The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-01-22
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

/ SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
"A snail has thirty thousand teeth.
They are too small to be dangerous or
dinarily. but when they are magnifed
by a microscope scientists have to be
very careful to avoid being torn to
pieces.
-Carborundrum is term which has
been applied to manufactured SUBJ
stance intended to take the place Of
diamond dust and bort in the abrasion of
hard substances. 1t is composed almost
entirely of pure carbon, and its hard
ness is ten on Mohr's scale.
To harden tools for engraving, they
are heated to whiteness and plunged
into sealing wax, withdrawn after an
instant and plunged in again, repeating
the process until the steel becomes
cold. The tool will become almost as
hard as diamond.
The approximate value of the wine
cap of France in 1890 was $3.50, y64, 900,
an increase of $40, ZOO, 900 over 1889;
while the land covered by vineyards in
1890 was estimated at 4,541, $50 acres,
and 4.546, ACT acres in 1889, being a de-
crease in 1890 of 10Y acres.
Turkey and Persia are now playing
an important part in supplying grain to
the London, England, markets; on this
account some authorities expect to see
a great revival in the grain production
in the old countries between the Levan-
tine and Arabian seas.
Liverpool, England, takes more
American cotton than all other ports
in the world put together, and Man
chester, England takes 1920 per cent
of all the cotton shipped to Liverpool
1t manufactures about 3,0Oo,O0O bales
of cotton annually, being, in fact, the
greatest cotton manufacturing center
in the world.
The municipal commissioner of
Baroda has published a pamphlet in
which he advocates the incubation of
the blood serum of the common weasel
as cure of snake bite. This animal is,
he contends, proof against the poison
of snake bites, from which it never suf-
fers in the slightest degree. and attacks
and kills any snakes it comes across.
The latest and rarest arrival at the
geological gardens in Regents park,
10 WudU ID COISlOcTtu Guc OulY
living specimen of the hairy-eared
rhinoceros. There are six species
of this animal now extant and Mr..
Bartlett, the son of the 'well-known
superintendent of the gardens, believes
that he has discovered a seventh in the
island of Borneo, in a region compare
lively unknown to biologists.
ALI birds seem to have an instinc-
tive knowledge that if they once sur
render to the force of the wind and al
| low themselves to drift like leaves,
there are unknown dangers in store for
them. They will hardly ever do so ex-
cept to escape pursuit, and then only for
few minutes, when their pace is so
marvelously rapid that. in the case of
the land birds, few minutes is suffici-
ent to carry them out of the district
they know into others from which they
will perhaps never be able to find their
way back to the fields which are their
native home. Science
The old time ship-builders are
indulging in the hope of a revival
of their industry within the next
few years. The shipbuilders of New
Bedford are rejoicing over the orders
for vessels to engage in the trade be-
tween our ports on the Atlantic and on
the Pacific. The shipbuilders of Duluth
are pleased with the prospects of activi-
ty in the construction of big fleet of
whaleb acks for service on our western
lakes and on the Atlantic. The out
look for American shipbuilding is more
encouraging than it was few years
ago
1T is said that new sea is to appear
on the maps henceforth, or rather a
new name for part of the old sea. The
Australian Association for the advance
ment of science while considering the
geographical formation of that portion
of the ocean lying west of Australia and
Tasmania and bounded on the other
sides by New Zealand and the western
islands o. the Polynesian groups pro-
posed to name it the Tasman sea, and
the English admiralty has accepted the
suggestion and ordered that the name
appear on the admiralty charts.