Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-10-10
POPULAR sCrENGs


avoid poisoning from white lead.
Four different mountain peaks in
Idaho are from thirteen to twenty three
feet lower than they were fifteen years
ago.
A meteorological station is to be es-
tablished at liberia, Palestine, place
6S2 feet below the level of the Mediter-
ranean Sea
Electric heating is promised as one of
the new uses of electricity, and COM
pany has been organized in Chicago to
introduce the system.
Recent researches in medicine show
that persons having a tendency to equity
troubles generally improve more rapidly
when they eat no fruit.
French scientists assert that the Eiffel
Tower causes electrical disturbances and
that the climate in Paris has been much
worse since the tower was Quilt.
NJ. Olszewski has found that liquid
oxygen, instead of being colorless, has a
bright blue color. He concludes that
the blue of the sky may be due to the
airs oxygen.
1t is now the intention of European
engineers to store the waters of the Nile
to such an extent as to enable greater
extension of the cotton and sugar cane
crops in that region.
DR.. Pinel, of Paris, has found that
hypnotic patients obey the monograph
as readily as they do a living speaker.
He, therefore, dscards the whole theory
of animal magnetism.
A strong wind prevents the formation
of dew, by keeping the air well mixed,
/ and leaving no part of it in contact with
the ground long enough to become cool
and deposit moisture.
To determine whether the joint of
sewer pipe leaks or not, wrap it with a
piece of white cloth saturated with so.
luton of acetate of lead. If it leaks,
the cloth will become black
Humboldt calculated the mean level
of North America to be 748 feet above
the sea, and he found that in 4, 500, 900
/ years the whole of North America might
be worn down to the sea level.
Coal equaling that of the finest Lebigh
Valley grade has been discovered in
Brazil, the veins being from four tc
twenty-five feet in thickness. The mines
are situated at and near Sonora.
The survey for an observatory upon
] Mont Blanc, Switzerland, is now being
made, and as soon as it is shown that
iron columns Can be sunk through the
ice cap forming the summit, plans for
the observatory will be prepared.
The pongee silks, both plain and fig.
ured, will be worn during the fall, the
natural shade predominatiug. Combina.
ton suits in two shades of pongee will
be favored. The two shades of brown
and black, with delicate combinations,
will be noticeable reception gowns.
The cultivation of the Indian rub.
Der tree on the island of Trinidad is re-
ceiving much attention. A few trees of
different varieties were imported some
years ago and were placed iu'the botani-
/ cal gardens. The results have shown
that the soil aud climate are remarkably
favorable to their cultivation.
Accordion plating, after its brief re.
tirement, is again to the fore for the
moment at least A costume of fine
wooden is made entirely of accordion
plaitS. The corsage is ornamented with
square figaro jacket fronts and backs Of
foe guipure lace. The upper part oil
the sleeve is of full accordion plaits, the
lower part tight-ftting and covered with
guipure lace. The collar and bands are
of guipure.
In paper lately read before the Scien.
tifc Section of the Manchester (England)
Literary and Philosophical Society, Mr.
John Watson maintains that the rede
velopement of lost limbs is not unusua
among insects. He himself has ha6
three cases in which limbs have been
redeveloped and one case of complete
cicatrization. Redeyelopemcnt, he says,
can take place either at the larval or the
pupal stages of an insects metamor
phosis.
The husk of Indian corn is being used
in the manufacture of paper. In some
experiments to test this use the huslls
were thrown into a rotary boiler, and
after being mixed with caustic soda and
thoroughly boiled, they formed kind
of spongy paste, full of glutinous sub
stance. This paste was then placed III a
hydraulic press, so as to separate the
gluten from the fibre; a compact mass OF
fibre was then obtained, which is worked
in various ways.
The ichthyosaurus which was founJ
by diggers who were making excavations
at SainteColombe in French Burgundy
is one o. the largest ever found, aud can
be considered one of the finest specimens
of archaeological wonders. Its body,
about nine yards in length, and its head,
five feet in length, were found in good
/ state of preservation, the anterior and
the posterior fins adhering to the verte-
bral columns. Scientists gave this ante
diluvian monster the name of Ichthyo.
saurus Burgundianus.
c. V. Boughton, Secretary and Mana
ger of the Buffalo, IN. " Seal and
Press Works, is working on an electrical
machine for conversation at long dis
tances. Mr.. Boughton is an inventor
who has come into prominence lately
by his machines for making seals,
and has two big contracts with the
Government for furnishing them He is
not yet prepared to give out details of
! his plan, as the foreign patents have not
yet been obtained. He has been at work
on the scheme for a year and has sDent
$4,000. The medium used is electricity.
1t is not system of signals, he says, nor
anything OF the kind. The Presidents
message or the contents of a newspaper
may be transmitted to a vessel ten miles
distant with ease. He will be ready very
soon to show its operations to t.,e
world.
A Large Tree.