The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-11-30
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


British Medical journal, says that in
Europe quarantine has been every
where Intellectual 1t has been dis
carded for twenty-seven years The
substitute for it is proper system of
medical inspection" Cholera should
be dealt with by sanitation, disinfec-
ton and isolation of cholera patients.
The last annual report of the COM
missioner of the general land office
shows that during the year the aggre-
gate of public lands disposed of was
1881, 143 acres, of which l, 404, 95S acres
were sold for cash. 10, 1896, 727 acres was
miscellaneous entries and 80, 457 acres
Indian lands. The cash receipts of the
Office during the year aggregated s4,-
479, 734.
The Philadelphia County Medical
society has appealed to the city's board
of health to place tuberculosis, or con-
sumption, upon the list of diseases to
be treated as contagious. They assert
that it has been proved by long and
careful investigation that the disease
is infections in its character, though it
takes a longer time to develop than
smallpox and typhoid fever.
President II. S. Haines, of the
American Railway association, says
that gradually the rate of wages of
railway employees has been raised until
now the percentage of payrolls to total
operating expenses is higher than ever
before. Sixty per cent. of the rail
roads pay no dividends, and there is no
hope of a change for the better until
the rate per ton-mile increases, or the
cost per ton-mile decreases.
An interesting statement with re-
gard to railroad construction this year
is made by the Railway Age of Chi
cago. The total new mileage laid dur
ing the first nine months of the year,
as obtained from official sources, was
2,0i0. So miles. Ordinarily at least fifty
per cent. more track would be laid dur
ing the remaining three months, but
from the present outlook it is regarded
as doubtful if the total for the year ex-
ceeds $500 miles.
When glass stopper sticks in the
bottle, pass strip of wooden cloth
round the neck of the vessel and seesaw
it backward and forward. This fric-
ton heats and causes the neck to ex-
pand, so that the stopper becomes
loose. On this principle of expansion
by heat a tight screw may be with
drawn from a metal socket by sur
rounding the socket with cloth
dipped in boiling water.-Scientiic
American.
The observatory method of deter
mining time is very simple in princi-
pie. The observer turns to his cata-
1ogue of stars, and chooses one for his
observation, the catalogue giving him
the time Ito the hundredth of a sec
ond) at which that star will be on his
meridian; he then turns to the tele-
scope, and at the instant the star
crosses the meridian records the time
indicated by his clock. The catalogue
gives the true time of passage, and I'M
less the clock gives the same it is in
error.-Popular Astronomy.
The fastest mechanism, artificial
or'natural made to penetrate water
for any considerable distance is, &C
cording to Mr.. jeremiah Head, Thorny
croft torpedo boat, Ariete, which on
trial made 80. 16 miles per hour Aerial
mechanisms are capable of very much
greater speed. Canon Tristram told
the biological section of the British as
ISOLATION in his address that Herr
Gatke holds that goowits and plovers
can do their 24O miles an hour, and the
spine-tailed swift, according to DIR.
Jerdon, can breakfast in Ceylon and
sup in the Himalayas on the same day.
KNOWLEDGE for October.
-Laverand, in writing of disinfec-
ton in the Journal des Science Medi-
cal, states that, theoretically, we are
now thoroughly equipped for vic
torious struggle against all forms of
infectious and epidemic disease, but
that, as a matter of fact, there is no
antiseptic, which, in its practical APP
plication to daily life, will give the
same results which the experimentor
obtains in the laboratory. He men
lions as the most reliable chemical
agents, per cent. solution of car
bolic acid, bichloride of mercury (cor-
rosive sublimate) in OIL per cent solu-
ton and fresh chloride of lime.
"A remarkable geological substance
found in Finland is a stone which fore
tells. by change of color, the proba-
BILE character of the weather in the
near future-a natural barometer
known by the name of semakuir, and
which is said to turn black shortly be-
fore an approaching rain, while in fine
weather it is notified with spots Of
white. For loug time, it appears,
this interesting phenomenon was mex
plicable, but on an analysis of the
stone it was shown to be fossil mixed
with clay and containing portion OF
rock salt and inter. This fact being
known, the explanation of the changes
became easy; the salt, absorbing the
moisture, turns black when the condi-
tions are favorable for rain, while the
dryness of the atmosphere must as nat
urally bring out the salt from the in
terror of the stone in white spots on
the surface.
Cat, aud COutagIon.
Much has been said lately concerning
the in lection conveyed through flies