Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-11-09
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
The figures given in the London
Coal and Iron Trades Review show
that of the worlds pig iron product of
1898, 78i per cent. was converted in
to steel. To 1868 only four per cent. of
the worlds pig-iron product was ap-
piled to the manufacture OF steel.
The most powerful incandescent
lamp ever manufactured was shown at
q recent electrical exhibition. The
lamp has two filaments in parallel.
The lamp bulb was over two feet long,
and it succumbed after three nights
work to the heat of the filament,
which is said to have softened the
glass at the neck.
In some steel manufactures cleo
tro-magnets have been substituted in
place of hooks for lifting plates and
bars. The magnet being put into
contract with the centre of bar or
or plate, the current is turned on and
instantly the magnetic grip becomes
effective. The crane carrying the
magnet then swings its load to the
required position, when, the current
being turned off, the magnet imme-
diately releases its hold.
DR.. Sydney Kuh finds that hypno.
tism is pathological and not physi-
illogical condition; that its use when
resorted to too frequently is liable to
bring on mental deterioration. DR..
Kuh cautions medical men to be ex-
tremely cautious in placing persons
under hypnotic influence, which may
be the cause of chronic headache,
or of an outbreak of hysteria. At
times it has q most serious effect upon
pre-existing mental disease, and it has
been known to even produce an attack
of insanity.
Acetate of cellulose is a new sub
stance that somewhat resembles nitro
cellulose, and may largely replace
celluloid. 1t is non-explosive, how
ever, and will stand o high tempera-
ture without decomposition. 1t is
soluble in chloroform and nitro ben
zine, but not in alcohol, ether, or
acetone. AS an electrical insulator,
cellulose has a high value, it's resist
ance being higher than that of India
rubber or gutta-percha. 1t has been
found useful in many places where
mica is now employed, and it will very
likely take the place of that mineral
to considerable extent.
The Illinois Central is experiment.
ing with an inspection car run by
gasoline motor. Thus far the expert
ments have been so successful that it
is quite probable the road will adopt
the car on all its divisions. The ex-
perimental car developed an average
speed of twenty-five miles an hour,
but it is capable of greater speed.
One of the inspectors of the road is
said to have gone seventy-fve miles
in two hours. A gallon of gasoline
will run the car more than seventy
five miles, and there is a provision
for carrying four gallons. or enough
for an unbroken run Of 800 miles.
Professor Campbell, through the
great telescope at the Lick Observa-
tory, has definitely ascertained that
Poaris, popularly known as the North
Star, is really triple system. Two
of the bodies in this system revolve
around each other in period of four
days, and at the same time move in
much wider sweep around the third
body in much the same way as do the
stars and moon around the sun. The
separate bodies which compose the
system cannot be seen with the tel
escope, nor is it likely they will
ever be seen by an instrument Their
existence is determined by the spec
trosc5pe. A number of similar cases
are known, fourteen of which, includ-
ing the brilliant binary star, Capella,
have been discovered at the Lick OBJ
servatory. Polaris now, however, is
the most interesting of these. The
velocity changes in period of three
days and twenty-three hours by about
six kilometres, or nearly four miles
every second. The longest period of
the change has not as yet been de-
termined, so it may amount to several