Huntsville gazette., 1890-05-24
PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.
Electricity Applied to Various New PuR-
DOseS-Industrial Notes,


Experiments have been recently carr
ried on at Toulon with view of deter
mining to what extent accuracy of aim
could be attained at night with the use
of an electric light. A gun was mounted
on a revolving platform, which also car
ried an electric protector. The target
was fixed at distance of between three
and four kilometers, and it was found
that the same accuracy could be OBJ
tanned under these conditions as during
daylight.
The Zester telephone, which closely
resembles watch in appearance, has
been adopted in the French Government
telephone service. Inside the case are
two concentric bowls of soft iron, each
having coil of wire around it. These
bowls form the electromagnetic, and the
armature, or vibrating diaphragm, is
placed over them as lid to the cases.
The alarm girdle for men-of-war or
.harbors, to protect them from the sud-
den attack of torpedo boats at night, as
proposed for use in France, consists Of
wire supported by buoys placed at inter-
walls all around the vessel. Should an
enemy break through the line at night
alight flares up and discloses his posi-
tion. ~Ts-'
The grapple plant Of the Kalahari
Desert is said to be a real vegetable curl
osity. In it's general appearance it
looks more like a star fish than a plant,
and each ray or arm is tipped with
barbs, which, when fastened to the wool
of sheep, have to be cut out as the only
way of removing them.
The electrical process has been sue
cessfuly adopted in South Australia for
the recovery of the minute particles OF
gold dust that have hitherto been lost
in the work of separating the metal
from the ore. The economical value of
the process has been abundantly proved.
In fishes which swim free and far from
shore, such as herrings and lake white
fish, the scales are attached merely by a
small area of their rims, and, being only
slightly covered with epidermis, are
easily rubbed off. Scales thus removed
are in many fishes easily renewed.
In using emery wheels it has been
found that at a high speed one ounce of
wheel material would only grind off six
ounces of metal, while at lower speed
it would grind off eleven. At this low
er speed the wheel was making 2,15O
revolutions.
Photographs of winter scenes show
very well how rime or hoar frost
'sgrows'' tout toward the direction from
which the mist or fog which gives it
y, = J,,;r n1 f1r
pretty 'feathery'' appearance some
times seen in hoar frost.
In cases where there has been excess
i've vibration noticed with engines bolted
to beams or girders Of the upper stories
of buildings, hanging heavy weights
from the bottom of the engines has
overcome the vibration almost entirely.
In the new high explosive invented by
Maxim, of machine-gun fame, gun cot
ton is the chief ingredient. Castor oil
| is also used and it is found to increase
the toughness of the product and dimin-
ish it's liability to deterioration.
The changeable and brilliant hues
which are noticeable in the scales of
herring shad and mackerel are held to
be due to the refraction of the rays of
s5a d .
light as they glance off the surfaces of
thin plates orridges in the scales.
"a rotary arc lamp having revolving
carbon discs instead of the ordinary
pencil carbons will, it is claimed run
continuously for forty hours without the
renewing of the carbons.
The nutritive value of salads is held
by eminent French authority to be due
to the presence of salts of potash, which
in ordinary vegetables are lost in the
cooking.
A mineral oil lubricant having the
consistence of butter and without ap-
preciable odor is being extensively used
in France
The mosaics used in paving ST. Paul's
Cathedral, London, are made by female
convicts at Woking Prison.
The transportation of wine in tank
cars is now looked upon as being sue
cessful. IN. Y. Times. %