West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1890-01-09
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL

Low tension and copper cable is DIR.
Leonard Waldo's proposed remedy for
the dangers Of electric lighting.
After three years of observation and
experiment, G.. III. Failyer, OF Kansas,
concludes that about three and a half
pounds OF nitrogen are annually added to
an acre of soil by the rains.
After the 31st OF March next, all life
boats in England will be required to
carry "A gallon of vegetable or animal oil,
in a distributor of approved pattern,
for quieting the sea in rough weather.
The collection of Corean books lately
acquired by the British Museum possesses
considerable interest and importance. II
consists of Corean editions of the Chinese
classics, Of native historical works, and
of novels.
A st. Louis physician finds h~ypnotism
very useful in his practice. He hypno-
tizes patients and performs surgical oper-
ations without inficting pain. lie can
make people believe that quinine is sugar,
and that water is milk.
James S. Carlton, an aged man now
living in Baltimore, claims TO have been
the first discoverer of the peculiar effects
of cocaine. He says that as early as 1S49
he was familiar with the properties of the
drug and made use Of them in his own
family.
The German naval authorities arc said
to have been making experiments lately
with n torpedo boat built of compressed
paper. The vessel is eleven feet long,
and was found TO show great strength
and more elasticity when rammed by
another boat.
Milk shake, an invention which prob
ably had no useful purpose originally
save to provide a new kind Of drink, has
received the Endorsement OF a Philadel-
phia physician, who p%ronounces milk
much more digestible after it has been
shaken than in its ordinary condition.
As a remedy against electrical sun
stroke" as the affection is called which
attacks men exposed tn the intense rays
of the electric arc, by means of which
metals are fused and welded, is a veil OF
mask of glazed tafeta, supported by a
wicker headpiece and provided with.
goggles of gray glass.
The consumption of food per head in
Victoria, Australia, is in excess of that in.
America and Europe. and yet the climate.
of Australia requires that n mar should
eat less. The increase OF hepatic and
nervous diseases in Australia is thought
to be due largely to the amount of meat
consumed by its inhabitants.
According to the traditions Of the
Maori, their ancestors first arrived In New
Zealand from an island in the Pacific
Ocean, to which the name of Hawaiki
is given. Since that event it appears,
from genealogical sticks kept by the
tohungas, or priests, that about twenty
generations of the race have lived.
A new Persian dye plant, the zalil, has
been discovered in India. 1t grows freely
in Afghanistan and Khorassan, and its
flowers, which are of u bright yellow
color, are dried and used as n dye
throughout Persia and Upper India. 1t
Is n perennial, and the blossoms grow on
spikes two feet high. They are used as
medicine, as well rs for dyeing purposes.
A new calculating machine has Just
been invented in France, and obtained a
gold medal at the Paris Exhibition. The
inventor is M. Bollee, a clever m~achInist,
already favorably known by other useful
inventions. The machine does addition,
multiplication and division with aston
ishing rapidity, and all by the turn of the
wheel. M. Mascart recently gave an ac-
coU't of the invention before the Acad-
envy of Science.
Opium is obtained by cutting the cap
sule of the poppy-flower with "a notched
iron instrument at sunrise, and by the
next morning a drop OF so of juice has
oozed out. This is scraped off and saved
ny the grower, and, after he has a vessel
full of it, it is strained and dried. 1t
takes a great many peoples to make a
pound of opium, and it goes through a
number Of processes before it is ready
for the market. In a liquid state it looks
like dark strawberry jam.