The People's friend., 1894-08-24
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

The steel pens thrown away in
schools and offices are conscientiously
| gathered, smelted and made into blades
for pocket knives, watch springs and
other articles of commercial value.
"A careful statistician has found
that of the working women in Chicago
"a per cent. earn just a living-not a
cent more Fourteen per cent. save
little every year and the remaining 2
per cent. do not get enough to keep
them from running in debt.
"A new method of treating copper
has been discovered and a company Is
said to have been formed to manufac-
ture it here. 1t can be made so hard as
to be sonOrOus, and bells made of it are
now in use. Government tests Of the
metal show that it is not an alloy, but
copper pure and simple.
1t has been stated in a recent essay
by a prominent horticulturist that seed
less grapes are produced by growing
plant from cuttings for several success
sive generations The theory is, that a
rf...!. l.....s:s:ss.ss accustomed to this mode
of propagation, and then the natural
process of producing seeds becomes
abortive by disuse.
"A wire message from New York to
Auckland traverses a length of line OF
10, 123 miles, nearly three-fOurths OF
which is submarine cable. 1t has to be
repeated or rewritten fifteen times.
The longest cable is between America
and Europe, say $500 miles, and the
Ion iS A11St in
from Port Darwin to Adelaide, 2,15o
miles.-Philadelphia Press.
Certain beetles have long been
known to eject or give out a repulsive
fluid from joints of their bodies or
from their legs or from eversib1e
glands. NJ. Cuenot has recently studied
the cases of election of blood from
these beetles. The fluid, however, is
not red, as the blood of insects is either
colorless or slightly yellowish. Lady
birds oil beetles and other vegetable
feeders are such as possess this habit.
The last number of the Bulletin of
the American Geographical Society an
nounces that the recent study of the
observations on mountain SUBMITS in
the neigh bOrhOOd of Mount st. Elias,
shows that Mount Logan is the loftiest
peak in North America, with a height
of 19,500 feet, thus being 1900 feet
higher than Orizaba and 1,500 feet
higher than Mount st. Elias.
"A sound reducer is being intro
duced in Germany, which. it is claimed,
entirely overcOmes the noise occasioned
by exhaust steam. The apparatus is
applicable to all kinds of exhaust en-
gines, steam, gas and petroleum en-
gines, while it at the same time serves
the purpose Of an oil and water sepa-
rator. A large reducer, fourteen feet
high, has recently been constructed
for use in connection with 400 horse
power winding engine at Westphalian
colliery.
DR. V. Harley, in the proceedings
of the Royal Society of Great Britain,
states as the results of experiments
upon himself that sugar is proven to be
a muscle food. Seventeen and half
ounces when fasting increased his
working power from 81 to IS per cent
On adding seven ounces to a small
meal the total work done was increased
( 1IOII % W OU pei NCHC- - III my CAS AIe
hours, eight and three-quarter ounces
increased his working power from %
to SO per cent.
AT Winger, in New South Wales
there is burning mountain. 1t is 1,820
feet in height, and is supposed to be
large coal seam which has in some un-
accountable way become ignited, and
has been burning for many years, GER
tainly long before the advent of the
white man in this portion of the col
my. The course of the fire can be
traced considerable distance by the
numerous depressions or chasms occa-
stoned by the falling in of the ground
from beneath which the coal has been
consumed. Smoke is continually issu.
ing from the sides of the mountain,
and in the vicinity of these openings
the surface is hot, and has dry,
parched appearance, while sticks thrust
into thesA openin0s are readily ignited.
m Y. Tribune