The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-28
SCIENTIFIC.

| SCIENTIFIC.
Fishing has passed the hunting stage
| Professor Herdman, of Liverpool, points
/ out and in future must become a farming
| OF the seashore, nature being aided by suit
able culture ns
q Metal frames are now formed electrolytic-
ally around prismatic glass used for win
dows, the glass sections being first mounted
| in properly shaped wires or thin ribbons
and then submerged in bath until the
metal deposited completes the frame, bind
| ing the glass.
| The effect of earthquake waves upon sci
entific instruments has recently excited
much interest. 1t appears that such OBJ
servations are not new, however, as DR.. M
| Baratta has succeeded in finding several
| records of these pulsations in old French
and italian works. The records with mag
netic apparatus are traced back to 1861.
| with astronomical instruments to 1867, and
| with levels to 1888.
| A bulkhead door that cannot be left open
has been successfully tried on a new steam
er by Mr.. William Kirkaldy, of Glasgow.
1t is in the form of revolving hollow CYL
inder, which has a single doorway and fits
| tightly into casing having a doorway on
each SIDE To pass from one compartment
| to the other, one enters the cylinder and
| turns it half around, one of the casing door
| ways being always closed.
An asbestos found only in Cape Colony,
where it exists in large quantities, is of
blue color, and is only two-thrds as heavy
as white asbestos. A new application is it's
| use for the boxes of secondary batteries,
for which it has the advantage over glass
| of being unbreakabe, while it is cheaper
| than ebOnite The material is also used for
| tubes for electric cables, and for insulating
sheets, as well as for nonelectrical pur-
| poses.
Flowers whose color is varied by the com
position of the soil are those of Hydrangea
| hortensis. In certain soils the natural pink
becomes blue, and a late investigation by
| Herr H. Molisch shows that this change in
| variably takes place when alum is present
| in the soil. The constituent of the alum
Which influences the flowers is the alumni
| ium sulphate This by itself has the same
effect as alum, as does also ferric suphate.
but other salts of iron gave no results. The
| f1laments of the stamens are most sensitive
| to change in color.
| 1t appears that the carbonic acid Of the
breath plays a considerable part in the ia
| miiar operation of blowing out light
This was lately shown to the London Phys
ical Society by Mr.. Alderman, who blew
bubbles at the mouth of an inverted beaker
through hole cut near the top, and al
lowed the debating bubbles to force the air
| out again through this hole. If the bubble
had been blown by the breath, a candle
flame held to the hole was promptly extin-
|
bellows with ordinary air the flame was
| simply DETECTED. Another striking expert
| ment was the prorelling of a miniature boat
by filling a hole in the stern, closed by a
| line diaphragm with ether OF other liquid
mixing readily with water. The motion re-
! suits from continuous release of surface
| tension behind the boat.
An artificial stone now being made at
| Working, England, by the process of Mr..
| William Owen, consists of S71a per cent of
| Quartzose sand and 1917 of lime, which, first
| being sifted and mixed are subjected for
| thirty-five hours to a hydrostatic pressure
| of sixty pounds to the square inch. A dis
| tinctive feature of the process is the boil
\ ing of the water used before it is pumped
| into the pressure chamber, the driving out
| of all air in this way being claimed to OBJ
| viate blow holes and similar defects in the
| stone. The product improves with exposure
| to the atmosphere, being capable in month
| of standing pressure of 1900 pounds to
| the square inch. 1t is cast to any desired
| form in steel molds Pieces of the material
| have been repeatedly subjected to sudden
! freezing-while saturated with water-and
/ sudden thawing, without any signs of disin-
| tegration.
The ordinary monograph is not a power
full voiced instrument, but the improved ap-
paratus of NJ. Lioret reproduces speech and
music with such loudness and distinctness
that they can be heard in the largest hall
or to long distance in parks out OF doors.
With the source of sound hidden from view,
| the illusion of orator speaking or of
musical concert is said to be perfect and
inspiring. The important special features
Of this French photograph are a cylinder
of celluloid. style of sapphire, very wide
| vibrating disc set in fiat box forming
| resonator, and a modified form of trumpet
| fixed to the resonator. me speclal trum-
| pet has near the center of its length a
| small strip of metal held in an aperture by
| a screw, the extraordinary result being
! doubling of the sound and a great increase
| in clearness. The even more remarkable
! trebling of this effect is produced by sec
| ond trumpet which is OF thin metal IN the
front of the first trumpet. The record CYL
1 inders are prepared only In a special regis
! tering photograph, the celiulold being SOFT
| ened for the purpose by a secret process.
Blind faith in the nostrum. so character
/ istic of our age, is deplored by DR.. j. f.
| Goodhart, in the London Lancet, as an OBJ
stacIe to real progress in medicine. The
physician is expected always to give pre-
| scription, and the patient who gets only adj
| vice straightway seeks some less conscien-
| tious adviser, too often an arrant quack.
! The fact remains that in many, perhaps
most cases, the medicine can confer no
benefit 1t may be that what is needed is
rest in bed or holiday, that the disease
/ at present can only be watched and not
| lessened or FASTENED, or that nothing but
change IN the mode OK living can have any
useful effect. Yet the medicine must be
i had. While simple advice TO many is UNI
! needed however. there are others who go TO
! the other extreme and depend upon the doc
tor for rules for eating drinking and other
details Of existence. This Is less sensible
than may be thought. In youth one should
| be able to eat about anything within rea-
son and as he gets older he should become
1 familiar enough with the working of his
i bodily machinery to know what II requires
better than any physician not acquainted
I With his constitutional pecuiiarities. Even
1 IL the doctor we'll knows his patient he can
| only help him to help himself. The average
patient. unfortunately viii be satisfied