News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-01-05
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

| A special oil is now manufactured to
/ be used by vessels at sea to pour on the
waves in time oEstorm.
The question of utilizing the waste
/ power of the Mississippi River for the
operation of an electric light plant in st.
Paul, Mimi, is being discussed in that
city:
Paris is to have. this winter an interna-
tional exhibition OF devices for prevent
/ ing and extinguishing fires in theatres.
/ There will be theatrical performances
( with ~al.ss...z4l a.
| A solid lump of coal containing eighty
| seven cubic feet and weighing 1851
! pounds, was exhibited at the Texas State
| Fair recently held at Dallas. It was the
largest block of coal ever taken from a
mine in the United States
Ole Palsen, who says that he has tished
i'll the Columbia River for eight years,
caught near Astoria Oregon, recently, a
fish twelve feet long, which he can't
classify. 1t wasn't sturgeon, and be-
tween the eyes was straight horn,
thirteen inches long, three inches in
diameter at the base, and almost as sharp
as a needle.
The common puff ball strikingly illus
trates the rap;dity with which fungi may
multiply. 1t is said that 800 years would
be required for man to count the spores
of single ball, if it were possible to
continue the counting day and night for
that time. Yet favorably planted spore
will produce plant as large as the double
fist in a single night
e Il,o oonco1;
dated railway telegraph system of train
biography, made on the Lchigh Valley
railroad, gave very satisfactory results.
On train moving sixty miles an hour,
messages were sent and received to and
from other trains on the road, and COM
munication was lad with this city and
with different stations on the line.
Experiments are being made on Prus-
sian railways with axle boxes fitted with
bearings of vegetable parchment in place
of brass The parchment is strongly
compressed before being used, and it is
thoroughly dried to prevent subsequent
shrinkage. Wooden rings are placed on
the outside of the bearings, fitting the
collars of the journals. An emulsion of
water and oil and all the mineral oils are
used as lubricants. The parchment soon
becomes impregnated with oil, and is
able to go long time without renewal
of fabrication.
1t is said on the authority of Gan
American railway engineer" that low
temperatures do not decrease the strength
of rails, as is commonly supposed,
although it is true that accidents are more
likely to occur from broken rails in cold
l. Ic,, Il
is frozen hard it loses its elasticity.
Something must yield when the train
runs over the road it's the ground that
yields in un4------Tr1 Weather; but during
a freeze the ground will not yield, and
the rail, as being the weakest part of the
structure, has to suffer the consequences.
Dr. Littlewood describes in the Lqncct
method which he has used successfully
in seven cases for the removal of needles
from the body. The part supposed to
contain the needle is Thoroughly rubbed
over with an electro magnet, so as to
magnetic the metal, If present.
delcateiy balanced magnetic needle Is
held over the part. If the needle IS pres
ent, its post on can bc ascertancd by
the attraction or rcpuls;on OF the poles
OF the magnetic needle. Having asccr,
tanned the presence of the needle and
rendered the Fart bloodlesi and painless,
an inc son is made over the needle. the
electro magnet is then inserted in the
wound, and the needle felt for and with
drawn. If the needle is firmly embedded,
the pos tive pole of galvanic battery Is
paced on the surfa of the Eody OF the
patient, and the negative pole in contact
with the needle. which becomes loosencd
by electrolysis, and can then be easily re-
mo ed by he electro magnet.