The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-01-13
written for the Citizen,

! written for the CitZen.l
Artificial silk manufacture has made
rapid proeress. three successful kinds
having been described the other day
/ by Prof Hummel in technical lecture
at Leeds. The first is made from col
/ lodIou. or gun-cotlon dissolved in alcO-
I hol and ether, which is forced through
! fine capillary tubes and dried. In
I fammability is removed by specl; |
/ treatment Though the fiber has high
Iuster, it is lacking in strength aud
elasticity and is not readily dyed, yet
it is beng extensively manufactured in
France and Italy. "Vanduara" is IA
cheat eI artificial silk, made from glue
or grlaIine. The solution eXudes as
| inc threads from series of nipples,
! and these are dried on travelling baud
| and wound on large bObbin. The
machines are automatic, enabling one
man in ten hours 10 produce 100000
yards of thread, equivalent to the
Yield of $4,000 cuc00ns. Tie thread is
made waterproof by formaldehy de, is
dyed readily aud is useful for mixture
with other iibers, but is itself deficient
in strt Myth. a cheap aud strong arti-
fetal silk is make from ''mercerlzed"
cotton, or cotton treated with strong
caustlc soda. This product Is stronger
than the original fiber, with gr alter
affinity for colorIng matters, but hther-
f.,1s 4, L..
This defect having been completely
removed 10y rcerizing" the cotton
iatr c under high tension, the material
Is now being made in large quantities.
The bite of the Tsetse fly, so deadly
to the horse, OK and dog, has been
fouMd by Il committee of the British
RoI al Society to affec other creatures
aS well. No remedy has teen found
This little insect is llayinga surprising
| part i'll the worlds development, as,
| although man is strangely Immune to
the poison, large districts in Africa,
notably the LINN opo and Zamnesl
/ valleys, must remain uninhatitablt
until the pest is destroyed.
An International Scientific AsSOcia-
| ton, rep esenting the chief scientific
academies and societies of the world,
is favored by Lord Lister and is icing
considered by the Paris Academy.
Though Oil-making from fish refuse
has failed IN France, fish guauo has
been made in England to yield a heavy
oil, costing somewhat over $l00 IA ton,
| that is of especial Interest on account
OF its elec riral insulation qualities.
Many app locations are being found for
tins oil. 1t can be compressed into
Slabs for dyuauos. transformers and
swltchb yards aud has been made into
/ pulleys, wagon wheels, Railroad Ties,
coach bodies aud even works Of art.
Neither temperature nor dampuess af-
feet it. F'bIes impregnated with the
OIL may lie made to supply all excellent
substitute for hard rubber, and Nj.
AndreolI notes that with GZonlzaton
of tie oil, as practiced during the last
few months, even more may tie expect
| ed. Ozone improves the fish oils In
color, iluidity and odur 1t may also
e made To change them into semi
fluid condition and gives promise of
converting Il cheap material into pro-
ducts of much value here durability,
lmpe rmeability and great electrical re
slstance are important.
One of the rareN ofsurgical triumphs
! has been the giving of sight to persons
who have been blind until maturity,
/ only about eighteen successful opera.
] fNf Ia Ii
ana third of these being cred ted to q
/ single specialist--Dr. Louis Flala, of
! Bucharest. A German writer has
uoted how these prisons have learned
to see. On being given vision, they
! have had to become accustomed to
| light gradually, have been unable to
recoInIze familiar objects except by
| touch, have known nothing of GO ors,
have had 10 visual idea of distance or
of shape, and have been u terly beWil-
dered by their strange sensa' ions.
One man became completely helpless
in streets where he had walked with
out difficulty while blind. Ii is con-
! cluded that man must learn To see as
he learns TO walk, the eye requiring
great practice, aud that persons ilind
fl0n birth can have utterly no concep-
ton of the outer worlds appearance.
A specific for srasickness has been
suggested by Epstein's studies on the
influence of color on blood circulation.
Seasickness results from lack Of blood
IN the BRAIN, While red causes a rush OF
blood to the head and the Troublesome
malady is cured by looking through
red spectacles, the effect being aided
10y internal doses Of calomel.
The new Swiss aluminium steamer
4 for Lake Victoria Nyanza is 43 feet
long cfrres 30 peslns aud SEPARATES
into 8 sections, no part weighing over
! $50 pounds.
BecquerePs discovery of the photo.
graphic action of uranium i'm the dark
has been followed by some Interesting
experiments, whose results were de.
scribed by DR. w. J. Russell at late
meeting of the Royal Photographic
Society. 1t appears that all uranium
salts nave this property, not only as
solids, but also in sDlutiOn, aud that
the substances are quite as active after
being kept two years in the dark as al
first. Other materials affect the sensi
tive plate, with the striking difference
however, that their action, unlike thai
uranium, does not take place through
| glass. Printing ink acts upOn thu