West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1890-04-17
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

Experiments In st. Petersburg have
shown that boiling milk greatly reduces
its nutritiousness.
There is within few miles of Hazel
Green, KY, bank OF clay that ma.es a
very superior calciminc when dissolved
in water.
In paper to the Vienna Academy OF
Science, Theodor Gross has doubted that
sulphur is an element, believing, for rea
sons soon to be given, that it Is a com
pound OF carbon with some other as vet
undetermined elementary substance.
Compound locomotives are to be the
railway engines of the future. In com
petitive trials in England compound
locomotive consumed twenty-five per
cent. less fuel than the ordinary loco.
motive running under exactly the same
conditions.
There is talk In France of utilizing
water courses as railway motive power.
1t is proposed that the track shall be laid
on an embankment in the middle of the
current, and that the locomotive shall
have two paddle-wheels dipping into the
water and revolved by it.
In experiments recently made for the
substitution of electric lights for the oil
lamps at present in use for lighting tho
compasses of vessels at night, it was
found that by bringing an incandescent
lamp close to the compass DETECTION
of the needle was produced.
M. Fouque, the mincralogist, claims to
have discovered in mixture of copper
and lime the beautiful color, azurrino,
the composition of which has 80 long
been puzzle to artists. His tint is said
to be perfectly Interchangeable, and is
identical with the famous Alexandrine
blue.
Colonel b. G. Barklcy, of Charleston,
8. O., says that the curlews and sea -guls
on that coast eat more CLANS than the en-
tire population of the city. They pick
them mp, carry them into the air,
drops them on the rocks, which breaks
them open, and then, swooping down,
feast on them.
Cinnamon is the bark of tree, and is
grown most largely in Java aud Ceylon.
Only the young branches are stripped for
the cinnamon bark, but very small
branches are not peeled. The bark is re-
moved in strips and scraped on both
sides, and afterward sun-dried, when il
Is ready for commerce.
In France about $500, 900 is to be
spent during the year in measures against
phylloxera and other insects; $400, 900
odd in encouraging horse breeding;
$3.50, 900 for buying horses and mares
for the stud farms; 1850, 900 in en-
couraging agricultural improvements and
drainage; $3.50, 900 toward agricultural
institutions, and about 100000 in
veterinary education.
A chemist of Bockemheim, Germany.
has discovered new alloy, which Is said
TO resist the attack of most acid and
alkaline solutions. 1t contains 10 parts
of copper, 2.34 parts of tin, 1872 parts
of lead and part of antimony-being,
in fact, bronze with the addition of a
little lead and anthony. 1t is claimed
that the dlloy is much better than ebonite,
vulcanite or porcelain for vessels or
fittings liable to be acted upon by
chemicals
Hydraulic power Is now being applied
to the manufacture of seamless steel
boats. These boats are claimed to be
proof against the destructive influences
of sun aud shower and to be much more
durable and reliable than the ordinary
wooden boats. Though made of steel,
the weight will not be greater than that
OF wooden boat of the same size, and
the buoyancy will consequently be not
less. 1t is contended that in every re-
spect the seamless steel boat will be
superior to the wooden one, and the cost
of the one will not be materially greater
than that of the other.