The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-04-25
POPULAR SCIENCE.

AMI Al4Aism Is tl6 udinG u u nuW
malady caused by the abuse of the latest
fashionable drug, antipyrine.
Here is the way to tell how fast you
are travelling IN railway car: Every
time the car passes over a rail joint there
IS distant click. Count the number OF
these clicks in twenty seconds and you
have the number Of miles the train is
going per hour.
Another new insulating material has
Just been produced. 1t consists Of one
part of Greek pitch and two parts of
burnt plaster, by weight, the latter being
pure gypsum raised TO d high tempera-
ture and plunged in water The mixture,
when hot, Is paste, and can be ap-
pied by a brush or cast in molds.
A novelty is announced in the shape
OF recording and alarm" compass
which, it Is declared, will greatly in
crease the safety Of vessels. The ap-
paratus is sad TO be composed of bin
nacle and recording and alarm instru-
ments connected by electric wires. The
principle, IN brief, is to sound an alarm
whenever the course is not kept.
1t has been found that some of the
streams and lakes of California contain
such quantities of alkaline salts as TO
render their waters unfit for use in irri-
CATION. 1t is now proposed to drain off
Lake Tulare, which was once looked
upon as a great natural reservoir for IL
rigation canals This scheme also in
cludes the reclamation of the "alkali
lands constituting the basin of the
lake.
One of the most remarkable of textile
materials of recent introduction is the
silk made from wood pulp. The fibre Is
produced from a nItrated cellulose OBJ
tanned from wood pulp by secret pro-
cess. This artificial silk is said to be per-
fectly uniform in thickness and perfectly
round in section. 1t can be dyed any
color and interviewer with cocoon silk in
manufactured goods, giving strength and
brilliancy to the fabric
Among the great successful inventions
in the practical application of electricity
tine United States may claim the tele-
graph, the telephone, the incandescent
light, and uuquestionably the microphone
also. To France belongs the credit of
the accumulation and the Gramme ring;
to Italy the battery and the Pacinotti
ring; TO England the self-exciting dy-
namo; to Germany the drum armature,
and to Russia the commercial arc lamp.
According to a paper read before the
Natural History Society at Indianapolis,
the smaller birds are often destroyed by
thousands during storms by being blown
out over the lakes, notably so during their
migration. The writer spoke of birds
destroyed on Lake Erie and Lake Michi-
gan, dead bodies being cast upon the
beaches by thousands. This destruction
is especially notable from storms that are
accompanied by sudden fall of temporal
ture. The fact was regarded as indicat-
inc one of natures methods of checking
the oyerproduction of species.
Willis c. Tucker, in his report to the
New York State Board of Health on the
result of his examination of various
popular brands of cigarettes, says that
careful analysis of tobacco and paper
failed to reveal any poisonous ingredi-
ents other than the tobacco itself, and
chat most cigarettes contain pure tobacco
and good paper. The evils of cigarette
smoking are due to the fact that cigar
cites are cheap, convenient, and can be
used in large and excessive quantities,
that the smoke is usually inhaled, and
that children and immature persons
freely use them.
Plants are often killed by frost in val
leys anu up to a certain height upon the
hills, while above this limit they entirely
escape injury. 1t has been found by OBJ
servatioas saat thermometer attached to
a high tower in a valley indicates atDight
the same average temperature as Their
mometer on the side Of a neighboring hill
upon the same level. This indicates that
on a tranquil night the cold air resulting
from radiation at the surface of the earth
settles in the valleys, in consequence of
its greater density, and the warm and
cold air are arranged in nearly horizontal
strata like liquids of different density.