The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-12-12
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

A Paris paper says that in some French
laundries boiled potatoes are preferred to
soap for the cleansing of soiled linen.
An electrical instrument has been in
vented which is designed to remove the
pain incidental to the extraction of the
teeth.
Running makes person warm because
of the inhalation of an increased amount
of air, causing the blood to pass more
rapidly through the lungs.
Variations in the fall of snow have
from recent observations in the Himalaya
Mountains been found to exercise an i'm
portant influence on the monsoon rains of
Upper India.
A company in France is experimenting
with system which has as its object the
automatic winding of clocks, watches,
ETC., at long distances by using the or
binary electric wires.
Experience has shown that brick tun.
nels and drains cannot be made water
tight when exposed to considerable pres
sure, as water is forced through not only
the bricks but the cements and mortars.
A small Goldfish will produce nearly
two millions of eggs. A single pair of
herrings, if allowed to produce undis
turbed and multiply for twenty years,
would supply the whole world with an
abundance of food
Large deposits of ice, believed by some
to be relics of the glacial period in this
country, have been discovered in Idaho.
They are embedded in earth and over
grown with moss, which has prevented
them from wasting away.
Saccharine is beginning to be felt by
the beet sugar manufacturers as a very
dangerous enemy. 1t is stated that in
Germany already much saccharine has
been made as to render five thousand
tons of beet sugar supertlous.
A new substitute for tobacco is being
introduced. 1t is mixture of British
herbs--the particular plants are kept Sc
cret-and smokers who have tried the
compound declare it to be deliciously
fragrant, slightly exhilarating and withal
soothing to the nerves.
The trustees of the British Museum
have lately acquired a collection or Cor
can books which possesses considerable
interest and importance. The books,
which are contained in over a hundred
volumes, consist mainly of Corean edi-
tions of the classics, of native historical
works, and of novels.
Close observers have remarked at the
comparatively rapid fading of blue flow
ers. H. Molisch, German chemist, af
ter careful study, declares it attributable
to the action of alkalies on anthocyan.
"Small quantities of alkalies," he says,
''turn the purple anthocyan blue, while
la u quantities render it green, yellow,
,.on GAally colorless."
! u Rev. DR.. Henry G. McCook, in
some notes on the defensive power of
ants, has observed that in some species
not remarkable for physical courage, a
high degree of Judgment in outwitting
the enemy has been developed. They
even build their formicaries differently,
with view to concealment when they
know they have warlike species in the
vicinity, than when they feel sure they
are free from disturbance.
As the conditions are set forth in j. B.
Bailey's work on ''Modern Methuselahs, Y
moderation in eating, drinking and liv-
ing are conductive to long life. Persons
in comfortable position and of average
intelligence enjoy better prospects for a
long future than those at either extreme.
Earnest and ungrudging exercise of the
mental powers appears to be no bar tc
old age, and at times to favor it; but, as
a rule, while moderate use of the facul-
ties tends to health and endurance, ex.
cessive use of them has often, directly OF
indirectly, had reverse effect"