The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-08-19
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

The name of ceramic stone - has
been given by M. Garchey, a French
inventor, to a new building stone OBJ.
tanned by him from broken glass. The
glass-broken bottles, window panes,
e%tc.,-is reduced to powder, different
kinds are mixed if v%ariegated color is
desired, and the pulverized material is
devitrifed by passing successfully
through two furnaces, the second being
one of high temperature. The pasty
mass is then passed under a press,
which gives it shape and consistence.
SPECIMEN sections of a terrestrial
globe e%ighty-four feet in diam eter, the
scale being 1-500, 900, or about eight
miles to the inch, have been made in
London by Mr.. T. Ruddiman Johnston,
f. r. e. s., who believes such a globe
can be finished in two years. Every
important geographical feature and
every town of 5000 inhabitants will be
shown. The globe will be revolved
slowly, and will be viewed from a
spiral gallery running several times
around it to the North Pole at the top.
A DISCOVERY expected to be of i'm
portance in time of wal is claimed by
Colonel Bellon of the French artillery.
When a telephone is placed sufficiently
near a telegraph line, yet without actual
contact, certain sounds are heard on
the passage Of a current along the tel
egraph line, and by long experiment
this observer has been able to separate
these sounds into the characters of the
Morse alphabet, and to draw up a sys-
tenn by which any person can learn
with practice to read the message pass
ing over the wires from the telephone
sounds. This makes it practicable to
" tap" a telegraph line without inter-
fering with its current or giving any
indication whatever to stations along
the line.
SEVERAL years ago M. Moissan,
whose researches with the electric fur
mace have laid the foundation of a new
aud important branch of chemistry,
discovered hat when iron saturated at
a high temperature with carbon is
cooled under pressure, a portion of
the carbon crystalizes as minute
diamonds. This has led M. Rossel
to suspect that diamonds may be
formed in the manufacture of very
hard steels. Examination of many
samples of such steels proves this
to be the case, very minute crystals
having been found, the largest only
a fifteenth of an inch in diameter,
but having all the chemical and phys
ical properties of true diamonds. The
crystals are obtained by dissolving the
metal in acid, then treating the residue
successfully with concentrated nitric
acid, potassium chlorate and hydro
fuoric and sulphuric acids.
P~APYRoLITH, the invention of Otto
Kramer of Chemnitz, is a novelty in
flooring material, being a special prep
aration of paper pulp which is sold as a
dry powder. When mixed with water,
it may be spread like mortar over stone,
cement or wood, where it dries quickly,
and may be smoothly planed. 1t may
be tinted almost any color, adapting it
for %parquetry with v~ariegated borders,
or for panels and mosaics. Among,the
advantages claimed are freedom from
crevices, deadening of noise, and poor
conduction of heat, considerable elias
ITCHY, safety from fire, and remarkable
durability. 1t may be used for vain
scoting, and other architectural pur-
poses, as we'll as for flooring. A still
more curious use for paper is an
nounced in the form of a bathing towel,
which consists of a full suit of blotting
paper into which the bather steps from
the water. 1t dries the body in a second.
A NOVEL school exercise proposed
by DIR. Brudenell Carter, an Eng
lish o%culist, is that of seeing COM
petitions" which he believes would
result in decided improvement of the
eyesight. Tests of the eyes of over
5000 London pupils have given no
particular evidence of injury from the
conditions of study. About forty per
cent had absolutely normal vision in
both eyes, an equal proportion nearly
normal, while the remainder were per-
feet in only d eye-usually the right.
Country children have better eyesight
than city children, boys better than
girls. "Long sight" 10 the most fire.
quent irregularity, and the adaptable
condition of the eyes in youth over
comes this for a time, while early resort
to spectacles is a permanent remedy
unless the trouble is aggravated by
poor feeding or bad light. Training in
the art of seeing-which must be begun
in childhood to be effective-would
have given better sight to many per-
sons. Rapid and clear observation is
largely a matter of teaching and prac-
tice, and in the case of animals and
savages, who are compelled to depend
so much on their natural powers, it is
very highly developed.
WHILE it is we'll known that religious
a~scetics in India appear to remain in a
cataleptic sleep for weeks or months
and awaken on an appointed day, and
sleeping fakirs have even exhibited
themselves publicly in London, it is
a singular fact that no scientific inves-
tigation has been reported. The
three sleepers who showed in London
have been a sensation of the Millen-
ium Exposition at Budapest. They are
powerful, intelligent-looking young
men, who claim to be finely educated
and devout ~theologians. The sleep
is preceded by fasting and long prayer.
The fakir then wraps himself in a silken
robe, lies down in a glass coffin, re-
ceives the password that is to arouse