The record-union., 1899-10-09
Science, Invention
and Discovery.

Mahogany comes to the United
States from Mexico at the rate of S25,-
000 month, an increase of about 10
per cent over last years figures.
y y
Some Paris friends Of one of the
victims of the Bourgogne disaster have
offered the sum of $4,000 as a reward
for any one who will give an i'm
petus to the discovery of life-saving
apparatus.
"a few days ago in Paterson, N.
j." says Electricity "the X-ray was
probably the means of saving the life
of a fifteen n-months-old child who had
swallowed a nickel which had lodged
in it's throat. The X-ray picture
showed the exact location of the coin
and enabled the delicate and dangerous
operation known as esophagotomy to
be successfully performed"
In a recent clinical lecture Dr. Stew
art Mcguire exhibited patient who
illustrated the fact that skin-grafts do
not always acquire the color of the in
dividual on whom they grow. Some
of you,' said the lecturer, as quoted in
'The Southern Medical Record will
remember this negro. whose leg was
amputated in the clinic over a year
ago. Owing to an effort to save too
much of the limb, sloughing occurred
in the flaps, and a raw granulating
surface resulted over six inches in dia
meter. You will recollect that as soon
as active suppuration ceased he was
brought before you again, and the de-
feet covered by Thiersch's method of
skin grating. Usually skin gratis are
cut from the individuals thigh, but in
this instance they were taken from the
leg of a white man which had been
amputated a few moments before.
remember telling you that it seemed a
shame to mutilate BLACK skin when SO
much white skin was going to waste,
and expressed my belief, based on the
investigation of Karg, that pigmenta-
tion would occur and that the white
skin would gradually become black
The operation Of skin grating was
perfect success, and the patient was
discharged in two weeks with we'll
healed stump. He comes back for ex-
hibition to-day. The artif1cially formed
skin is firm, pliable and painless, but
Fortunately, owing to it's position, it is
a matter of no consequence. Had it
been upon the face, and had the colors
been reversed, there might be a lively
suit for malpractice.
The decomposition of cement exposed
to prolonged action of drinking water
has been found to be due largely to
bacteria.
A patent has just been issued in Eng
land for process of devulcanizing
rubber by treatment with sulphites
This is claimed to be an economical
method of saving refuse.
Another discovery is announced that
bids fair to give as important results
in the world Of science as any that has
been made in many years. It is the
result of experiments carried on by
Theodore Olan, a Swedish chemist at
Washington, and like many others it
was found by the merest accident.
Mr.. Olan's discovery consist in find
ing a new element which will soften
steel, gold, silver and many other
metals, making them soft, pliable and
ductile as piece of putty and quite
as easily and safely handled. He has
named the new chemical agent tauric
acid because it is obtained from tau
ric moss, peculiar ichen or fungus,
which grows upon rocks and the roots
of trees very generally in the country,
but it has never before been the sub
ject of chemical investigation. The
new acid has been tested by many emf
nent chemists in the country who pro-
nounced Mr.. Olan's discovery to be one
of the wonders of the world of chem
istry, and it is believed that it has
great and important future before it in
the arts and sciences. 1t is remark
able that the discoverer has given it
gratuitously to the world when he
might have acquired fortune from
its sale.