The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-08-04
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
1t is said that some clothespin box
packers can pack 1900 day. They
are paid one cent for packing a box
Of four gross. At this rate they make
five dollars a day.
Iron is constituent of most solids
and is found in food crops. Oats, bar
ley and rice contain much more iron
than wheat, corn or beans Nearly
four per cent of the ash of the oat
grain is iron.
Prof. Peel, of ST. Petersburg, has
found fifty per cent. of petroleum in the
cod liver oil sold by one druggist, the
adulterated article having the taste,
smell and appearance of the genuine.
Mineral oil is also frequently found in
olive oil.
A very dense graphite carbon for
incandescent electric lighting is now
produced by passing the electric dis
charges from an induction coil between
two electrodes inclosed in a vessel con-
tanning illuminating gas; the graphite
forms at the negative electrode and
gradually elongates toward the posi-
tive pole.
"A new process for preparing beans
for food has been devised. The beans
are reduced to -four, which is boiled
until it attains certain consistency,
and the name of "curd" is given to it,
The article is simple, cheap and very
nutritious, and is much relished by the
Chinese. 1t has alarge percentage of
caseine, and is a good substitute for
milk.
Many experiments in burning brick
with oil in place of wood are being
made by manufacturers of brick along
the Hudson river. If the new method
proves to be practical it is estimated
that there will be a saving of forty per
cent. effected. The main difficulty is
in the drying Off process. One re-
suit of using oil instead of wood will be
the preservation of thousands of acres
of forests in the counties affected.
Both in China and Japan soapstone
has long been largely used for protect
ing structures built of soft stone and
other materials specially liable to at
mosphere influences 1t has been found
that powdered soapstone in the form of
paint has preserved obelisks formed of
stone for hundreds of years, which
would, unprotected, have long ago
crumbled away. For the inside paint
ing of steel and iron ships it is found
to be excellent. 1t has no anti-fouling
quality, but is anti-corrosive.
AT a recent meeting of the Acad-
envy of Sciences, in Paris, M. Chevreul
communicated in the name of M.
Arnaud, Curator at the Museum OF
Natural History, very interesting
note on the toxic substance which the
Comalis employ to poison their arrows.
| This substance is the "Ouabaio' wood,
and from this wood NJ. Arnaud has ex-
tracted crystalline matter endowed
with terrible venomous properties. In
simultaneous and intravenous injec.
tions three one-hundredths of grain
of the poison suffices to kill dog.
Death rapidly occurs by an arrest of
the hearts action.
M. Perrotin, French astronomer,
has discovered that the planet Mars,
besides being inhabited, has number
of gigantic canals connecting her seas
and, what is more remarkable, that
some of the canals are still in course
of construction. The theory of i'm
mense canals in Mars-from eighteen
hundred to two thousand miles i
length and from twenty to fifty miles
in width-has already been put for.
ward, but positive knowledge on the
subject has been lacking. If these
canals be the work of artifice on the
part of the inhabitants of the planet,
as M. Perrotin states, then it will be
reasonable to believe that it is peopled
with enormous giants.