The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-11-09
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

In experimenting on Jne prOduc-
ton of electric currents by bending
metal wires, it is proved that the
greatest development, of current is
produced by the elongation or compress
sion of a nickel wire wound in the form
of a spiral spring.
1t will cost $4,000 to purchase the
horses necessary to run a sixteen-foot
car 120 miles day. Whereas the cost
of a storage battery for a similar
amount of work is $500. And the
latter can be maintained for about one
half the cost of keeping the horses.
The photograph has been timed to
run account in recording the seconds
given by the heart and lungs under
auscutation. 1t is thought that this
should be of invaluable service in con-
sultation, as a true account of a pa
TENTS condition can be sent to a
specialist at distance.
1t is said that while American
manufacturers have succeeded in rival
ing European cutters in nearly every
branch, they have failed to make any
serious inroads into the razor business.
Several Eastern houses have tried to
make razors, but one by one they have
dropped out of the business till there
are very few remaining. Nine-tenths
of the razors used in this country are
made in Europe.
The Electric World gives a par
tial list of the patents taken out by
Mr.. Thomas A. Edison. 1t is as fol-
lows: Telegraphy, 131; electric lights,
108; distribution, &c; generation, 107;
railways, 8; telephones, 80; phono-
graphs, 81. The total number, includ-
ing many not enumerated above, is
493, besides over 800 applications for
patents pending.
1t has been stated by reliable
authority that there are more dentists
in the United States than in all of
Europe. This is not all. Americans
are the most expert, best read. most
scientific in the dental profession.
Their surgical and mechanical skill is
unsurpassed anywhere on the face of
the globe. The climatic conditions,
the food, and in part the heedlessness
of our people contribute to make it so.
Much interest is felt in the success
of the new invention of Mr.. Allen, of
Tuscaloosa, Ala, which, it is claimed,
will spin cotton from the seed, without
going through the process of ginning,
arranging the tiber etc. 1t is apparent
that if this invention proves successful,
it will not only be an important and
valuable one in reducing the expense
of manufacturing cotton, but it will
hasten the transfer of the cotton mills
of the country to the cotton-producing
region. Journal.
Conclusions arrived at in relation
to storm formations show that theories
thus far advanced are extremely un-
substantial, and that above all things
positive information of the processes
going on in the upper strata is neces-
sary; that the dependence of the gen.
GRAFTON of storms on temperature dis
tribution in vertical direction APP
pears open to doubt, and that, reason
ing from the behavior of thunder
storms, it seems possible that some
electrical action not thoroughly UNDER
stood supplies the force which keeps
up their energy. !
Writers in the World of Science
have been discussing a supposed dis
covery that acetic acid, properly used
in cleansing the skin, is the long
sought-ior Elixir of Life" and will
enable person to live on indefinitely
in a state of glowing health. Some
scientific correspondents ridicule the
idea, and one of them lays down the
following laws: ''In the life of the
animal body there are three periods.
The first, the period of growth, in
which repair exceeds waste; the
second, commonly called the prime of
life. in which repair and waste are
equal; and the third, old age, in which
waste exceeds repair; and in any case
the body must die eventually, when
repair ceases to bear a sufficient ratio
to waste to maintain life"