Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-07

stopped with fireclay, and this was sub
jected for one hour to a fierce fire, reach
ing a temperature Of 1866 deg. F., with no
damage beyond the charring of the under
surface Of the beams to a depth of two
inches. The ceiling was heated to 500
deg. F. for half an hour. then the tenn
p%erature was slowly raised to 1900 deg. F..
The materials-laths and a~sbetic-were
but little injured. and We're not damaged
by the water used for putting out the fire,
while no portion fell. The surface was
cracked, however, while some of the laths
were a little charred.
Ruins of the most ancient mines in his
tory still exist. These are the copper
mines of Sinai, which were worked from
about 5000 to 1900 or 1900 B. c.. and whose
adits are still preserved. with remains of
the furnaces, crucibles and huts and tools
OF the miners. The scepter of Pep I. of
the Sixth Dynasty, now preserved in the
British museum, was made of pure cop.
per from these mines. Three Ores-tur-
quoise, copper hydrosilicate, and sand
stone impregnated with copper-are
found. and some of the tools contain
arsenic, which the Greek and Egyptian
alchemists used for hardening copper.
A whistle to be heard forty miles con-
sists of three whistles-the two smaller
with mouths turned downward-between
two steel discs. The steam passes through
openings in the discs.
Reviewing the past years work with
Roentgen rays, DR.. G. NJ. Moulin finds
that no branch Of medicine or surgery
provement made. The fluorescent screen
has now reached such perfection that
the mlnutcst movement of heart and
lungs and the least change in the action
OF the diaphragm can be studied at
leisure. and there is scarcely any irregu-
!arity or disease of heart, lungs or great
oiood vessels that cannot be seen and
Photographed. So great has been the ad-
vance with the horoscope, in fact. that
dHaminasion OF a patients chest will
matter of routine in all doubtful cases as
examination with the stethoscope is at
present. In surgery the results have been
lutte as valuable, and it has become easy
% ascertain the nature of an injury or
disease of bones or joints, or whether a
fracture is properly set or dislocation
completely reduced. Perhaps the most
remarkable Of recent achievements has
been the detection of renal calculi. The /
presence of these can now be determined |
with great certainty, and negative evil
dsnce can be relied upon to show that /
operation is unnecessary.
The manufacture of lithium salts is a |
suggested new American industry. Lith- |
ium IS usually regarded as a very rare
metal, but it occurs in considerable guam
titles IN the spodumene and lepidolite Of
New England, the Black Hills, and Cali |
lorna. the most important source of sup
ply now known being the lepidolite de- |
post of San Diego Co., Cal. This deposit
IS estimated at 1,500, 600 tons, the lithium |
beng estimated at three to five per cent. |
Inc llthium carbonate used in the |
United States for making artificial lithia |
water is ~varlously estimated at 10000 to
2Oc,oo0 pounds annually, and this all
comes from Germany, the value of the |
salt in New York being $500 or more a |
pound.
The blue gum and other eucalypti of
Australia are being planted in the neigh
porhood of Johannesburg and Pretoria |
10 overcome the scarcity of mining tim |
Der. SO rapidly do these trees grow. not |
outstanding the poor red loan forming
the soil and the elevation of 4.5O0 to 5000 |
feet, that a twelve-year-old plantation is |
Welding good timber sticks up to forty |
feet IN length.
Abnormal sense of hunger. due to dis
ease, is now relieved by water charged
Wit hcarbolc nacid gas-that is. soda
water
An accurate record of the performance
OF all mining ropes used nthe Dortmund
mine inspection district, in Germany. has
been kept since 1872. During the q years
to the close of 1898, the proportion of
~breakages of winding ropes has gradually
become reduced from 1873 to 0.54 per cent.
of the whole number. Out of the 500
ropes renewed at the 116 collieries last
year. BIG We're round and SO fiat, all being
OF cast steel wire. the material exclu-
sively used since 1895. Two of the ropes
broke suddenly, one after raising a net
load of 35,510.000 tons in 1877 days, the
other after raising a net load of 13. $50, 900
tons in 246 days. The reasons for taking
out ropes We're breakage of individual
uCf1r M n ~ -
changed conditions of winding in SO. too
great reduction in length in %. weakness
as shown by testing a piece cut from the
end IN y. and alteration of form in IA. OF
the ordinary round ropes, ) have been in
use more than 900 days.
The following is a recently patented
method for making metallic mercury
soluble in wafer: Mercurous nitrate is
brought INTO 1O-per-cent solution with
the aid of a very little nitric acid. this
solution is slowly stirred into a solution
of stannous oxide in nitric acid. and the
resulting dark-colored liquid is mixed
with a concentrated solution of ammo
mum citrate. The metallic mercury is
preclpltated as a black mass. The liquid
is n~eutralized with ammonia and de.
canted, and the residue is dried, yielding
frm black fragments that form with wa
ter a dark, strongly fuoreScent solution.
Strength of man can be gagged bv
special dynamometer. From 10. 000 sep
arate experiments, he finds that the aver
age man in good health reaches his maxi
mum strength at the age of about 81
years: that at II he can lift without diff
fculty 2T pounds; at 20. 81 pounds; at
81. 400 pounds: at 40,' 339 pounds; at 80,
32S pounds: and at 20. 246 pounds. Fur
ther experiments show that, contrary be-
lief, negroes have nearly the strength of
whites.