The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-09-07
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SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

In answer to the question, "Wha
becomes Of all the cracked and used
up billiard ballsp" a New York con
temporary says that those of real ivor,
are bought up and cut into dice ant
other small articles.
The experience OF the Electric
Light Committee in Leeds, England
has been that incandescent lamps be
come useless after a life of $50 to 90I
hours. though the filaments have ,
nominal life Of 1000 hours.
All plants and trees consume watel
In large quantities. Sir John Laws
discovered that an acre of barley will
take up 1904 tons of water in two days
Trees and plants are composed more
largely OF water than any other sub
stance. The branch of tree will lose
nine-tenths of its weight by drying.
In M. Meriten's new process fol
furnishing steel, the metal is placed
in bath of water at about 170o F..
and is connected to source of elec
tricity just strong enough to decom
pose the water; under these condition:
tho plate becomes coated with u layer
OF magnetic oxide, which is firmly ad
herent and will take high polish.
The size of an atom of oxygen OF
nitrogen is said to have diameter o.
one-ten-mi.lionth part of centimeter
they are supposed to be in a state OF
constant motion at the rate of seventy
miles minute. and to make them Wis.
ible the present highest known magni-
flying power of the microscope would
have to be increased nearly thousand
fold.
Another unbreakable substitute for
glass, a French invention, consists In
immersing wire in heated state in a
thin paste formed of soluble glass,
gelatine and glycerine, or glucose, in
proportions varying according to the
use for which the material is designed.
When nearly dry, the sheets are dipped
in a concentrated solution of chrome
alum or bichromate of potash. Any
desired coloring matter may be incor.
porated with the gelatine, and copal OF
other protective varnish applied to the
surface.
-Apaper on 1.-The Origin of Bronze" !"
by M. Berthelot, was read at a recent
meeting of the Paris Academy OF
Sciences. The author has analyzed
specimens from statuette from Tello,
in Mesopotamia and from the scepter
of the Egyptian king, Pepi I.-sixth
dynasty-both dating back to about
1000 B. c., and both consisting of pure
copper. From this he argues that, as
was the case in the New World, the
stone age was followed by a copper
age in the Eastern hemisphere, and
that the bronze period can not be more
than some fifty or sixty centuries old.
All colors have two kinds of har-
mony-that OF analogy or contrast; and
they are important factors. both as re-
CARDS the outward appearance of our
bodies and the inward tranquility of
our minds. A scientific journal has
recently called attention to the influ-
ence of color on the sick and insane;
experiments in Italy have shown that
mental and physical suffering can be
relieved, if not cured, by the use of
certain tones. At a hospital in Alex
andria special rooms are assigned to
insane patients. The red room has
been found of great value in cases of
the commonest forms of dementia, such
as melancholia, accompanied by re-
fusal to take food.
Some twenty years ago, Herr Falb,
an Austrian scientist, first suggested
the possibility that the moon may act
upon the great ocean of molten matter
beneath the earth's crust exactly as it
acts in producing the tides Of the eX-
ternal ocean of water. He now con-
siders that the reality of such action is
proven, and that the earth's crust is
severely strained. and more or less
warped and broken, at the times the
theory would indicate. 1t is during
the periods of greatest strain resulting
from the moons attraction that earth.
quakes appear to be most likely to oc.
cur, and that gases seem to be forced
into coal mines to such an extent as
greatly to increase the explosions.
Fog and its causes have been the
subject OF much discussion. BY one
writer the celebrated London fog is at
tributed to the cooling of the air by ra-
diation from hillsides near the city,
which air, flowing down, envelopes
the city. 1t has also been suggested
that a cool northerly wind on the west
side OF storm flows into the saturated
air on the south side and condenses
fog. In Newfoundland it is thought |
that fog is produced by the flowing OF
. saturated current southwark to cool
.ng waters, which often have ice float
ng in them. In none of these cases,
however, does it seem that the theories
advanced have been substantiated, and
he subject offers an interesting field
,f investigation to the scientist.
Pretty Girls of New Orleans,