The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-11-27
AND INDUSTRIAL.

Peat fiber is coming into considerable
use in the manufacture Of brown paper,
being about fifty per cent. cheaper than
wool pulp.
According to Dr. Ozeretskofski, hys-
teria exists among Russian soldiers, and
presents as various diversities of form as
it does among women.
The British Government has yielded to
popular clamor so far as to assent to
new and thorough investigation of the
merits of vaccination. While asserting
20 this, it allows it to be given out that
1t sees no necessity, in any new facts that
have been discovered, for such an in
vestigation.
While the electric light is gradually
taking the place of Illuminating gas in
Germany, the latter article is to be eX-
tensively used on account Of its con-
siderable evolution of heat. In com
parison with the electric light, it is this
property which is, apart from minor
brightness, considered to be in principal
deficiency.
Mr. A. b. Griffiths states that the pro-
cess of converting iron into Bessemer
steel results in the elimination of a basic
Stag, containing from fourteen to twenty
per cent. of phosphoric acid. Reduced
to an impalpablc powder, this Stag is
valuable plant food; and as manure the
$50, 600 tons of the Stag obtained yearly
in England should produce at least A.
600, 600 tons of hay, or sufficient for feed
;pc -SO OOO boo1 Of caftla
The drainage area of the Yang-tse-
Kiang River in China is equal to one-siXth
of the area Of our country, including
Alaska. 1t is estimated that the enor-
nous amount of sediment poured down
by this river amounts to the denudationI
of the entire basin by one foot in 5000
years. No wonder that with this mass
of five billion cubic feet of solid matter
cmptied into the ocean every year the
people of Shanghai are able to see that
the coast line is rapidly advancing.
Admiral Akamatsu, of the japanese
Navy, has invented a new floating fort for
coast defense. This fort is to be built on
a kind of vessel made of steel, and $50
feet in length. The armor is to be
twelve inches thick, and the bridge Will
be specially protected with steel bull
wark of three inches. 1t is to have
double screw and engines of 200 horse
power, capable of attaining a speed of
three miles an hour. On the first bridge
will be placed twelve fifteen certimetrc
cannon, and on the second eight twenty
siX-centimetrc. The crew will number
$50 men.
Formerly engineers estimated tho
strength of ropes by the old rule Foul
times the square of the girth in inches
gives the breaking weight in hundred
weights" Commenting on this rule an
engineer says: apparently ropes are
three times as strong now; and to get
near the tabulated strength take the
square of the girth in eighths of an inch
and divide by 1000, or point off the last
three figures as decimals. The answer
will be the safe working load in tons.
This is an error of about ten per cent. on
the safe side. The breaking strain is
from five to seven times greater than
this. -
Inquiries sent to thirty-fve English
coast towns which had been using sea
water for watering streets showed that
twenty-three towns had abandoned its
use for various reasons. Ramsgate and
Folkestone stated that it destroyed all
kinds of road material except wood.
Some towns advised its use in sewer
flushing in sufficient volume, but Others
thought it produced gases when brought
into contact with the sewage. The testi'
mony is in favor of sea water preventing
dust on roads of flint or gravel; and
Berwick -on-Tweed highly commends il
for this purpose. 1t is there found that
one cart of sea water is equal to two
loads of fresh water in lasting effect.