The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-05-09
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

The brain is not affected by the
movements of the body, even though
these are sometimes very violent, be-
cause it rests on basis of soft cushions
between the bones of the spine.
1t is estimated that the sealing
waters of the Arctic now contain 400,-
900 or 100000 seals, which are all that
are left from hoard numbering mil
lions twenty years ago, and they rep
resent total value of about S14, 000, 900.
In Paris the practice of 'doctoring
fruit by coloring isquite common. The
latest development of this business is
in connection with pears, which are
dyed red over a third of their area and
blue below, thus representing the ma
tional colors when peeled.
DIR. Marmorek, a young Viennese
studying with Pasteur, is said to have
discovered the bacillus that causes
blood poisoning and inhamed wounds.
He calls it Streptococcus pyogenes' and
says that he has found out the antidote
as well. The remedy can be used also
for cases of diphtheria too malignant
to be cured by serum.
-Argon may exist in nebul@, sug-
gests DR.. Brauner, professor of chem
istry at Prague. A strong argon line
in the spectrum, he says, has prac-
tically the same wave length as the
nebula line, and a certain line in the
blue spectrum of the new substance is
almost identical with corresponding
line in the spectra of nebule and white
stars.
The number of routine tests made
at the ply ical test room of the Penn
sylvania railroad at it's Altoona shops,
during the year 1894, is stated at 1901,
representing 35, 095, S24 pounds of iron
and steel of various kinds. and repre-
senting a value of S51S, 3ss20. During
the same time the inspectors tested at
the works l9,085 axles, IL, S13 car wheels
and 1,042, 479 pounds of chains, phos-
phor bronze, springs and steel castings,
representing total money value Of
$500, 282.03.
A wild goose chase as futile as any
started of late in the name of science
is that on which Mr.. g. l.. CONNIE is
now engaged. He asks in the Athen@um
for evidence of the way in which peo-
pie look on the superstitions of others
and of what they think of those who
do not believe in their own supersti-
tions. The beliefs he has in mind are
such surviyals as the bad luck attached
to killing rats, the mum Der thirteen, the
spillirg of salt, and so on, but he gives
as an example the different degrees Of
horror caused to Greeks and Indians at
the thought of tasting blood.
The advantages of electricity for
heating are gradually becoming more
appreciated. Electricity notes that a
manufacturer in the south of France
proposes to employ water power for
heating his factory, thus saving so, 600
francs per annum in fuel. In South
America an electric drying machine in
which air is forced through chamber
of heated plates, and comes out as a
hot blast, is 10 serve in drying wheat,
the current TO be generated by waste
water power. Other plans proposed
are electric heat for use with ammuni-
ton caps, and the electric soldering
irons to be employed in a gunpowder
factory, where the irons must get hot
ter than $50 degrees Fahrenheit
Probably the most curious application
now being arranged is one to prevent
the freezing of tower clocks. Such
clocks, in exposed places, as is well
known, often get clogged with snow
and ice in the winter, and this is to be
remedied by placing an electric hot
plate on the top or side of the clock.