The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-06
SCIENCE AND THE ARTS.

SCIENCE AND THE ARTS.
Photographic plates are not affected
oy light at depth of 553 feet in the
ocean.
Ramie cloth treated with tar has
been successfully employed in France
as material for machine betting.
The longest artificial water course
in the world is the Bengal canal, 900
miles; the next is Erie, 1863. Each cost
nearly $1O,0OO,OO0.
German electricians term the lost
currents which circulate through THE
earth in the return circuits of rail-
ways ''vagabond currents"
The diatoms, single-celled plants of
the seaweed family, are so small that
5000 of them laid end to end scarcely
suffice to cover an inch of space on
the rule.
Commissioner of Public Works Coils
Of New York will not permit the street
paving to be torn up for the purpose
of laying pipes and wires oftener than
once year.
Wooden trestle structures in the Uni
ted. States aggregate 1000 miles in
length and represent an expenditure of
s60,O0O,OOo. AS they must be replaced
about once in nine years the annual
outlay is about S7,000,000
Several practical inventors have been
experimenting on glass skates for
years, and the result is a skate made
of glass, hardened by a recently dis
covered process to the consistency of
steel. The entire skate is of this SUBJ
stance.
Paper which cannot be destroyed by
fire has been discovered by a French
man. A specimen has, it is stated,
- A1,D
OF exposure in a potter's furnace for
forty-eight hours, and came out with
out injury. -
In 1892 there were 100000 sheep in
the Algerian Sahara alone, besides
100000 goats and 100000 camels. On
the GASES there are 100000 date palms.
giving dates worth 100000 year. So
even the desert is worth keeping under
control.
The largest collection of ornitholog-
ical specimens in the world is that in
the British museum, which contains
100000 specimens. The late Henry See
bohm, the we'll known naturalist be-
queathed his collection of 1900 birds
to the same institution.
The difference in the length of the
cables in the East river bridge,
Brooklyn, when the thermometer reg
listers zero and when it registers 100
degrees above, is two feet four inches.
The difference in the rope which hauls
the cars is seven feet six inches.
w. H. Preece states that since the
electric light was introduced into the
general postoffice, London, the days of
absence among both officials and en-
ployees have been reduced to the rate
of two per annum for each. The saw
ing is sufficient to pay for the hight
At the present time there are owned
and controlled by the railroads and
private car companies of America
nearly 100000 freight cars, or enough
cars to make two continuous trains
reaching from Boston to San Francis
CO., with an engine for every forty-five
cars.
A new glass has been manufactured
that, while it allows the free passage of
light. is a decided check to heat. In
an experiment it was proven that
glass plate four1tenths of an inoh al
| lowed but AS per cent of radiant heat
to pass through it. Ordinary window
glass lets IS per cent of heat through.
In an exploration of the Himalaya
mountains in the Manga Parbat re-
gion, which was made last summe, a
height of 10000 feet was attained by
the exploring party. The tents used
sixteen ounces apiece, and formed
warm and comfortable shelters with
but minimum of weight to carry.
In Lancashire England, the search
! light has been put to novel use. The
/ EMPLOYEES of a mill struck and the
/ manufacturers determined to keep the
| mill running A searchnght was OBJ
| tanned and erected on a prominent part
! of the building, the idea being to pre-
vent the strikers from setting fire to
the temporary habitations of the new
] hands.
The weight of a cubic foot of fresh
water is $50 pounds, and ton measures
| 80 .905 cubic feet Salt water weighs
| 64.O5 pounds to the cubic foot, and a
! ton measures 34.973 cubic feet. The
weight OF fresh water equals the weight
! of salt water multiplied by 0.9740 In
| all ship calculations the weight of
| fresh water is taken at 62.25, and of
salt water at Ga pounds.
! The largest and finest passenger sta
! ton in the world is the new union sta
! ton in ST. Louis. It cost over $780,
| 600 ito build and the ground on which
it stands cost an equal amount so
that considerably over S5,0O0,000 has
/ been expended on this fine station. It
is 6O6x700 feet, and has floor area
of twenty acres, while the yards con-
nected with it cover forty-two acres
| more.
AS a. soothing and strengthening ner-
| vine. nerve food or invigorator, DR..
! Pierce's Favorite Prescription is I'M
eousaled and is invaluable in allaying
| and subduing nervous excitability, trrl-
liability, nervous exhaustion, ner-