The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-07-06
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

"A new agricultural machine dis
tributes manures and insecticides, and
sows grain by means Of an air blast.
--Helmhotz has shown that II an
invisible jet of steam be electrified or
heated it becomes visible, with bright
tints of different colors, according to
the potential or the temperature.
1t has been proposed to secure
secrecy in telephone communication by
breaking the transmitting current up.
and sending one portion over one line
and the rest over another line.
"A new artificial silk has been pre-
pared from pure cellulose octonitrate
having great elasticity and softuess.
1t is more histrous than the silk OF
cocoons, and capable of being dyed by
the ordinary processes.
The installation Of the electric
motor as meansf0r' stationary power
is becoming more noticeable each year.
and estimates carefully made rate the
number of those III use at the present
time for driving machinery in the
United States at between $500 and
1000.
Satisfactory results are obtained
with the new locomotive I'm which the
periphery of the driving wheels in
stead of being round is'cOmposed of
series of plain facets. connected with
each other by very obtuse angles.
These flat surfaces e'from QUE to two
T., inc, lal
traction.
The fact that the jostling to which
storage battery cells are subjected
when in use on railroad. trains not
only does not injure them. but, ON the
contrary, prolongs their life, is ac-
counted for on the ground that con-
tinuous movement of the electrolytle is
kept up, thus keeping it uniform about
the cell and preventing injurious local
action.
DIR. Eisenmann. of Berlin, has in
vented a piano which, by the aid of
electromagnetic, can sustain, in
crease and diminish sound. This has
been attempted by other eXperts,, no.
tably Boehm. the inventor of the.metal
flute. Another novelty will be that by
moving the electro-magnets the timhre
of the tone is changed; for example,
| from that of violoncello topa piccolo-
"A century ago, it is stated, only
charcoal iron was produced, and OF
that only about 10000 tons a year.
Even Great Britain produced, in 17S6,
only 6S,3OO tons. To-day there are
| several furnaces in this country, each
of which turns od annually as much
as that, and single railway now buys
yearly more iron than both Great
Britain and this country produced. y
century ago.
BY combining water, cane sugar.
white of egg. carbonate of soda and
gelatine, with the addition of about
twenty per cent. of the finest olive oil,
or other pure fat, substance could ba
produced almost identical with cows
milk in its chemical constituents and
in its appearance. But in its favor it
differs materially, and is but q, poor
apology for cows milk prepared in the
laboratory of nature.
From an exhaustive study Of the
large collection of meteorites at Har-
ward College, the conclusion. has'been
arrived mt that many of the masses of
meteoric iron now known are cleavage.
crystals, broken off, probably, by the.
impact of the mass against the atmos-
phere. 1t is found that these masses.
show cleavings parallel to- the planes
of all the three fundamental forms of
the isometric or regular system. From
all that appears, the theory has come
to be entertained that the masses of
meteorites were thrown off from sun
among the fixed stars, and that they
were slowly cooled while revolving in
"a zone of intense heat.