The Opelousas courier., 1890-04-19
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

A ieweler in the West constructed a
clock which will run $50 days without
winding a second time.
Herr Weigert, a member Of a hrm o
Berlin bankers, has been given a patent
for the production of electric light WITH
out either dynamos or accumulators'
Glory awaits the first amateur photo
erapher who will take a picture OF giobu'
lar lightning. a phenomenon known 70
occur, but of which no trustworthy eVi-
dence exists.
II takes but a small quantity of non
transparent matter to produce the dim
ming effect of haze. If the eye can ob'
serve the color produced in a drop OF wa.
ter by the ffty-millionth of a gramme OF
fuchshine, possibly a weight of water or
dust not much greater would suffice for
visibility in a column Of air looo teet
long.
Potato paint is a novelty, which is said
TO adhere well to wood and plaster, and
to be verv cheap. To make it, boil one
pound of peeled potatoes, mash, dilute
with water and pass through a seive; then
add two pounds of Spanish white IN tour
pounds of water. Different colors can
be had by the use of the ordinary mineral
powders.
In the new process for spinning and
weaving glass into cloth the warp is com
posed of silk forming the body and
groundwork, on which the pattern in
glass appears. Not less than fifty to
sixty of the original glass strand are re,
ouired to form one thread of the welt,
and not more than a yard of the cloth
can be produced in twelve hours.
A physician of Allegheny City, Penn.
has invented a machine for carving planks
of wood according to various patterns.
The planks are run through the machine
as they are for producing planed, tongued
and grooved boards; but by means OF
knives skillfully adjusted, which run
across the fibre of the wood, very intricate
designs are carved continually from end
to end.
HYDROGEN gas has been liquifed, but
it requires a pressure of ITO, 600 pounds to
the square inch, and a temperature OF
22O degrees below zero. 1t forms a blue
liquid, which, by the cold produced by
its own evaporation, may be frozen for an
instant to a solid with a metallic lustre,
thus confirming the theory that hydrogen
is a gaseous metal, just as mercury is q
liquid one.
An improved white lead process has
been originated by a Glasgow inventor.
1t consists of 8 simply constructed fur
mace which distils the lead ore at the
rate of about two tons daily per furnace,
the final oxidation and conversion into
white lead taking place in an outer
chamber, while the distilled white lead is
collected In q condenser and then washed
and dried for use.
A very reliable sign of stormy weather
is when the sun rises clear and shortly
goes into a cloud. This indicates the
presence of rapidly condensing moisture
in the atmosphere, which is likely to
o fall as rain. A lurid color OF the
sky at sunrise, halos around the sun and
moon, ga rainbow in the morning." and
the .'sun drawing water'' are due to the
same cause, and are all omens Of stormy
weather.
New uses for wood pulp are constantly
being devised. One of til. latest Is it's
employment, as the basis of a plastic
compound to serve as a substitute for
lime mortar id covering and finishing
walls, and the process has been patented.
It is designed to possess all the desirable
qualities of ordinary mortar with the ad.
d-tional qualities of being harder, and
when applied to wood work, in a thin
cost, rendering it both fire and water
proof.