The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-05-08
POPULAR SCIENCE.

ChlcagO DTluSeS arc W De tuinCo WAsos
electricity by means of motors.
It is proposed to train naval signal:
men in postal telegraphy and electric
light signals.
A German artillery officer is said to
have produced q new explosive frem!
carboGc acid. ...
Experiments are being made with dogs
to train them for service with the
ambulance corps.
One of the latest inventions is three
cornered steel nail that will drive easily
and will not split the wood. |,
The so-called annelid tubes of the,
Sutherland quartzite are said to be the
remains of terrestrial plants that grew
upon sand dunes.
Promoters of elevated railroads are
finding great encouragement all over the
United States. Most of them will be,
operated by electricity, it is said.
A new electrical shell has just been in
vented, 6 feet 8 inches long and 200
pounds in weight, which carries pounds
of explosive. It is to blow up vessels. :,
The wire belt to run the American
machinery at the Paris Exposition was
made at Beaver Falls, Penn, and is sixty
feet long and twenty inches wide, all
wire. ~
An espalier tree at Pollet, France, was
planted in 1880, and is now the Oldest
in Europe. It spreads 100 feet, its stem
is three feet through, and it still bears
5000 to 1000 pears yearly.
The death rate in the case of brewers,
commercial travellers, and other classes
exposed to the temptation of frequent
alcoholic drinking, is six times greater
than all the other industries combined.
A wave motor, for utilizing the force
of the tides, is in semi-successful opera
ton at Point Lobos, Cal. Another wave
motor, the invention of Lynn CMass.)
man, is reported to have been successfully
tested.
Services for the deaf are held in the
church institute at Sheffield, England.
The preacher speaks into bell-shaped
receptance, from which tubes convey the
sound of his voice to the ear of each per-
son present.
A laboratory intended mainly for the
study of bacteria in milk is to be estab-,
lished in Berlin. Infant mortality is
known to be largely due to unwholesome
milk, which can be rendered harmless BY
destroying the germs.
An experimental tank 500 feet long:
and twenty-five feet wide has just been
finished for use at Spezzia, Italy, to de-
termine which form Of ship shall have the
least possible resistance at certain speed,
and to determine the relation of power to
speed.
Anew Orleans writer says that South
ern florists are rejoicing in their ability to
raise the exquisite lily of the valley to-
day after an immense amount of effort.
Every one of the delicate blossoms were
imported formerly, but now, by freezing
the bulbs, they can be had at first hands
with small expense.
Colonel Majendie concludes that one
volume of liquid benzine will render 16,-.
900 volumes of air infammable or 5000
violently explosive. Neither glowing
coal, sparks from flint and steel or g
fameless fuse, however, will ignite the
most explosive mixture, actual fame or
white heat being necessary.
Artificial coffee beans arc curiosity of
the German market. They are made from
roated grain -four, with an addition Of
dextrine or similar substance, and the
counterfeit is only detected by critical
examination. Two. establishments offer
for sale outfits claimed to make from 1000
to 1900 pounds of these beans each per
day.
Curious minerals are found in Utah
Territory. One is o deposit of alum
eighteen inches thick and of dazzling
whiteness; natural mineral wax, proof
against air, acid and water, and g perfect
insulator. The deposit is three feet wide
and mile long. The Salt Lake is an i'm
mense limitless magazine of salt. Hun
dreds of tons of sulphite of soda are
picked up on the banks of the lake blown
there by the winds under certain tenn
peratures.