Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-14
POPULAR SCIENCE.
Germany - rheap aluminium - N~Ilean
MISUNDERSTANDING and Rain signs.

On Monday evening, 18th, the mon,
will be iu conjunction with the plans,
Jupiter, and on Tuesday evening, 18th
with the planet Mars. There are M
other astronomical phenomena OF in.
portance for this week.
-.
The hop is now receiving great deal
( of attention in France rs q fibre plspt
1t makes fpe cordage and is sail
to turn out paper stock equal in ever
respect to the best manila. B.sachet
properly it works to perfection as stock
for the finer papers. The French ppopls
are pronouncinR upon il rs O most vain
able crop without taking the fruit at all
into consideration.
I -.
. The discovery OF Il new insulating ma.
terlal to be employed in ASSOCIATION with
electricity Is reported from London. I,
is said to have all the qualities OF quits
pere ha, but with a higher dielectric re-.
sistence. The discovery was made hr
DR.. Purcell Taylor, a name well known
to scientists. The doctor calls il .,pur.
cellite.'' They say it Is exceediugl,
tough and elastic, capable of being given
any color, and OF being made eIths,
fortieth as expensive as gutts percha.
We have no information with references
to it beyond this mere announcement.
The German chemists, who not ion,
ago discovered the sweetest substance
known to the world, which the cal!ei
saccahrine. are said to have reached III,
other extreme i'll the discovery Of n,
worst smelling substance ever befor,
dreamed of by any man s priloSophy.
The cities in which the experiments hav,
been going on have promptly closed dow;
on their work. The new product hgi
been obtained from the reaction Of SUI
phurated hydrogen on acetone. Ths
got an entirely new body, which seem
to be mOnosulphurated acstons. or tn
oketone. 1t was impossible, however
to- obtain the subtapce pure on account
of its odor, which makes all other fOul
smells sweet by comparison, and entitle,
this ompound-whatever il ls-to
rank as the worst smelling substance
known. In the attempts made TO purify
the product, with every precautoG 10
prevent its escape, the atmosphere abou.
the laboratory was SO infected to dis
lance of at least a quarter OF mile that
storm Of complaint from the citizens OF
the town maze it necessary to abandon
the investigation.
-
One might think that nothing Of i'm
portance could spring from this newly
discovered bad smell stirred up in Ger
many but already its usefulness is being
widely discussed in the war department
of that country. They claim that when
the substance has been worked down by
science into manageable shape it will be
iuolosed in shells to be exploded in the
camps aud fortresses of the enemy.
While this style of warfare may prove
wonderfully effective it will certainly not
stand out with much prominence as q re-
sort to any new principle in animal war
fare. -
1t has long been known that valuable
metal called aluminium existed in COM
mon clays, but way OF getting it out
oheapIy could not be found. Since 1885,
many prominent chemists have been
devoting their whole time to delyinG
after it. Al last Mr.. Eugene II. Cowlei
OF Cleveland. Ohio. claims to have made
the much coveted discovery. According
to the New York Times we are now 10
have a pure metal made by new pro
cess that is radically different from any
thing yet known 10 metallurgists-a pro-
cess that is ridioulousy simple IN opera
ton aud almost theoretically perfect.
BY reason of two chemical discoveries
it is found that the pure metal
can be extracted direct from
the clay. This can be done without the
use of electrical heat. When operated
on as large scale as that on which iron
is produced, aluminium will Oe produced
at q cost permitting it TO sell at 500 per
ton, q price less than the present price
of copper. Extensive works for turnina
out the new metal are to be put int
operation without delay.
The height of the great mountain peak!
in Mexico has just been settled tya
scientific expedition sent out for ths'
purpose under Angelo Heilprn. 1t is nov
fully established that the highest peak III
Mexico is Orizabs or the "Star Aoun-
tain,' and not Popocatepetl Is MS
been supposed. the former
being 700 feet the highest as ,2y0 le.'
above the seal. Popocatepetl comes
next, then lxtaccihauatl, which 10 gov
feet lower than Popocatepetl. Measure
msnts of other peaks further north are
soon to be taken with q view TO decidint
upon which is the highest peak IN Norm
America. From the present outioo.
scientists are beginning TO feel tls.
Will carry of the palm. There"
low remaining but one ehancs for Des'-
ing Mexico, and that lies in Alaska.
A gentleman came to the writer =,
these notes few days ago and ssI'
lightning had often struck on his place,
and therefore he felt sure that the.'
" ere "minerals' in the ground w
have heard that kind of thing often pe
fore, but II Is all nonsense. No ue'a.
(what the man meanD have any spec,"a
for lightning, where they :"
in an isolated kind of condition. "ns-
a "thunder cloud' comes up hea'.,
charged with electricity, that eiec'r.'a
leaps to the earth at the first point WIZ.
Is offered the most direct conductor. ~
instance, if your place slopes of ID =.
direction whence the cloud is co"', -
there Is danger, but IL it happens
slope the other way and there is n'kn
land or high trees between you anu -.
approaching cloud, there is no oaps.
whatever. When lightning leaves
cloud for the earth it has its eo .s.,
marked out at starting, as it were; .Dr
is, il starts for the earth on the rou'e1
least resistance, or over q way thai .d
hiring IL TO som hing directly conDeo.