Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-31
SCIENCE.

VI pIoiohseu inquiry by an English in
~t'sa Mr.. John M. Bacon. who inds
mat they are often purely imaginary and
due to an overstrained or fatigued condi-
ton OF ear or mind. while in other cases
vague and indistinct noises are wrongly
interpreted. In this way may be ex-
planned most of the mysterious roar of
artillery from no earthly guns, boom of
waves a days journey from the sea, and
tolilng or bells in the heart of the noun
tain. A practical old soldier was mysti-
fled by a wierd night lament in his park,
which was at last oun to be produced
by the rubbing together of two branches
high uD In an oak tree: and a coast
guardsman on night duty heard the
plaintive cry of an infant, which seemed
to move about as he went from place to
place in search of the sound, until this
was proved to be the bleating of a lamb
hidden by a rock. An intrepid balloonist
has described the awful impressiveness
of the closing of the valve of his balloon
after a discharge of gas. The sudden
sharpness Of the click in the dead silence
aloft, it's unexpected direction, it's posi-
BILE connection with the fate.
and the drum-like. echoes in the tense
silk. always tended to give an effect akin
to the ghOst-seer's terror.
The holding power of anchor bolts
fastened With lead, cement and sulphur
has been a subject Of experiment by Mr..
nj. Nj. Wilcox. Holes IL to 15s inches in
diameter We're drilled in hard limestone
blocks about six inches thick and smooth,
threaded and notched bolts from q to 1
inch in diameter We're used. After ram
ming about the rods, the cement was
allowed to stand seven days. With ce-
ment. the smooth bolts resisted a pull Of
log pounds per square inch of contact
surface, the notched rods, 1886 pounds;
and the threaded ones, 585 pounds. With
lead, the results We're 1872. AGO and 900
pounds respectively.
A wire rope 81 inches in diameter was
lately broker at the Royal testing labor
atory by a pull of about $50 tons, the full
strength of the 1880 Individual wires be-
ing $50 tons.
Bright lacnuers on steel and iron have
been unsatisfactory, as they lack elastic
ity and soon crack off. An emanel-like
coating brought to notice by L. Sena is
claimed to be highly elastic and perfectly
adherent, while it is free from Odor and
sickness, and covers the metal Uniform
ly. 1t is simply and inexpensively pro-
duced by the following method: The
bottom of a cylindrical pot is covered
with coal dust, an inch above this is
placed a crate, and the remaining space
in the pot is filled with the articles to be
coated. The pot, closed With a tight
fitting cover, is then placed on a high fire
below a Withdrawing hue. The vessel
becomes filled with ~light-brown fumes
from the coal dust, and after it's bottom
has been Kept near redness for a quarter
of an hour the carbonization is complete,
and the pot is removed from the fire, but
is kept closed 10 minutes longer. The
bright black coating completely covers
the objects.
The origin of pearls has been a much
considered p~roblem-one theory being
that they are a result of disease In the
oyster. and another that they are a coat
ing of nacre formed over an intrusive OBJ
ject to shield the soft flesh. 1t appears
that both views may be correct. In a
paper to the Paris Academy, NJ. Leon
Diguet distinguishes between fine pearls
and intrusive bodies coated with nacre,
regarding the former as true pearls and
finding that the latter have only the iri-
descence of the shell or pearl.
They occur between the mantle and the
shell, usually attached to the latter. TIL
true pearl is formed in any part of the
shellfish except the mantle, has no con-
necnection with the shell, and is a caleb
fcation seemingly due to parasites. IN
like the pearls of intrusion, it is per-
fectly spherical. It begins in a small sac
of humor. which gelatinizes and calciies
in a series of cOncentric layers, and it's
heart is a cavity holding calcarcous crys-
tails and remains of what nay have been
the parasites provoking the shellish's
malady.
The temperature of the Bunsen flame,
| as determined by a new electric method.