The San Francisco call., 1896-03-22


south and north" This state OF affairs is
being grad dually but surely brought about
by the Mississippi and other United States
rivers. which annually deposit millions Of
tons of sediment in the CULTS bottom. Ex.
pert photographers declare that the
Mississippi alone annually deposits mud
sufficient in the gulf to cover one squere
mile of its bottom to thickness of 24C
feet,
The not uninteresting distinction is
claimed for the town of Deseronto, in
Canada, where there are several extensive
lum ber-m mills, of being partially lighted by
gas made from sawdust. In carrying out
this plan, as stated, the sawdust is charged
in retorts. which are heated by wood fire,
the. gas from the retorts passing into a
series of coils, and thence into the puri-
riers, which are similar to those used for
coal gas. Lime is the principal purifying
agent employed. and when it passes out
OF the retorts the gas possesses an odOr
much less disagreeable than that of ordi-
nary lighting gas, and resembles some
what that of the smoke from fire OF green
wood or leaves. The works in use are
small, turning out daily about 19, 900 cubic
feet OF gas, for the production of which
quantity some two tons of sawdust are
required, and man and boy furnish all
the labor that is needed for the purpose.
The gas in an ordinary burner gives an
illumination of about eighteen candle
power, and the best quality comes from
resinons woods.
Among the current inventions recorded
IN the scientific papers is that of an instru-
ment, by an English inventor, for ac-
curately measuring the quantity OF light
given out by star, stars being designated
as OF the first down to the twentieth mag
n1tude, according to the intensity of the
light from them. By this new device the
rough designation of magnitude is repre-
sented by numbers, which give the exact
ratio OF one star to another in Iight-giving
power, the star Arcturus, for example,
being estimated by this means to give sew
enty-five and three-quarters' times the
ligrt of Regulus. The amount of light
which reaches the earth from the stars va
rles according to the state OF the atmos-
phere, and it is claimed that this instru-
ment will be Of valuable service not only
in astronomy, but i'll meteorology also.
Mechanical skill OF no ordinary char
acter is required to produce the hollow
steel boom, the spar which has now
become SO noted in marine architecture,
advantage being gained, in exigences. by
beginning in the center and riveting the
plates toward both ends. In the most
recent instance of this construction there
were four lines of angle iron braces at
equal distances from each ether and rum
ning the whole length of the boom.
giving it a good bracing, the face of the
angles being slightly curved to take the
concave shape or the interior of the boom,
these angles consisting of sections meas
urng on an average some fifteen feet,
with lap made at each Joint one and a
half inches in length and bolted with steel.
These laps are irregular, in order that two
JOINTS or more may not be opposite each
other and thus cause weakness.
10, 4e1a - L
| Just perfected an apparatus which he de-
clares will cure any organic disease. The
M machlne consists OF an "osclllator" which
gives electric shocks at the rate of 100 pei
/ second. These shocks shake thoroughly
every atom of the body. giving in one
! minute exercise equal IN amount to an
entire day of horseback riding.
The questions whether burial is destruc-
| tive of the germs of diseases contained in
the buried bodies. and whether or mt con-
tamination of soil, water and air is possible
are admittedly of the first Importance
in modern sanitation, says an English
/ paper. In these days when cremation is
coming to the front as the only rational
solution Of the burial controversy the
survival of microbes in the earth
may. be regarded as a matter OF
| indifference; but cremation is not
yet universal practice by any means
and in any case the point under discussion
has scientific interest all It's own
Pasteur, IL will be remem bered, traced g
noteworthy epidemic of anthrax or splenit
| fever to the germs of the disease brought
up to the surface by earthworms from the
buried carcasses of cattle that had per
ished of the ailment years before. Hs
found the microbes in the worms and
proved his case by producing anthrax in q
healthy animal through administering in
its food the contents of the worms di.
gestiye system