The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-01-21
THE ROANOKE TIMES. WEDNESDAY. JANUARY p. 1881.
IN THE ELECTRICAL WORLD.

by new device, pieces OF motal
may DO shaped with great rnpidity by
being forced undor dies whilo rendered
soft or plastic by IN elr-,tic current.
Tho use Of electricity ror Slaughter
ing hogs is proposed It's claimed that
tho current will not only kill Il. ) hogs,
but will kill trichin,e at tho Same
time.
Experiments with tho 5000 CANDID
power search lamps show that vessels
throe miles off can readily DO detected,
and that, by throwing tho light on tho
clouds, signaling is possible at distance
Of fifty miles.
M. Hcgfroky, who recently, before
tho Hungarian Academy. read papor
involving tho results of five years study
OF thunder storms, stated that he accept
cd Sohncke's theory that tho electricity
OF thunder storms is duo to tho friction
OF wator drops on ice.
Tho perfected target for firing ut
tho small-arm ranges is worked by cleo
tricity. by means Of contact end bat
terry, thoro Is communication with tho
indicating apparatus at the firing end Of
tho range. showing which section Of the
target has been struck.
Tho German post-office officials
have been experimenting with tho North
Sea cable. rs kilomoters long, between
Hollgoland and CuXhavcn, to test tho
possibility of using submarine cables of
considerable length for telephone pur-
pesos Tho results hayo boon worry favor
able, distinct communication having
boon obtained at both ends.
-El octricitv bnq not bnnp otioo11,,
applied in tho art OF music heretofore,
except, perhaps, in tho operating mech
anism of Church organs. George Breed,
OF tho United States Navy, has devised
u method by which tho passage of n
broken current over conductor In
magnetic field produces musical ton.
OF varying pitch and volume.
Tho latest wonderful discovery is
reported from Syracuse, n. Y. A man
there has discovered bed of what no
calls electric rock" which, according
to his reports, is endowed with wonder
full properties. 1t will generate unlim-
tied power, and give any amount of in
candcsccnt light. equal, if not superior
to that produced by manufactured cleo.
tricity, in addition to which it is choap-
err than kerosene. Ono small charge of
200 pounds Of rock will produce light
and power enough for n whole year
before losing its force, and it is perfect
ly harmless, making insulation entirely
unnecessary.
Tho idoa that electricity flows
through wiro somewhat as water flows
through pipo is likely to pass away,
as reasons appear for believing that tho
energy is not transmitted by the wiro
at all, but by tho surrounding ether. II
some experiments by Prof. j. j. Thorn
son, tho velocity of electric disturbances
along wire surrounded by air was
noarly double the velocity along the
same wire surrounded by sulphur, and
tho velocity of tho discharge through q
vacuum tube so fet long was comparable
with that OF light. Tho conclusion is
that tho conductor merely guides tho
discharge impelled through tho other.
"A recent writor observes that olcc-
tricity Is gradually invading the whole
domain OF commercial chemistry. A
factory for tho manufacture of chlorato
OF potash by electricity has been cstab-
lishcd in Switzerland; soda is being OBJ
tanned by elcctrolysis Of sea salt; tho
electric bleaching of paper is largely
carried on in France, and tho manufac-
ture of electric soap on large scale is
proposed in Germany. Tho transforms
ton OF wood into paper pulp by tho
cloctrolysis of a salt solution into which
sawdust or wood is immersed has boon
proven to be practicable, and tho new
industry is to he established. Some SUI
gar works in Havana have adopted ap-
plianccs which greatly haston the
process Of sugar making.
MENTAL DERANGE MSNT