Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-13
SCIENTIFIC GLEANINGS.

SCIENTIFIC GLEANINGS.
Napthaline is now quite extensively used
as a wood preservative, and is said to be
very effective.
According to the eminent Psychologist,
NJ. Sappy, the stomach contains 5000, 900
glands by which the gastric juice is
secreted, and few others which secrete
only mucus.
An inventor named O. L. Mcclellan has
succeeded in reproducing artifcialy the
light of the glow worm. The production
of this illuminant means the utilization of
energy without material waste and with
out heat
Iron is rolled so thin at the Pittsburg
iron mills that 10000 sheets are required
to make a single inch in thickness. Light
shines through one of these sheets as
readily as it does through creased tissue
paper.
Molds for casting iron can only be made
in sand Iron or other metallic molds chill
the iron, and it does not fill well. The
great heat at which iron melts will burn
any other material, or will stick so as to
break the mold.
Cement should never be disturbed after
commencing to set. 1t should be kept
moist and wet until hard. Cold retards,
heat equickens setting. Brick or stone
should be wet or moist, or cement
will not adhere well.
It will cost $4,000 to purchase the
horses necessary to run a sixteen foot car
100 miles a day, whereas the cost of a
storage battery for a similar amount of
work is 81 800, and the latter can be main
tanned for about one-half the cost of keep
ing horses.
Ten men with drills operated by electric
ity, it is said, can take out as much ore
and tunnel as far as 100 men with picks,
shovels, and blasting materials, besides
which the buildings can be lighted, and a
great saving on insurance and oil be made
thereby.
The heart sends nearly ten pounds of
blood through the veins and arteries each
beat, and makes four beats while we
breathe once. One hundred and seventy
five million cells are in the lungs, which
would cover a surface thirty times greater
than the human body.
The number of species of animals whose
tracks have been found in the Trias of
New England and New Jersey by DIR. Ed
ward Hitchcock and Prof. G. H. Hutch
cock, is now 165, including one marsupal,
thirty-fve so-called birds, although they
are doubtless more reptilian than avian
in their character; twenty light dinosaurs;
twenty-seven reptiles and amphibia; six
teen batrachians; SIX chelOnlans, beside
arthropoda and mollusca. The two great
collections are at Amherst college and Mt.
Holyoke Seminary.
The circle around the moon, or lunar
rainbow, shows the presence of moisture
in the air. Moisture at high altitude
produces a large bow and at low altitude
a small bow The smaller the bow, there
fore, the nearer the moisture, and conse-
auently. the sooner will the storm develop
The old saying that the number of stars
to be seen inside of the circle indicates the
number of days before the arrival of the
storm is not reliable, as the position of the
moon in the heavens may make the num-
Der great or small, without regard to storm
conditions All attempts at predicting
the weather for months In advance are
mere guesswOrk.
The process of condensing natural gas,
invented and patented by Adrian Hill, of
Anderson, Ind, is attracting widespread
attention. Every mail brings letters
from capitalists inquiring into the merits
Of the invention. The great possibilities
of it have attracted the attention of the
Standard Oil Company, and representa-
tives of that corporation from Cleveland
and New York have made the inventor
flattering propositions should the plan
prove a success. Hill said there could be
no doubt as to the possibility of his process.
He has now engaged in the construction
of necessary apparatus, and will shortly
give a practical exhibition of reducing a
quantity of natural gas into solid sub
stance. The process itself, as well as the
machinery needed to carry it out is very
simple. Gas, when transformed into solid
matter, is not dangerous to handle. It's
expansive force is very great, and when
the substance becomes heated above a GER
tain degree, it will become very volatile,
and will burst an ordinary cask or can.
but the effect is gradual, and the gas does
not explode. The inventor claims that
with ten-horse power engine he can re-
duce enough gas in one day to supply a
city of $4,000 inhabitants with fuel for
twenty-four hours.