The morning news., 1894-11-25
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The giant Of the earthworms is a crea-
lure OF Australia known TO the scient lists
as Megascolides AustraIis. Although it is
q monster from four to six feet in length
ana from an inch TO an inch and three
quarters in diameter, IL is as harmless as
our common angleWOrm, which il much
resembles. both in color and bodily struc-
ture. Like our common anglewOrm, it
can only be removed from its burrows
Win great dlmculty. If a portion of the
creatures body be uncovered and grasped
with the intention of pulling it from its
StuUOuS DurrOW, the eXperimenter is like
ly to be disappointed. because the worm
can hold TO the sides of his den until his
body Is pulled in two.
For every. bar which is in the vaults Of
the mint at Philadelphia there is d record
on the books Of the superintendent. That
record shows the weight and nneness Of
the par Many OF the bars on storage
We're bought in 1890. when the Sherman law
went INTO effect They have remained un-
touched from the time when the stamp
OF the aSSayer was put on them. Now they
viii De taken out and melted with copper
70 form an alloy, says a correspondent OF
the houston Post. The exact proportion
Ol SILVER to copper should be nine to one,
out IN melting little less than the meas
ure of copper is used. so that By adding
copper later in small quantities the alloy
can be made as nearly as possible of the
exact standard. 1t is easier to work the
alloy DOWN by adding copper than it Is
70 WORK II up by adding silver. The cop
per and the bar silver are put in the cruel
bic together. The crucible used for melt
ing silver is of hand-wrought iron. These
pots cost S45 each Each of them will hold
about l,6OJ ounces at a time. Each pot is
good for go melts. 1t will cost the mint
about $500 for crucibles to melt the A.,
VJV,UUJ ounces OF silver. Gold Is melted
in black lead pot, which costs about one
tenth as much as the iron pot, but one
black lead pot is good for only about thlr-
teen meltS. No silver passes through the
iron crUCible. a little is absorbed by it and
this is recovered when the crucible is
melted after it has seen the last of its use
IulneSS. Nothing that could yield any Of
the waste silver is allowed to get away
from the mint without chemical treat
ment to extract the precious metal. The
melting pots, the SlagS, the ashes from the
furnaces, and even the outside pickings
from the black Innings of the furnaces are
ground and sifted to obtain metallic grains
and these grains are refned. The residue
from the sieves is put into a sweep ma
chine, which extracts the small particles
and the very minute particles OF metal
pass in the water of the sweep machine to
settling watts and wells. These wells are
cleaned out at very long intervals, and
they always yield little gold and silver D..
A Buffalo man named E. Henri Kelly
has perfected plans for a railroad train
which is calculated to go twice as fast as
those now in use by being made so as to
offer the least possible resistance to the
air. The train is a queer-lOOking affair,
which resembles a big caterpillar with a
beak. The engine is shaped like one big
solid coW-Catcher, and this. besides cutting
the air neatly, prevents the usual ten
denCy of trains to rise off the track at
high rates of speed by blowing under the
air ana SO insureS a continual increase of
traction power. The rest Of the train is
rounded and the rear car made much like
the oNeFhdnSlng stern OF d racing cut
ter, TO prevent dragging in the air Other
improvements are included, but these are
the chief. The inventor has this TO say
among other things, to the Buffalo EX
press. Suppose a railway train 10 weigh
one ton standing on straight. level track.
Now, one ton of power plus enough to
overcome the mechanical friction viii set
the train in motion; Al 20 miles an hour
a quarter of ton viii keep the train in
motion; at 40 miles an hour. one-eighth of
a ton will be sufficient, and a so miles an
hour, One-siXteenth will do it, and so on
until a rate Of speed is attained that a
power of one pound will keep 4 ton of
load in motion, providing there were no
air resistance. But as the train requires
less and less power as il increases in
speed to overcome it's natural load, it at
the same time acquires in greater ratio
a load Of air resistance that more than
COmpensate5 for the saving i'm power until
it finally overcOmes the power of II q
best locomotive that can be built, dSSum-
ing tnat a straight, level track be used.
In "A train OF five standard cars there is by
actual measurement l,436 square feet Of
surface exposed to the resistance of the
air,While i'm the train that ! propose there
are but l45 feet or less than oue-tenth
as mucn surface exposed to the air resist
anCo. BY the data of wind pressure,
which 1 have mentioned, we lind that the
Empire state express on its famous run
Of ll2 miles an hour had direct air
resistance of SO pounds per foot against
l45' square feet OF surface, equal TO Sf.1Go
pounds, or I3 tons without counting about
40 tons Of power lost by dragging air
along it's sides. Assuming that nv pre-
misses are correct, can any person dis
cover anything in the way that will him
der my train from attaining a speed OF at
least twice that made by the Empire state
express, or 200 to 2iO miles an hour.
discovered IN the eastern part of Della
ware county. IndiGna. says the Cincinnati
Enquirer. The discovery was d very pecI-
liar one. Samuel Mcpherson Il gas Wen
contractor, had a set OF men at work put
tins down well near Selma. east of
Muncie. The drill was down about 100
feet when It entered space, much to the
amazement of the men at the top end of
the rope. They commenced to let out
rope, and down, down went the heavy
drill. 1t soon struck earth again which
seemed 10 be steep, and the drill slid off to
one side and continued on down at an
angle. The men worked for hours at
tempting to penetrate the second earth
ana continue down to Trenton rock. The
contractor had several sections of pine
placed together and let down, butt thew
swung IN space. He then tried to partially
fill the hole, which would give him a base
10 work on and prevent the drill from slid
ing on. Several cords of wood and a
dozen wagon loads Of powders Wee sent
down and completely lost. A horrible
stencil escapes from the hole making II
almost impossible to stay near the open-
ing. The SuppositiOn is that there is an.
extensive opening some place in that vicin-
ity and that the cavern is a rendezvous for
wild animals. For Years hogs . cattle
horses and sheep have mysteroiusly dis
appeared from points in this vicinity and
II is thought that they have been dragged
into this cavern and that the hOrrihle.
odor Games from their decayed remains
Contractor McPherson's nen have hprn
working three days trying to get the drill
started in the bottom of the cavern. and
they viii probably give up the task Others
who do not entertain the idea thai there
IS an extensive opening think that the
cave was retreat for the Indians and
that many relics would be found could an
entrance be made. The cave will he in
Vestgated and, in all probability a hole
large enough for the entrance Of a man
viii be made ana the interior will be Vic.
tied. Several months ago cave similar
TO this one, except that the bottom was MOI
slantlnS, was discovered by drillars while
putting down gas well near Bufftou
The drlllers are Of the opinion that the tuyn
are connected, ana = SO the famous Nam
moth Cave OF Kentucky win be a minute
atfair, the discoveries being made f0rtu
miles apart. one aged farmer saws fbat
be intends selling his farm and noyin,S
from that section of he country. ;s H.
fears tnat in "a very short time tho oartb
VIII drop and mn mp the cavern. and t6si
their farms viii be sea ana thev viii