The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

q
/ scraping blade close to the roller. In a re-
/ cent trial a long staple lint run through
/ this machine was declared to be worth l5i5
cents pound against cents a pound
when run through the old style gin.
Outside of California there has been no
| quicksilver production in the United
! States this year The Oregon discoveries
| which We're reported some time ago have
! not been developed and nothing has
| IN Texas. Nor have the mines in Brit
| ish Columbia proved TO be as yet of any
SPECIAL spec tbe eonseq 5d In Mexico hoy
| coveries of quicksilver, and there is like
| ly to be a large increase in this direc-
| ton. The demand for quicksilver in the
! United States, says the Engineering and
| Mining Journal has been good, and the
| price at present is higher than it has been
| Tor nearly two years past.
A new form of electric seismoscope is
described by Org. Agamenone in the last
| Bolletino of the italian Seismological So
| ciety, the chief merits claimed for it by
| its inventor being it's comparatively slight
| cost (about 30f) and its great sensitiveness.
| In most seismoscoDes the movement of a
| pendulum is magnitied by a long pointer,
| whose tip just passes through a hole in a
| metal electric circuit and starts a clock
| previously set at r. In the new instrument
| the metal plate is not, as usual, fixed but
| ii
lum, the bob of which is near the top of
| its supporting rod, while that of the first
| is near the base.
An odd thing happened during the siege
of Yorktown, says an exchange. Baron
| Steuben gave a reception to the field of
! fcers of the American army one evening.
! Everybody who could be spared from the
| lines attended 1t was a brilliant af-
| fair, the uniforms of the American and
| foreign soldierly constrating splendidly
with the elegant settings of the banquet
| chamber. Suddenly a lighted shell from
! the enemy's guns fell right in the center of
! the room. There was no chance for es-
| cape, so the entire asesmbage true to the
| instinct of the soldier who has been under
| fire, fell to the floor PROSTATE. The shell
! burst, wrecking the entire place, but luck
lily, injuring no one. The sensa tional end
! ing of Stebuen's reception was the subject
of considerable fun in the American army
| for some time afterward.
| -Selenium has not hitherto played any
very important part in commercial indus
tries; it has been chiefly known in the
chemists laboratory as curious and in
| teresting substance possessing no specially
| useful properties 1t has recently been en-
ployed in the glassmakers pot for produc-
| ing colored glass. Rose-tinted glass is made
| by adding selenium directly to the ingre-
| dents in the melting pot, the depth of tint
| depending entirely on the quality used, and
! also to some extent upon the character of
| the glass-whether it be hard or soft A
| lovely orange-red color is produced by mix
| ing cadmium sulphide with the selenium
| before adding to the contents of the pot.
| The intensity of the yellow constituent in
| this case depends directly upon the proper
| ton Of cadmium sulphide made use of. A
| practical advantage attending this process
! ic hot ic
| tcles after being manufactured and to dip
| them in a coloring mixture as in the ordi-
| nary process of making red glass.
In Europe the cultivation Of the willow
is in some localities quite an important in
dustry. In fact, in certain parts of France
the farmers do not hesitate to plant good
wheat land in willow, and the crop grows
| without any attention, a twig planted in
| moist earth growing up with great rapid
| ty, and the market for the article is good.
! In the regions of La Tremblade and Ar
cachon there are large plantations of will
| lows and factories for the manufacture of
| rough baskets for shipping various com
| modities, these largely taking the place of
| the barrels used so extensively in this
| country. 1t is in the Netherlands how.
| ever, that the willow is most used Here
it serves for baskets of all kinds, fences.
| cattle racks, wagons, wagon tops trunks
! river are painted willow wckerWork The
use of the willow for breaking up the
course of torrential mountain streams ana
| for use along river banks for holding the
| earth in place is also very important in
| these countries.
Massachusetts is one of the states
where all officials are required by law to
keep all records in ink and on special
paper selected and formally commended
| by the secretary of the commonwealth
| says the Pharmaceutical Era. This Gus
tom has been in use for a considerable
| time, but the ink chosen after severe
tests, has not proved generally satisfacto-
| ry, and now new kind has been adOnted
This, it is said, will flow freely. dry quickly
| and not blur, thus meeting objections
| which have been brought against inks pre-
| viously dispensed by the state department
| This ink has been subjected to all the tests
and has proved its good quality. A fluid
| ounce, if exposed for two weeks to light
| and air, but protected from dust. is ex-
| pected to remain free from deposit and IN
| give as intense black color after a weeks
| exposure to diffused daylight as before ex
| posure and the marks resist changes from
| hSht, air, water and alcohol The ink used
| is said to flow well, not strike through the
| paper, ana not remain sticky after driving
A note concerning the peculiar phenom-
enon noticed in the melting of metals
when under extended pressure has recent
| ~ been published by H. Bischof of Wies-
baden. When a metal Is bedded in a NOR
tar or chemically pure aluminium oxide.
| thoroughly dried, and subjected to rhe
| necessary heat a considerable retarda
ton In melting is noticed. For instance
rod OF silver, which should melt at / go
degrees Fahrenheit, when thus treated
| VIII not change its form and melt to.
gether until $3.50 degrees Fahrenheit. Pal
Iadium, which should melt at 2,73O degrees
Fahrenheit, shows no sign of yielding ar
Z.9VO degrees Fahrenheit. 1t would seem
that these rods of metal. unable m ev.
p anu Whlle IN the powerful grip of the
| aluminium oxide, which contracts on heat
ing, simply cannot melt as they wouI1
! under normal conditions. Herr Riscbor
Is engaged in carrying out a series of ex.
| periments in this direction with varioI,a
metals, and future reports will involve =
,aoulaton OF the actual moment of melt
| ing as shown by special electrical CON
! triVances. oi-
Within the last few Years COW. -.