The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-06-07
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

| -(falVanlZeQ iron is ordinary iron
which has been dropped in molten zinc,
and retains surface coating of the zinc
when removed.
"A new industry in Germany is the
utilization of the young leaves of the
strawberry plant as beverage. Hav-
ing been carefully dried, they are used
instead of Chinese tea, which they close
| ly approach in taste.
| Artificial coffee is manufactured on
an extensive scale in Germany, 1t is
made from linseed meal, roasted to a
dark color and mixed with some glutin-
GUS substance before being passed
through machines, which turn out the
compound in the shape of real coffee
bean. When the false bean is we'll
mixed with the genuine product only
an expert can detect the difference.
"A method of bleaching by electricity
has been introduced into Russia, where
chloride of magnesium, which has hith-
erto been largely used in the industry,
is rare and expensive. The apparatus
requires little care or attention, the
operator having merely to empty and
refill, from time tootime, the tank con-
tanning the salt solution in which the
electrolytic apparatus is placed.
Edison, when in Paris, laid great
Stress upon the fact that it was danger
Out to be sending side by side with gas
cobduits through subterraneous Paris
keaeetScal currents by wires charged
-sSh thfgh JtensioE-cnrrents. and pre-
y ticteatha explosions would be the re-
suit Many explosions from this cause
are now occurring in Paris, and the
newspaperspf that city are reverting to
Edlsons warning.
An English medical commission
made some experiments as to the effect
OF tight lacing. Female monkeys were
used. They we're put into plaster of
paris jacket toimitate stays, and tight
initiate the petticoat band. Several of
the monkeys died very quickly and all
showed serious injuries resulting from
the treatment
Steel pipes as substitute for cast
iron now form an important item for
!
veyance of water. Such pipes are being
adopted for several reasons. As their
weight is only about cne-quarter the
weight of cast iron pipes for the same
service, the matter of transportation
forms an important consideration. They
are also much less liable to fracture
than cast iron.-Scientific Am erican.
Everywhere preparations are being
made to use the electric motor on the
street railways. 1t has proved such an
eminent success in every particular,
and is so much more economical than
either horse or cable power, that it is
destined to become the universal power
for street railway service. 1t is esti-
mated that anywhere from $1,000 to
| $4,000 horses now in use will be thrown
| upon the market, and practically no
| buyers for them, because there are no
places for them to fill.-St. Paul Globe.
"A new fiber plant has been discov-
cred on the Isle of Trinidad which prom
ises to be an improvement on ramie. 1t
was found by an agriculturist named T..
j. st. Hill, who has called it "mahol-
tine, but whose scientific nomenclature
is Ambition periplocifolium. The great
fSh.3g with this plant is that the ribbons
at nNarly all times of the year are easily
detached from the wooden portion by
simply stripping them with the hand,
and therefore decorticating machine
is not required as for ramie. When it
Is known how readily the stems allow
themselves to be deprived of their coat
ing of bark and fiber it will be seen
what an advantage this simple fact
gives the new product over many of the
! fiber producinp nlants