The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-02-07

other form of SO-called fowl dtpnther1a mas
no resemblance to the diphtheria OF man.
The prehistoric monuments of France.
England and Germany have been carefully
recorded. The first American archaeological
map is that OF Ohio, which. in three
years the curator OF the Ohio Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society has located
more than five thousand village sites.
mounds Notifications and graves, while
down.
An impressive feature of Fez the capital
of Morocco is said to be the number OF
blind men. This is a result. according 10 DIR.
Snaitken. Of the excessive Of coffee.
The Moors are inyeterate coffee drinkers
and the merchants may be seen in their
bazaars drinking coffee continually during
the day AT forty or forty-five the eyesight
of these coffee drinkers begins TO fail. total
blindness following by the time the age or
fifty is reached.
From a study of the infection of animals
with the bubonic plague. DIR. James Camille
concludes that the rat is the most likely
to be attacked that diseased rats may in
feet other animals-such as snakes and
jackalS-that consume them; that rats are
always affected when man has the plague.
and that the rat may infect man in some
unknown way. The great mortality OBJ
served among rats before the appearance
of the plague in man may not really be due
to earlier infection, but possibly to short
er incubation period.
eating the flesh of poisoned animals has
been Investigated by Levin, whose expert
ments have been described to the Medical
Society of Berlin. The flesh OF fowl that
had been killed by three grains of strych-
nine was fed to a dog, which became i'll on
eating half a pound, and was seized with
tetanic commissions and died after consum-
ing a second portion. Some animals are
not readily affected by certain poisons. For
example, fowls proved very tolerant OF
arsenic, rabbits of nicotine. 1t is concluded
that even where the animals that have
swallowed poison do not seem to have suf-
fered Inconvenience the flesh may be unsafe
food for man.
The long guarded secret of a number OF
Japanese alloys. as stated by the Iron In
dustry Gazette, has now been revealed by
workmen. 'Shadko' is an alloy of copper
and / to 10 per cent. of gold. and is given
the coppered or blue-black hue Of sword
sheaths and decorative articles by being
placed in a mordant Of sulphate Of copper.
the well-known gray color. is copper al
10y with 30 to so per cent. of silver. Mo
kume" is a mixture Of several alloys.
| per, silver and the last mentioned alloy are
soldered together, hammered out and put
in the , mordant; ., sinehn" the finest Jap
and five of zinc "Karakane," or bell
metals, made of ten parts of copper,
TOUR OF tln. One-ndl1 OF iron ana one ana n
half of zinc, the copper being melted first.
and the other metals added in the above
order.
| An educational model railway, copying ac-
curately the working details of the London
G. Northwestern Railway has been built
in London for Mr.. Percy II. Leigh, of
| Worsley, Manchester who intends mount
| ing it on trestles in specially built hall
at his home. The main line mas a double
IL
| feet, also double. The track is of six-inch
| gauge, with double-headed steel rails, cast
iron chairs, and a couple of turntables; and
| the sidings are fitted with switches, points,
locking bars, signals, etc. Three signal
| boxes have fourteen, eight and six levers,
| respectively. There are two stations, with
| the usual waiting rooms. ticket offices, etc.
a foot bridge for passengers and a bridge
carrying a road over the line, and even a
| cutting and a tunnel. The rolling stock,
| made to scale, consists of passenger and
freight train, each with the different
| styles of cars now in use. Brakes, buffers,
| couplings, grease boxes, ETC., are all exact
| models: and even bolts. springs. etc, are
perfectly represented while the curves of
| the road have the outer rails at the correct
elevations, with extra rails where they
would be considered necessary. The locomo-
| tive, a modern four-coupled engine witht a
| leading bogie, has reversing gear, whistles
| water gauge, ETC., precisely in the orig
| inal.
or the numerous new substances made
knOWn Dy chemists early IN the present Gen.
| tury, DR.. T. L. Phipson tells us, in Knowl-
| edge. by far the most unpromising of pos
sible usefulness was the metal thorium and
| its oxide thoria Berzelius, the discoverer.
| succeeded with difficulty in extracting a
| minute quantity of the metal in powder
from the Norwegian rocks. Aside from
| burning at red heat with greater bril-
| liancy than even magnesium, thorium
| seemed to have no striking properties, and
it's oxide resembled common lime, but the
| light-giving property is just bringing this
rare metal from the complete oblivion in
| which 1t has lain for seventy years. OF all
| the metallic oxides that have been tried for
| the hoods or NANTES" of incandescent
| rival of the more expensive electric light.
| none has proven equal TO thoria- The con-
| sequence Is brisk demand for this SUP
| stance so long believed to be useless, and
| at various times during the last two or
| three years a pound weight of thoria has
| been freely sold at &45 TO $50
| The minerals thorite, orangite and pyro-
| chlore, which contain a large amount OF
/ thoria, are still very rare. A more prom
| Using source of supply is monazite. which
contains Is per cent. of thoria and forms
| to Z or per cent. of the SO-cailed
| monaZte sands that have been recently
| found in some quantity in North Carolina
| Brazil and Quebec. Several hundred tons
| OF the sand is now shipped yearly from
| Brazil TO England or Hamburg, while q
| supplies $1,000 of thoria in the same time.
/