The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-03-08
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

No animal can see in the dark. Some
have eyes extremely sensitive to light
of low intensity Such can see in places
which we pronounce dark, but there
must be some light present.
Paper has long been made from
wood pulp, but it is now manufactured
from the sawdust refrse of mills. When
tarred and dried it makes an admirable
sheathing for houses.
An alloy prepared from finely divi-
ded copper, mixed with sulphuric acid
and mercury, has been found to adhere
to glass with such remarkable tenacity
that it can be used as solder. 1t is pre-
pared for use by heating and kneading,
at which time it is as pliable as wax.
Blue soap, rendering the mploy-
ment of bluing in laundry work unnec-
essary, is made by Incorporating with
ordinary soap solution of aniline green
in strong acetic acid. By the action of
the alkali of the soap, the green is con-
verified into blue, uniformly coloring the
mass.
Our wooden manufactures have not
yet reached the universal excellence
which has been attained in the old
world. We still import our finest car
pots, cloths, etc. The time will come
when more ingenuity will be thrown
into this manufacturing, and then we
shall manufacture all the wooden goods
we consume.
"A London physician, who is an ex-
pert in diseases of the eye, says that he
recently had patient who, by excessive
smoking, had brought on IAN attack of
amblyopia, with central scotoma."
That ought to be warning to smokers.
The plain English of it is, that the
smokers vision had become dulled and
weakened, and that he was afflicted
with dizziness which caused him to
imagine that his head was constantly
spinning around.
Among the successful inventions in
the practical application of electricity,
the United States may claim the
telegraph, the telephone, the incan-
descent light, and unquestionably the
microphone also. This is a brilliant
record. To France belongs the credit
of the accumulation and the Gramme
ring; to Italy, the battery and the Pac-
motif ring; to England, the self-excit-
ing dynamo; to Germany, the drum
armature, and to Russia, the commercial
arc lamp.
In recent work on 'The Physi~
ology of Bodily Exercise" DR.. F. La
grange says that fencing, apparatus gym
nastics and riding school lessons may be
safely prescribed for the idle persons
"whoso brain languishes for want of
work" But for "a child overworked at
school, for person whose nerve centers
are congested owing to a persistent
mental effort in preparing for an ex-
animation, for such we must prescribe.
long walks, the easily learned exercise
of rowing, and, feeling better, the old
game of leap frog and prisoners base,
running games, anything, in fact, rather
than difficult exercises and acrobatic
gymnastics"
-Ithas recently been proven by meas,
urements, that France is undergoing q.
process of slow sinking which may lead
to serious consequences. Since 1884,
the 'genic" corps of engineers have
been engaged in etfecting level measure
ments over the whole country, and ii
has been shown that the country sinks
from the south toward the north. Thus
between Marseilles and Lille-a dis
lance of $40 miles-the sinking amounts
to ten inches annually. If this move.
ment continues, the northern part OF
France may in few centuries become
submerged. 1t may here be mentioned
that off the coast of ST. Malo, in fine
weather, fossilized trunks of trees may
be seen at the bottom of the sea, indica.
ting that these parts were once above