The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-12-26
8 =
SCIENTIFIC x1kCKLLANY.

SCIENTIFIC H12CKLLANY.
The fibre Of the hop vine-no~
used in France for paper-has great
length. flexibility and delicacy, and il
claimed to be the best substitute for
rags yet obtained.
A substance having all the essential
qualities of silk has been made from
wild hemp by Nayemura Sakusaburo,
of Hikone, Japan. The plant grows
on moors and hillsides, and could be
readily cultivated. The fibre is strong
and glossy, and several silk factories
are said to have found it to be in no
way inferior to silk.
The belief that chimney-sweep' 9
cancer is disappearing from London
with improvement in methods of
sweeping does not seem to be we'll
founded. DIR. Butlin shows from the
registrar generals statistics that the
liability of the sweeps to malignant
disease is about eight times as great
as the average liability of all males
An electric target Is made by an
English company. When o bullet
strikes the target, which is built up in
sections, the particular section hit is
pushed against the spring of lever,
closing an electric circuit and causing
the section to be indicated on the reg
istering apparatus at the firing end of
the range. An electric bell is stimuli.
taneously rung.
A London merchant rejoices because
he tried music as a medicine. His
boy. six years old, was dying with
typhoid. and was quiet insensible with
no appearance Of being able to live
through the night Knowing his sons
fondness for music. the father procur-
ed large music box, and caused it to
play. with the result that the child's
attention was aroused and his life
saved by the reaction.
A Timely Discovery.-A new insula-
ting material. having all the proper
ties OF gutta percha, but with higher
dielectric resistance, is claimed by DR..
Purcell Taylor of London. It is to be
called "purcellite. and is said to be
exceedingly tough and elastic, capable
OF being given any color, and of being
made either flexible or rigid, and to
be only one-fortiethl Gas expensive as
gutta percha.
The Range Finder.-The electrical
range-finder is designed for use in
naval warfare, but if it proves success
full. it should be of great value in
times Of peace as an instrument for
readily and accurately finding the dis
lance of inaccessible objects. Two
telescopes are used at known dis
lance apart, and the operation is based
upon fact that by simple electrical
arrangement no current will pass
unless the two telescopes are exactly
parallel The observer notes on one
OF the telescopes the angle required to
prevent current from passing through
the instrument, and thus measures or
electrically weighs the difference in
angle of the two.
The Most Offensive Odor. Some re-
searches BY two German chemists
have been brough: to a close in a
somewhat ludicrous manner. Among
several products obtained by them
from the reaction of sulphureted n.y.
drogen on aoetone was small quaint
ity OF an extremely volatile body which
seemed to be monosulphureted acetone,
or thioketone. 1t was impossible.
however, to obtain the substance pure
on account OF its odor. which makes
all other foul smells sweet by compar-
ison. and entities this compound
whatever 1t is-to rank as the worst
smelling substance known. In tho
attempts made to purify the product,
with every precaution to prevent its
escape. the atmosphere about the
laboratory was so infected to distance
OF at least a quarter of a mile that a
storm Of complaint from the citizens
OF the town made it necessary to aban-
-