Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-03-01
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

1t is said that ten per cent of alum,
added to plaster of paris while being
burned, renders it as hard as marble on
setting, and capable of taking a fine
polish.
London Truth says that the art of
the working goldsmith is disappearing,
owing to the cheapness of diamonds.
Every one who buys an ornament insists
now upon precious stones, and estimates
it rather by the value of the stones than
by the beauty of the workmanship.
Experiments with new explosive
called ecrasite, which is to dynamite as
100 to 20, have recently been made in
Austria, and are said to have succeeded
so well that the invention has been pur-
chased for military purposes exclusively.
Considered as food the strawberry
would hardly be rated as very nutritious.
The small amounts of food constituents
present are so diluted by the ninety per
cent of water, that to sustain life very
large quantity would have to be con-
sumed.
Photography has attained recog-
nized position in medicine. There are
amateur photographers on the staff OF
nearly every hospital, and the extern
sions now being carried on at the En-
glish Royal College of Surgeons compre-
bend ''phOtograph-room." Before long
the surgeon will think no more about
carrying his camera than he does now OF
carrying his stethoscope.
Edison has invented a new battery
cell for the use of telegraph companies.
1t is described as simple cylinder of
zinc in which is placed thick stick of
caustic soda, and the cell is then filled
with water. 1t is said to possess mar
velous potential energy, with a mini
mum of internal resistance, and bat
terry will work as well in wet weather
as in dry. There is no polarization and
the zines never require cleaning.
Corn husks are utilized in Austria
in the manufacture of paper. The
husks are boiled with an alkali in tubu-
lar boilers. The glutinous matter in
pressed out from the fibers. The short
tibers are used making paper stronger
than the same weight made from cotton
or linen rags, being specially adapted
for pencil drawing, stenographic writ
ing, and water cOlors. In point of dura-
bility it is said to exceed paper made
from any other material. When the
gluten is left in the pulp the paper is
exceedingly transparent.
The quantity of timber used yearly
in the mining industry is enormous. In
the Anaconda mine alone, near Butte
City, Mont, $4,000 feet of timber are put
under the ground daily, or at the rate of
10000, 900 feet year. At the smelling
works at Anaconda, belonging to the
same company, there are $50 cords of
wood used daily, or IS, 700 cords year.
Nearly 1000, 900 cords of wood are kept
on hand. All the timber used for mining
purposes can be legally cut from govern
ment land, and the mining companies
never fail to avail themselves of the
privilege when possible.
Slate is usually quarried either by
blasting it out in large slabs or by split
ting it off with wedges. The slabs are /
split into sheets by driving wide thin !
chisels between the layers, and these
sheets are in turn cut up into the sizes
required. In this country machinery
especially adapted 10 the purpose Is
used in cutting and trimming slate.
Large slabs for mantles, table-tops and
other ornamental purposes are cut out
with circular saws and then planned with
machines which greatly resemble those
used for planning metals. Roofing states
are split out rough and squared and have
two small holes made in one end for the
nails with which they are fastened to
the roof.
-Bromine as disipfectant is said to
be coming to the front 1t is an mex
pensive by-product of the manufacture
of salt, selling at about seventy cents
pound. and in solutions containing one
part in weight to about eight hundred of
water it may be used freely without af-
fecting any thing which it may touch. ]
A few gallons used daily will remove all
ammoniacal odors from stables, or few
quarts will thoroughly deodorize the en-
tire plumbing system of an ordinary
house. The undiluted bromine is
strongly corrosive, and if it touches the
skin causes painful burn.