The record-union., 1899-11-24
at present, he tells us, is a process for

at present, he tells US, is a process LOT
fireprOof wood. Says he:
What we need Is composition
which will render wood fireproof, With
out making it attack iron, which is IN
contact therewith-as much OF the re-
Gently vaunted 'fireproof' wood did. A
fireproof coating is no good against the
penetration of half-burned and still
burning powder grains.
The exclusive use of iron, as advo-
Gated by constructors and combatants,
is impracticable, for several reasons. In
the first place, it greatly increases the
sweating. Covering ironwork with
dope of paint skins and cork chips is
good enough for the cabins of merchant
ships in hot climates, but is for war
ships of no use; the entire ceiling, sides
and floor can not be SO treated. In the
second place, quarters SO treated in
great surfaces would be uncomfortable
or even untenable, and the comfort OF
officers and men is essential to their
health and efficiency. In the third
place, such coating would not only
be highly infiammable, but would gen.
crate noxious gases in burning
In some steel manufactures electro
magnets have been substituted in place
of hooks for lifting plates and bars. The
magnet being put into contact with the
center of bar or plate, the current is
turned on and instantly the magnetic
grip becomes effective. The crane car
rying the magnet then swings its load
to the required position, when, the cur
rent being turned off, the magnet i'm
mediately releases it's hold.
Popular Science Monthly: The out
put of gold in the United States in
1898 was more than twice that of 1890;
and the production of gold in the world
in 1898, at the lowest estimate, was
much more than twice the estimated
production in 1890. In the decade just
prior to the California gold discoveries,
in lS49, the average annual production
IN the world is estimated to have been
less than S13,500,000. In the previous
decade it was less than $1O,OO0,0O0.
Assuming these figures of DIR. Adolph
Soetbeer (Which are accepted by the
nations of the world, and incorporated
in many official documents) to be ap-
proximately correct, it appears that the
estimated production of gold in the
world in the first third of the present
century was but little more than the
production in the single year 1898.
1t is, indeed, difficult to comprehend
the full significance Of these figures at
a glance; the production of gold in the
past five years has amounted to more
than 81, 100, 100000; and if production
should increase during the next five
years in anything like the ratio of the
past five years it may be that a new
economic problem, the very antithess
of that alluded to in the commence
ment of this paper, may present itself
for solution.
Notwithstanding the many traditions
concerning mysterious lights seen how
ering over swa1nps at night, and in
spite of the attempted explanations of
such phenomena in some popular books
on science, Professor N. S. Shaler says
he is inclined to disbelieve in the ex-
lstence of the luminous appearances.
He has studied swamps for many years,
but has never seen a will-o'- -the-wisp,
and he suggests that the reports about
moving lights visible above swamps
may be due to subjective impressions
induced by gazing into darkness.
Los Angeles Times: The origin of
diamonds, which for so long has been
| a debated question, appears to be ex-
planned by a recent discovery near
Kimberly. In both the Indian and Bra
lillian diamond fields the gem occurs
like pebble in certain gravelly strata,
but has not been traced back to any
rock that gives an indication of it's
genesis. After the discovery of dia-
monds in the river sand on some South
African rivers, a peculiar material of a
brownish buff color, which turned to a
dark blush tint, was found. 1t became
harder as the miners dug down. The
diamonds lay in this material, together
with several other minerals, such as
garnets. iron ores, augite, olivine, ETC.
Excavations-begu unsystematically-
were eventually carried on on such
scale that near Kimberley they have
reached depth of more than 400 feet.
Here the rock is about as hard as or
dinary limestone The blue ground is
found only in limited areas The rocks
around are of dark shales, banded with
hard sandstone, in which sheets or
dykes of basalt or some material which
was once in a molten condition are oc-
casionally found. The blue ground fills
sort of shaft Of colossal size in these
other rocks, and is itself cut up by
similar dykes. The opinions of geolo-
gists differ as to whether the gems were
produced where they now lie, or have
been formed Of some older rock, which
has been shattered by volcanic explo-
sions. 1t is thought that the mystery
has been at last cleared up. About two
years ago the manager of a diamond
mine near Kimberley picked up a speci-
men in which smaller diamonds were
apparently embedded in a garnet. This
led to an investigation Of various boul-
ders, one of which was broken open,
and was found to contain diamonds.
The rock is of the description known to
mineralogists as "eclogite" It is ap-
| parently composed almost exclusively
of red garnet rock and rather peculiar
light green augite. The rock is coarse
~ crystalline, and in all probability was
once like garnet in a molten condition,
the diamond being one of it's original
constituents Experts now tend to the
belief that the blue ground in which
diamonds were found is not their true
birthplace. The boulders are often wa
ter marked, and they have rested for
ages In an ancient gravel at the very
bottom of sedimentary rocks of the
district. In course of time volcanic ex-
plosions shattered the rocky floor in
which the diamonds vero o,ohadaoa -