The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-03-24
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

SuppOItSu ny All lHC lOIlIlS VI ellplOf'
ment furnished by electricity at $1,000.
900.
1t has been discovered that WOO,
previously saturated with ten pei
cent. solution of glycerine can bear 8
prolonged heat of some 275 degrees
without injury.
Gum of Bassora is insipid and
tough and of yellowish white color,
and comes from Asia, and is used &c
adulterate the lower grades of traga-
canth before expectation.
The greatestv velocity ever measured
by man was that of the electric dis
charge of a Leyden bottle through a
slender copper wire, which was COM
puted to be 2S9, 900 miles a second.
Professor Cones, the well-knowr
ornithologist. wholly denies the alleged
discovery that the wings of birds were
capable of being '1ocked" so as to al
low them to soar without muscular
effort. He states that the locking does
not take place, and that if it did take
place flight would be impossible.
Experiments with cast iron show
that when it has been immersed for
long period in sea water its qualities
undergo very great changes. A can
non ball that had been thus immersed
NftI, fifty years, was changed into "a
porous substance which became
strongly heated when exposed to the
air for quarter Of an hour"
"A Pittsburgh mechanical engineer
has invented a novel movable dam. by
the use of which, he claims, q boating
stage ofwater may be obtained in shall
low rivers at all seasons of the year.
The invention has been examined by
old river men and pronounced practi-
7 cable. The inventor is eighty-two
years old.
The old idea thai sufferers from
heart disease should avoid physical ex-
ertiOn has been dispelled by Prof. Ocr-
tel who has successfully employed
regulated exercise in the treatment of
some forms In a large proportion of
cases, the nutrition of the cardiac mus
Gle, as of the muscular system, gene
rally, is thus improved.
Barrels are made in JERSEY for the
use of the Channel islands farmers
which will fold up when empty, and
thus, having been sent to market, can
be packed into small space on the re-
turn. The slaves are fixed upon the
hoops so that the heads being removed,
they may be rolled up. They are made
perfect cylinders, and therefore occupy
less space for the same capacity than
ordinary barrels.
Scientists in England have long
sought to have the education of me-
chanics and other laborers placed on a
scientific basis. An effort, backed by
half million of dollars, is now to be
made in Manchester to found an insti-
tuition whereby 1.-The physical energies
of the population may be maintained
at proper level, their moral state be
cared for, and by which there may be
some days of hope and pleasure in their
lives, and the sole prospect of a life of
labor may not be an odd age of penury."
Cotton, according to a scientific au-
thority, is not fiber, but plant hair.
1t holds to be spun into thread be-
cause of peculiar twists in each hair,
shown under the microscope, especially
in polarized light. Linen thread may
be spun, because the fax fbers have
certain roughnesses on their surfaces,
which enable them to cling together.
Hence it is impossible to make as fine
linen as cotton cloth, but it is much
sEonger.
Veneer manufacturers having been
| put to much trouble and expense to Sc
cure from the natives of Persia or FROM
/ French markets. even, fancy wood
burls from which to carve out veneers
for manufacturing purposes, have dem
onstrated by recent experiments that
red wood stumps possess meritorious
! qualities for such use, and will I'M
doubtedly be substituted for the more
costly woods in the future. The de-
mand for burl and curly red wood for
finishing work has already reached
large proportions in the West. The
large butts of trees now being slain in
! California forests will be used to a
! great extent.