Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-02

OuOrleSS ana SlnOkeieSS name without Il
glass chimney and with small consump-
ton of oil. is stated by a German author
ity to be thus produced: Fusel Oil, a
cheap ~by-producet of alcohol distilla-
ton, is mixed with Is per cent of milk of
lime separated in scales, when the oil is
off.
Incandescent lamps, a meter apart and
at the height of the c~ar-windows. are
to be placed along the side of the Batig-
nolles tunnel near Paris. These will be
automatically lighted and extinguished
by the passage of the train, giving pass
engers sufficient light, and requiring
much less electric energy than if lighted
continuously.
At a recent meeting of engineers, it
was pointed out that paint does not pre-
overhead bridges from being des-
troyed by locomotive gases in a few
years, but that wool ceilings protect the
steel.
One of the most valuable of recent in
sulating materials appears to be that
known as ambroine. This is a mixture
of amber and other fossil resins with
asbestos, mica, and other silicates, the
substances being pulverized and made
to combine by standing n chemical
"AAtt AA@i iSN II bA
and subjected simultaneously to great
heat and pressure. One important ad-
vantage of the material is that it does
not shrink in the moulds, so that inter-
changeable pieces are readily made. Am
broine is claimed to be an insulator of
the highest order, a sheet LIS of an inch
thick resisting 5000 volts: it absorbs
moisture eVen less than hard rubber: it
is absolutely homogeneous and takes a
high polish. The cost of the moulds re-
stricts its use to articles needed in on
siderable quantity, the chief applications
thus far being for accumulation retaining
cells, n for overhead fixtures of raV-
way lines. y
OF the various enclosures in the trans
parent diamonds of Brazil and Cape COLI
ony, the most numerous are black af-
fording when abundant the variety OF
crystallized carbon known as black dia-
mond. A late investigation by Mr.. Hen
ri Moisan shows that these black en-
closed matters consist of a different form
of carbon. A black diamond was finely
pulverized and the resulting blackish
gray dust was heated half an noun in
a current of oxygen having a tempera-
ture 200 degrees lower than that of COM
bustion of the diamond. There was a
slight escape of carbonic acid, the dia-
mond dust becoming white. It is evil
dent therefore that the coloring matteE
Urn in oxygen, yielding carbonic acid.
and that the carbon burned differs from
that of the colorless diamond.
Much is being expected from viscose,
the product of the reaction between al.
kali-cellulose and carbon b.sulphi0e dis
covered by Cross and Deyan. 1t proves
to be possible to spin the material, a
silky cellulose thread being easily OBJ
tanned. The cost is but a fraction of that
of C%hardonnet silk, while it is claimed to
ave the advantages of being non-eX-
plosive and quite unaffected by water
and alkali.
Colors ground in oil and thinned With
petroleum, instead of with turpentine
and drying oil-have been found by a
French artist to have many advantages.
A study of the birds of Celebes has
convinced Messrs. Meyer and Wiggles-
worth that light operates to change the
color of birds much as it affects colors
on the body, there is almost always a
differentiation very marked in the
coloring of the shaded and the exposed
parts of the same feathers. The differ
ence is sometimes that of white and
black: and in species of paroquet the
W lHSled liners are DIue-SIoeH next the
body and black on the other side. Il
other instances of change observed, the
tail-feathers were paler in parts pro-
tected from the light. But while some
open air birds are black when seen from
above and white from below, the oppo-
site effect may often appear in Gagged
birds, the plumage becoming dark in the
shade and more brightly colored wheil
exposed to light.
A British investigator has found that in
a suburban locality the dust particles
number 10000 per cubic centilmeter in the
air and A, 900 in a quiet room: While
in the city the totals We're 800, 900 when
taken from a roof. soc, 900 in a court, and
about 4OO, 900 in a room. Yet, though thes
dust is the great carrier of micro-organ-
isms, the danger from the germs inhaled
seems to have been exaggerated. 1t is
proven that there is but one microbe to
each $4,000, 900 dust atoms, and it is call
culated that in seventy years of life in
the metropolis IA man would absorb from
the air only some 5000, 900 microbes, or
about the number of drinks in a half
pint of unboiled milk.
A revolution in matchmaking is sug-
by Giovanni GraVeri of Buenos
Ayres, who claims that PHOSPHORUS may
be replaced by harmless perthiocyanic
ACID. IhlS Is a of two atoms
each of hydrogen carbon and nitrogen,
with three of sulphur. 1t can be made
the ~by-products of several process
ses, such as the publication of coal gas
or the Leblanc soda manufacture, and
1t is said to be already cheaper than
A cobra measuring somewhat over 10
feet, taken at Jaffna, CeylOn, is stated to
nv far the 111ppSt aN,ar rocor1o1
BETWEEN TWO FIRES.
Chic orr Nau,S.