The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-06-05
POPULAR SCIENCE.
A ray Of light travels II, 100, 900 niles
in q minute.

/
A ray Of light travels ii, 100, 900 niles
in minute.
A firm of big bakers in Glasgow and
London is baking bread by electricity
and saving both labor and expense.
The voices of American-bred canaries
become harsher in each generation.
German birds must be constantly i'm
ported to preserve mellow note.
A German professor says that natural
gas is created by the presence of mass
of rock on a bed of peat, and that
hydraulic pressure would create the sans
vapor if sunfowers were used to feed it.
An English invention is the ''center-
cycle" having four wheels foot in
diameter and large wheel in the center.
With it the rider is enabled to 20 uphill
as easily as to 60 forward on level
ground.
A curious substance similar to the
sponge is known as loofah. It ls not
only valuable as an adjunct of the bath,
but is found useful for making inside
soles for shoes, and is being applied to
the under sides of saddles to keep the
horses back cool.
An Englishman has invented ~ electric
gun. There is q small storage-batsery
fixed in the stock, from which current
strong enough tc explode the cartride is
communicated. It is said that one
charging of the shell will explode five
thousand cartridges.
Cyanide of potassium will remove all
indelible inks whose base is nitrate OF
silver. But, as the cyanide is deadly
poison, it must be used with great care.
A small lump of the size Of bean, dis
solved in half gill of water, will make
a solution strong enough to destroy the
ink.
A new submarine torpedo boat has
been tried by both France and Russia,
and it is said to be successful. It is
driven by an Edison dynamo, provided
with compressed oxygen for use under
water, and large pair of scissors pro-
jecting from the prov, in order to cut
torpedo wires.
1t was DR.. Quinlan, of Dublin, who
claimed to have discovered tho curative
properties of mullen leaves in consump-
tion. Some of our physicians have ex-
perimented with the leaves of this plant
in the pretubercular stages of pulmonary
consumption, but it is not known with
what results.
soapstone incorporated with oil, after
the manner of paint, is said to be su-
perior to any kind of paint as pre-
servative. Soapstone is to be had in
exceedingly fine powder, mixes readily
with prepared oils for paint use, covers
well surfaces of iron, steel, or stone,
and ls an effectual remedy against rust.
1t has been known to protect some stone
work, such as obelisks, in China, for
ages past. -.
The microbe causing dysentery has
been discovered by German investiga-
tors. The lymph glands, spleen and in
testines are the chosen resort OF this
troublesome invader. Its appetite is not
dainty, as it gormandizes on anything, .
even picked up.dinner; and its capac-
ity of doubling itself at q rapid rate u
simply immense. 1t does not thrive IN
acid, so people who have cause to fear
an attack had better confne their pota-
tions to lemonade with little sugar.
Some physicians nave warmly Anoo'eu
the suggestion that massage as an en-
ployment, is particularly suited to the
capabilities OF the blind, in whom the
tactile sense is strongly developed. In
deed, in Japan massage has, for a long
period of time, been practiced by blind
men, who 60 about the streets with q
flageolet, drawing attention to them
selves and their occupation. tis thought
that superintendents of blind asylums
will find this possible avenue to en-
ployment for their pupils.
Professor Morse, of Salem, Mass, has
devised simple stove for warming
rooms by means of solar heat. 1t con-
sists of q shallow box having a bottom
of corrugated iron and glass top. This
device is placed outside the building, so
that the sun can shine directly into it.
The lays pass through the glass and are
absorbed by the metal, heating it to q
high temperature and warming the air
of the box. The air, which on sunny
DAYS rises to temperature of so degrees
Fahrenheit, is conveyed into the room
whi ch is to be heated.