The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-28
II

"A captive pee, STRIVING TO escape, mas
been made to record as many as 15.4O
wing-strokes per minute in a late test.
A proposed French regulation for match
be used, that workshops be ventilated. that
workers be carefully selected, and that ma
chlnery be inclosed in glass cases TO pro-
tect the operatives from the fumes.
Scurvy, which results from an exclusive
dietary of cereals and preserved meat, is
really a condition of administration. in
the opinion of DIR. A. T.. Wright, an Eng
lish pathologist. Fresh vegetables and
lime juice are used as remedies, but both
of them act slowly, and alkaline ~salts-such
as carbonate of soda, carbonate of potash.
and a variety of others-are shown to be
much better.
The analyses of BerthelOt not only show
that the Chaldean weapons. ornaments and
tools of 5000 or 1900 years ago were of pure
copper. but that iron. silver and gold were
known The copper age preceded that of
bronze, which appeared later in both
Egypt and Chaldea. 1t is further noted,
moreover. that the form of hatchets with
handles, the processes of manufacture and
even the practical uses, were the same for
the pure copper hatchets of Chaldea and
the prehistoric hatchets of Europe.
The remarkable green color of some
Italian cheeses proves not to be due to
bacteria. as has been supposed, but to the
presence of copper. A good Parmesan
cheese is produced only from milk that
has reached a high degree of acidity, and
in some parts of Italy this milk is kept in
copper vessels. In twenty-five samples of
green Parmesan cheese from various places.
DR.. Maiana has found from GA to IL grains
of copper 10 the pound. That the color is
due to Upper alone appears from the fact
that cheese is made on the same principle
in the south of Italy, and shows no green,
the milk being kept in tin-lined vessels.
Haze is not fog, says DIR. j. CT. McPher-
son, +. r. S. E., but it was only very re-
Gently that students of the clouds discov-
cred the difference. The haze so familiar
In summer. especially when you see it way
ering about the ground between you and
than is the fog. 1t is the lowest visible
form of cloud formation and its results.
The sultry haze. the suffocating fogs, the
dazzling mists, and the thin rain, as well
as the great thunder rain and. pelting hail,
and the feathery snow, are now all known
TO be different stages of the formation of
the vaDor In the air on the minute dust
particles at different grades of heat and
cold.
Electric furnace are divided by Perrodil
into two classes-the electrolytic. in which
electrolysis in the dry or wet way is the
base of the process, and the electrothermic,
in which electricity is used solely for the
production of heat. An interesting example
of a furnace depending upon wet electro
lysis is that of Lagrange, Hobo and Julien.
The poles are immersed in calculated
water and such resistance to the passage
of the current is created by the envelope
of hydrogen gas that forms around. 1.-THE
cathode that a temperature of 1900 degrees
Centigrade has been reached, while it is
made easy to forge and even weld a piece
of iron used as the cathode with a per-
fectly safe current of but 100 to 200 volts.
In the Faure furnace ore was heated i'm
a tnha hv an pytarn1l fire then rpdupp6 in
the high temperature of an are playing
between two electrodes. In the simple
Cowles brick furnace of 1886 the ore to
be treated was mixed with a substance,
such as carbon, offering great resistance,
and the intense heat is attributed not only
to this artificial resistance, but especially
to the infinite number of arcs that must be
set up between the particles of the resist
tant mass. The true and most successful
electric furnace. as NJ. Poisson states, is
tina Of Moissan. This consists of two slabs
of lime. the lower enc provided with a
longitudinal groove for the electrodes and
I'm the center a cavity serving as a crucible,
and the upper one being slightly followed
out above the arc. The substance to be
treated is not in contact with the arc or
the vapor of carbon. Electrolytic action is
eliminated and heat alone acts, making
easy reactions that have been hitherto i'm
possible.
Cellulose, the wonderful material that
enters so largely into the arts in our
paper age has been brought into soluble
form in several ways. With zinc chloride,
a. soluble substance has been obtained that
has been much used in preparing the fla-
ments of incandescent lamps, and cuprous
ammonia gives another soluble preparation.
Nitriied cellulose, better known as gum
cotton. is a more familiar product. Dis
solved i'm alcohol ether, this forms the col
lodion of the photographer, and the basis
of the different celluloids and xylonites.
Artificial silk also is based on the nitrihed
cellulose. A later process OF making cell
lulose soluble. due to Messrs. &. +. Cross
and +. j. Bevan, has given most striking
results. TO which Mr.. Cross has just called
attention I'm a lecture to the London So
ciety of Arts. The cellulose Is treated with
caustic alkali and then with b~isulphide OF
carbon. The resulting sulpho-carbonate or
cellulose is soluble in water, forming a re-
viscous solution which has been
named ''viscose," and this solution de-
composes on standing. depositing cellulose
in a dense textureless condition. Flowed
over glass, the viscose, On drying, sets TO
a tough textureless film The cartridge
belts of the Maxim gun are now rendered
waterproof by viscose, which is also used
to improve paper pulp. and can be made
TO deposit its celluloSe in dense cylinders,
which can be turned like ivory for articles
now made of celluloid. In still another
process. Cross and Bevan form c~ellulose
acetate. which much m cellulose
nitrates. but has the advantage of being
uninfammable This gives a transparent
textureless film, and as 1t fuses at about
to prove a desirable substitute for celluloid
- ~1Al1oI nrfinlac