The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-17

bucket containing some water. A gas was
Immediately evolved in large quantities, and
Its odor was so powerful that it compelled
attention. The gas burned when light was
| applied to it, and further tests proved it to
| be pure acetylene. Professor Vivian Lewis
has demonstrated the great value of acety-
! lene as a cool light. It's fame, although of
brilliant white, giving 240 candlepower
per live cubic feet, is much cooler than
gas flame giving only 16 candlepower.
The highest temperature in any part of an
| acetylene flame is a trifie under 1000 deg.
cent, while in an ordinary burner with
common gas the temperature is 1860 deg.
cent. A remarkable quality of acetylene
is that it can be liquefed by pressure and
put in cans that can be tapped when the
gas is needed.
THE QUALITY OF FAT-REDUcING ExER-
cIsE.-A contemporary points out that the
fact that our policemen being often fat and
our letter-carriers almost always lean is
an object lesson of great value to those
whose greatest trouble in life is that they
are laying on too much flesh. The police
man gets fat, not from taking exercise, but
because he exercises all one way. He
lounges" and as his muscles are relaxed
in his leisurely passage from one street to
another, if he has any predisposition to
fairness the adipose tissue has every OPP
portunity to settle on his abdomen and to
stay there. On the other hand, the
letter-carrier has to work always at ten
sion. He has to walk sharply, to carry his
mail bag, at first heavy and afterward
light, to use his arms pulling out and de-
liyering letters, and to walk up and down
stairs as his work requires. The
facts is that it pays better to
take variety of exercise than
to go through the same amount OF
exertion in monotonous way. Professor
Schweninger, who has probably done less
harm by his theories than most fat
| being regular. He says: "Change your
position as often as possible. Do not re-
main standing or sitting or lying too long
at time, nor pass too many hours in bed.
One OF the best exercisers and most effec-
! tive fat-reducers that can be imagined is
after a cold bath or a cold sponge.
If those parts of the body where
adipose tissue is apt to be deposited
in excess are vigorously rubbed, the
muscles regain their tonicity, the fat be-
! tween and over them is soon absorbed, and
| the general health is greatly improved.
| Rich people have this done for them about
half as well as they could do it themselves in
the massage-room of the Turkish bath. The
part in Professor Schweninger's system in
which the self-denial of the patient is put
to the severest test is in the restriction of
drinking LIQUID. The less fat people drink,
the better chance will they have of dimin-
ishing their excess of bulk. Those who
take two cups of tea to Observation-Disclosures
niger says that fat people should not drink
| coffee-should dispense with one, and the
| drinking of iced water should be almost
entirely stopped. Eat little and often,
and any food you choose, but
food too frequently. The last injunction
applies to every one, whether fat or lean.
Variety in food is the most important fac
tor in any scheme of dietary, whether for
invalids or others.
PROTECTING TIMBER AGAINST THE TEREDo.
Many measures have been adopted to
defend timber against the attacks of the
teredo. Painting and superficial impreg
nations are of no use whatever. The salts
of copper and creosote will retard its prog
ress, but will not permanently arrest it.
The most successful attempt to circum-
vent it that appears to have been made is
the encasing of beams and piles in coat
of cement or mortar from the bottom to
the water IS surface. The cement employed
consisted of one part of Portland cement,
two parts of sand and three parts of
gravel, rendered very fluid, so as to
admit of its easy flow into the en-
casing tube. Each pile was inclosed in
a cylindrical case divided into sections,
each section being composed of two semi
cylinders simply fitted and fastened to-
gether. Beginning at the bottom each
section was fitted to the pile in turn, the
sections being submerged successfully one
on top of the other, and the pile driven
more or less into the bottom. To render
the foundation of the tubage perfectly
| stable diver was sent down to put layer
of clay below and within the first section
before the other sections were laid. When
this treatment was adopted it was
found that where the piles had al
ready been slightly attacked the i'm
prisoned microbes had died, the &C.
ment having forced its way into their
channels. Some piles have been recently
taken up that were treated in this manner
| seven years ago. and it is said that they
show not trace of a living teredo.
THE MAXIM GUN AS TREE-FELLER,-It
is suggested that if certain economical con-
siderations could be adjusted the machine
gun would find a valuable place among the
useful arts of peace. As Teller of trees
there is no agency in the world like it.
Admiral Sir Edmond Commerell, in al
luding recently to the superiority of
| the machine gun, said that 0.303 Maxim
| was capable of cutting down tree seven
teen inches in diameter in a quarter of a
minute. He would not only defy any
other gun to do this but he would give any
battalion in her Majesty's service five
hours firing as much as they liked, at
whatever range they pleased and they
would not do the same thing.