The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-02-06
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

GLASS was made in Egypt 5000 Is. Z.
Int the earliest date OF Transparent
glass is said to have been 719 Il. {.
There are only two manufacturers
Of tape measures in the United States
the principal one at Brooklyn and the
other at Cleveland, Ohio.
The art of making matches has
been so perfected that 1c,0OO,OOO OF the
tiny sticks can be cut into shape, all
ready for dipping, by one machine in a
single day.
g-Celluloid in solution is now being
extensively used as a lacquer for all
Kinds of fine metal work and as wood
yarnish, with results that are said to be
superior to the old methods.
Bricks boiled in coal-tar are rem
dered hard and durable, and machine
made bricks, if boiled for a long period
say twenty-four hours-become water
proof. Bricks thus treated are wei!
adapted for sewers, cess-pools and the
foundations of buildings.
Alcohol gets its name from the
Arabic alcohol, the powder of anthony,
with which the people in Asia stained
their eyelids. This powder is very fine
and pure, and the name was in time
given in Europe to alcohol, because it is
a sure extract; but the Arabs never
useyE the word in that way. In other
words, that Specification of it was I'M
known in Arabia.
u 'A-One of the recent improvements in
photographic telescopes is an object
glass, one of whose lenses is so formed
that when one side of it is turned out
ward the visual rays are brought to a
proper focus and you have telescope
for seeing with; and when the other
side of the lens is turned outward the
actinic rays are brought to focus and
the telescope is in proper shape for
taking photographs.
In photographing projectiles in mo-
ton no results of any Importance are
obtained till the velocity of the shot ex-
ceeds that of sound. But at higher
speeds a wave of compression is found
preceding the bullet in its flight. The
shape of this wave is Il hyperboloid of
revolution, with the apex some distance
in front OF the shot. Behind the pro-
jectile there is conical wave formed,
| the angle of which is less the greater
the velocity.
A novel engineering work has just
been completed at the Duddon estuary,
on the English coast. A valuable her
matte mine extended out under the sea,
and in order to work it barrier two
thirds of Il mile long and fifty feet high
for about half the length has been con-
| structed. The sea is thus shut out from
about twenty-siX acres, on which, it is
estimated, the mining of iron ore may
be continued for twenty-five years. with
force of about |, 500 men.
In strong liquids, such as sewage,
which is rich in food for most micro-or-
ganisms, we find no nitrificatiOn taking
place, but, on the contrary, an abund-
ance of ammonia. In such a liquid, how
ever, the nitrifying organisms bide their
time, waiting until their less diScrimi-
mating brethren have consumed all the
available store of nourishment and are
pcrishing from want; then they step in,
make themselves masters of the situa-
ton and convert the ammonia into nj
| trio acid.
1t is known that pelagic animals-i.
e., those living on the high seas--by day
descend below the surface, rising at
night. Groom and Loeb think that this
daily migration of these animals is due
to heliotropism. In the daytime this is
negative, the strong light driving them
from the surface: while at night it eXer
cises positive action, causing them tc
seek the surface waters. Their observa
tons show that light and not heat, is
the exciting cause. Moreover Driescf
finds that heliotropism influences the
growth of the hydroid sertulariella.
While preparing sheep brains fol
the use of the physiology class at Cor
nell University Professor Wilder fount
one in which the coliseum, the great
band of nerve-fbers connecting the two
cerebral hemispheres, was wholly alb
sent. Among the thousands of human
brains examined, there have been re
corded only fifteen such cases, mostly
from persons of feeble intellect. From
the lower animals the only previous
cases also occurred in the anatomica
laboratory of this university, viz, two
kittens and cat. the latter described
and figured by Professor Wilder in 1883