, that movable types
of wood, both for letter press and orna-
ments, were in use in Egypt 800 years
before the printer of Mayence.
Prof. Ormond Stone states that only
four cases have been found in which
the known motions Of the principal
bodies of the solar system can not be
fully explained by Newton's law OF
gravity. The unexplained discord-
ances are the motion Of the perihelion
of Mercury, and the accelerations OF
the mean motions of the moon and OF
Encke's and Winneckes comets.
The tops of pine and spruce trees
are now utilized in the manufacture OF
paper. The discovery is of immense
value, as it makes marketable vast
mass of what has hitherto been waste
material. Hereafter the branches OF
all evergreens will be gathered, and
after process Of steaming to extract
the resinous matter will be ground
into dry pulp, which may be shipped
to any distance.
French physicians have adopted a
new system of curing consumption,
based on sulphuric acid in medicated
inhalations. Sulphur slightly moist
ened with alcohol is burned in 6
brazier, little benzoin or powdered
opium being sometimes added to make
the fumes less disagreeable. The pa
tent is required to stand twice day
in this sulphurous chamber and inhale
the medicated atmosphere until his
lungs are saturated with sulphuriC
acid. The treatment is said to be
markedly successful.