The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-07-10
POPULAR SCIENCE.

just now.
King Humbert is giving personal at
tention to the sanitary condition of Italy.
The annual production of chemicals in
France is said to have reached the great
value of $500, ,OOO,O00
A pressure of one pound per square
foot is caused by wind Of a little more
than seventeen miles an hour.
A mixture of finely powdered mica
and crude petroleum is said to be giving
remarkable results as a lubricant.
Four ten-ton converters in the Edgar
Thompson Steel Works at Pittsburg,
Penn. turn out nine rails Der minute.
By mixing chloride of zinc with the
pulp, European manufacturers are pro-
ducing papers as tough as wood or
leather.
In Philadelphia, in localities where
the houses are scattered, the death rate
from consumption is only ten per cent.
In thickly settled localities it is thirty.
three per cent.
A New York physician is reported as
saying that during an epidemic of diph-
liberia in that city there were five times
as many cases on the shady side OF the
street as on the sunny side.
A fine quality of bleached paper is now
being made out of sugar cane. 1t IS
probable that sugar cane will be utilized
for this purpose instead of sugar-making
as the production is too large already.
The gulf stream, between the coast of
Florida and the Bahama Group, has vel
ocity of four miles per hour and tenn
perature of eighty-two degrees Fahren-
heit. Both decrease to the northward.
Carpets and upholstery fade when ex-
posed to the sun because OF the actinic or
chemical power of the suns rays, which
decompose the dye-stuffs. The process
is closely analogous to that which oc-
ours in the taking of photographs.
Paris La Nature describes and illus
irates remarkable form of earthworm
which is found in Australia. They are
one and one-quarter inches in diameter
and six feet in length, and exhale o
strong odor analogous to that OF creosote.
DR.. John Gibson has made the import
ant discovery that two chemically distinct
kinds of sea water are present in the
North Sea. One is rich in chlorine, and
comes from the Atlantic to the south; tn,
other has less chlorine and flows from the
Arctic Ocean.
From $4,000 analyses in German
laboratory, it appears that fluctuations in
the solids of milk depend almost entirely
on variations of the fat. The evening
milk is richer than that of the morning,
and the November and December milk
than that of other months.
A remarkable phenomenon was wit
messed at Cardiff, England, lately. After
fall of rain it was noticed that the
pools of water in the thoroughfares were
tinsed with red. The phenomenon is
known as "bloody rain," and was in an
cient times regarded as sure precursor
of plague. =.
An invention to prevent collisions at
sea is being successfully tried on the
Thames, London. The contrivanee con-
sists of small iron plate at the side of the
wheel. Electricity is the acting agent,
and the approach of another vessel within
two miles causes bell to ring, and an
indicating arrow shows the direction
whence it comes.
It is proposed bya French scientist to
get up universal telegraphic language,
in which often recurring words shall be
designated symbolically by letters or fig
ures which shall be the same for all Ian
guages. It is easy to see that such
plan if carried out would greatly facili-
tate international communication, yet it
would be a task so difficult that few
would care to undertake it.