The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-05-26

Facts Worth Knowing.
Iodine is a crude alkaline matter,
produced by the combustion of sea-
weed.
There are more public holidays in
Honolulu than in any other city in the
world.
In Australia spring begins Aug. 20;
summer, Nov. 20; autumn, Feb. 20, and
winter, Mayo
1t is not an uncommon sight in a
laboratory where experiments with
iquefed air are being conducted, to
see drops of air falling on lecture
table and running about, exactly like
drops of water on a hot stove. In fact
the table may be regarded as "red hot"
in comparison with the temperature
of the liquefied oxygen and nitrogen
of which the drops consist.
ACCOIulIlS W oil dSI COIuOHC e1ihOhS
scientific men and navigatOrs the
world over, the day begins as the sun,
moving westward, crosses IAN imagi-
nary line running from Behring Straits
south, southwest, east and south in a
very arbitrary manner. SO, as San
Francisco is preparing to go to bed
Monday night, New Zealand is prepar-
ing to wake up on Tuesday morning.
A new method of preserving wood
from decay, known as the Haskin pro-
cess, is being tried on large scale in
England. Instead of withdrawing the
sap and injecting creosote or some
other antiseptic substance, as is usu-
ally done, Mr.. Haskin submits the
wood to superheated air, under a pres
sure of fourteen atmOspheres. BY this
process, it is averred, the sap is chem
ically changed into powerfully anti
septic mixture, which, by consolidating
with the fibre, strengthens as we'll as
preserves the wood.
Recent experiments with improved
instruments for measuring the velocity
of projectileS have shown that the
speed goes on increasing after the mis-
sile has left the mouth of the cannon.
Leaving the muZzle with velocity of
about 1474 feet in a second, a projectile
has been observed to increase its speed
to about 1859 feet per second within
the first six feet. 1t is only after hav
ing travelled about twenty-five yards
that the projectile's velocity becomes
reduced to the speed that it had on
leaving the muzzle. This is ascribed
to the impulse of the expanding gas
being felt for some distance beyond
the lannon's mouth.
Glaciers are formed by the accumu-
lation of snow on mountains or ele-
waited table lands. The snow is com.
pressed into ice by its own weight.
Glaciers flow, like rivers, between
banks, and follow burrows or ravines
on the mountain slope. The rate of
progress varies greatly, and depends
on the grade, the number of curves,
the volume of ice in the glacier and
the accommodations of its source. In
the Alps these ice streams advance
from four to sixteen inches day. The
central part Of the ice moves faster
than that next the shore. GravitatiOn
explains the movement of glaciers,
just DIS it does that of rivers.
BOokplateS are supposed to have had
their origin in Germany, and the earli-
est known plate is that of Hildebrand
Brandenburg,-a small, rude woOdcut
of the fifteenth century, depicting a
soaring angel bearing a shield, on
which is engraved an OK swith ring in
his nose. IIildebrand Brandenburg of
Bibrach was monk in the Carthusian
monastery of Buckshaim. His book
plate was colored in two or three tints,
and its approximate date was 1880.
Wilhelm Won ZellS bookplate found
in the library of the same monastery,
is generally ascribed to the same date;
and it is singular fact that the cele-
brated st. Christopher wood-cut, dated
1923, was found also in the Buckshaim
monastery. The earliest use of the
bookplate was to record the gifts CT
private donors to public Libraries.
People who are the victims of sensi-
tive teeth, that crumble and acquire
cavities readily, may do much towards
checking this dental decay by the use
It a simple remedy. A bottle of milk
Of magnesia should be keptl on the