The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-11-06
POPULAR SCIENCE.

The largest gas engine so far built has
developed 1OO-horsepower.
The balloon proposed for polar cx-
dorations is ninety-nine feet in diameter
ind 500, 900 cubic feet in volume.
An electrical paper points out that il
Europe bronze has in great measure
superseded iron and copper in electrical
appliances.
Electrical cndosmosis to accelerate the
passage of drugs through the skin has
Tor some time been regularly practiced
lnder medical sanction.
French physiologists have found that
llcohol produces the same cffccts-in-
sluding arrangement similar to delir-
ium tremens-on dogs as on men.
Electric currents of 500 horsepower
will be supplied the International Elec-
!rical Exhibition at Frankfort, Germany
from generators 40 miles distant.
Experiments prove that the Atlantic
breakers have force of three tons to
The square foot; thus surface of only
;wo square yards sustains blow from q
aeavy Atlantic breaker equal to tifty-four
tons.
Nearly 1000 electric cars are running
IN the United States. Boston alone has
.bout 100 miles of electrically operated
roads. Several systems have been de-
veloped to a perfection that insures
smooth and regular service. Other sys-
TENS are still more or less in the expert
mental stage.
The eyes of insects are immovab.c,
and many of them seem cut Into Il null
titude of facets, like the facets of dia-
mond. Each of these facets is sup
posed to possess the powers of true
eye. Lenenboeck counted 1881 of them
in the cornea of beetle, and over 5000
in that of common horsefy.
Cowhide horse shoes are reported to
be growing in favor in England and 9TH
sr parts of Europe. They have the ad-
vantages of lightness, great durability,
superior adhesion and avoidance of split
hoofs. The japanese are said to have
used straw horse shoes for centuries, the
straw being treated by an unknown
chemical process.
Professor Cohn, of Breslau, has found
that the heating of hay to the point of
spontaneous combustion is due to fun
gus. He first studied heating barley, find.
ing that the tempeature of this is raised
about forty degrees by the process of
termination, and that rise of more than
sixty degrees is caused by Aspergillus
fumigatus, which acts as ferment.
The effort to obtain electricity direct
from heat, without the intervention of
boilers, engines and dynamos, goes on,
but without satisfactory commercial re-
suits as yet. Edison and Berliner did
something on parallel lines OF investiga-
ton several years ago, but az their ex-
periments gave only small fraction of
the power that would be obtained in the
old way they were not pushed. A Pitts
burg inventor, working along different
line, claims to have accomplished more.
Trente, in Austria, claims to have the
cheapest public supply of electric light
in Europe. The station is owned by the
municipality and has at its disposal a
large motive force from waterfall un-
der excellent conditions. The light is
furnished to private consumers at the
rate of fifty kreutzcr (about twenty
cents) a year per candle power, no reg
ulation being made as to the number of
hours. To put the electric ght within
the reach of the poorer inhabitants the
house wiring, done by the town, may be
paid for in annual payments. The sta
tion also supplies motive power.