Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-08-22
SCIENTIFIC GLEANINGs.


Electric prostration Is the new term
/ applied to those affected by work under
strong electric light.
Experiments are now being made with
sending live fish in specially constructed
cars from Denmark to Switzerland and
Italy.
The evidence is accommodating that the
microbe of malaria, which was described
by Laverau, Is the cause of intermittent
fever.
A most important feature of the scien-
tifc instruction in the lower grade of
schools should be the collection of speci-
mems which should form the subject of
| object lessons.
More MONEY is said to have been spent
by the United States government in che
investigation of the diseases which affect
swine than of those which affect the
human species.
DR.. Cheille, the we'll known stats
ticiap, states that the average life OF
woman is longer than that of man, and in
most parts of the United States woman's
expectation of life is greater.
The London Atheneum says: The Rev.
j. G.. Wood, whose death has been record
ed, was held in higher esteem by the gen
eral public, who bought his books largely,
than by naturaiists.
In France it has been shown that frozen
milk can be transported with the greatest
ease, and that after being kept for days
and weeks, and them simply thawed out,
it retains all the characteristics OF fresh
milk.
In q large portion of Europe, from one
half to two thirds OF the population is
crowded into cities. In the United States
the older states exhibit similar conditions.
Lsaving out the towns OF less than 1000
inhabitants, the ratio for Massachusetts,
/ is sixty six per cent, Connec lieut. and
New York ffty-four per cent, and
Pennsylvania thirty nine per cent,
constitute the urban population.
A process of preserving the color of
| flowers in dried specimens, as used in
| Berlin, consists in sleeping the plants in
| a solution OF sulphurou5 acid containing
| one-fourth of its volume Of methylated
| spirit. Delicate flowers require an i'm
mersion of but five or ten minutes, and
thick leaves as much rs twenty four hours.
| They are then removed, the fluid is al
! lowed to evaporate, and the plants are
dried between paper in the usual way.
II is estimated that Niagara Falls will
reoede two miles and then remain sta
tionary, their height at that point being
| eighty feet, instead OF l64, as at present.
! The superstition Is supported by an argu-
ment which appears reasonable. The
present site is a limestone formation
| some eighty or ninety feet with ehaly
| foundation. As the shsle is washed away,
| the limestone breaks off, and the falls
! take a step backward. But the ED OF
the shay deposit will be reached two
miles from the present falls, and then
the rushing water will have more than it
can do to wear the solid preclpice over
which it will be projected.
A dealer in cutlery expresses the opin-
ion that not one man in fifty knows how
to sharpen pocket knife. "a razor" he
says, "must be laid fat on the hone, be-
ing holiowxround and requiring a fine
edge. But pocket-knite requires
stiff edge, and the moment you lay it fiat
on stone, so as to touch the polished
side, you ruin the edge. The blade must
be held at an angle OF twenty or twenty
tive degrees and hsvs an edge similar to
| p Gnlstl. L us Is itCuulShAig N9il0h NV
camel and is marked on all new knives
by fine white line which does not re
move or touch the polish surface.
Knives improperly whetted are often
condemned as too hard or too soft with
out reason.
Some rare metals, possessing special
qualities, are required for certain work.
i Thus, palladium is used in making some
parts of time pieces, and iridium for
the points of gold pens, and the uniniti-
ated have no idea of the value of such
scarce products. Vansdium costs, for
instance, l23 900 francs per kilogramme;
zeeonium, 1925 france, and lithium,
which is the hgntest of metals, 1900
francs per kilogrsmme. Rhodium, which
is extremely hard and brittle, and rs
only fusibe at very high temperature,
fetches % $50 francs, and iridium, the
heaviest substance hitherto discovered
costs l2,0O5 francs per kilogremme. II
will therefore be seen that gold and
silver are far from being the most ptec-
ious meats as far az thei- market value
IL concerned.