The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-08-16

French railway cars as HoN Gull
structed. with most of the metal parts
of aluminium are 1900 pounds lighter
than old ones.
Experiments made by Professor Jolly
show that quartz at the temperature
of 500 degrees becomes plastic, ana at
1900 degrees is a thick liquid. THIS
softening point is much lower than has
commonly been supposed, and the as
covery gives encouragement TO the
hope of wide use for quartz ii scien-
titic apparatus.
AS the result of twenty nine years
of experiments at Rothamsted Eng
land. it is shown that in the winter
months more than half of the amount
of rain that falls penetrates into the
soil and becomes available for the sup
ply Of springs, while in the summer
only one-quarter of the rainfall is OBJ
sorbed by the soil. The maximum
quantity of water in she soil Is at
depth Of about forty inches.
A new process has been discovered
for the extraction of india-rubDer from
the tree. The bark and roots are cut
up and soaked in dilute sulphuric ACID.
which decompose the woody portions
and does not affect the india-rubber.
In this way the rubber is separated
from the bark and roots, and is oD-
tanned in quite pure state. The IN
ventor of this process stated before the
Society Of Civil Engineers of France
that one pound of india-rubber could
be produced by this method at cost
Of about five cents.
No one knows just what happens
when one drops lump Of salt OF sugar
into a bowl of water. We may believe
with Professor Ostwald and his fol
lowers that the molecules of sugar
merely glide everywhere between the
molecules of water, without chemical
action; or, on the other hand, dismiss
ing this mechanical explanation, we
may say with Mendelcef that the pro-
cess of solution is the most active OF
chemical phenomena, involving that
ircessant interplay of atoms known rs
dissertation. But these two eXplana-
tions are mutually exclusive. ana no
one can say positively which ere, II
either one, is right.
An illustration of the new lights
which science throws upon old queS-
tons is the modern explanation OF an
experiment made nearly three centu-
ries ago by the Flemish physician,
Van Helmont. In pot OF carth
weighing 200 pounds he planted will
low branch weighing five pounds. He
kept the plant well watered, and IN
Eve years the willow had gained 164
pounds in weight while the earth in
the pot had lost only two ounces. Van
Helmont inferred that the plants gain
was due only TO the water which had
been supplied. Modern botanical
science proves that the gain was in a
great measure due to the carbon abb
sorbed from the air.
In boring a deep well in Germany
the hardened end of steel drill broke
off at a depth of about 1000 feet. AS
it was clearly impossible to drill out
the hard steel, it was necessary either
TO remove it or abandon the boring.
1t was removed in a highly ingenious
way. A soft iron bar, five feet long
and two and one-half inches in dame
ter. was wrapped with a single layer
of india rubber covered wire, thus
making it an electromagnetic. The BAR
with wires leading to it, was lowered
into the hole, and current from small
dynamo turned on. This magnetlzeu
the bar. which was then carefully
drawn up to the surface bringing the
steel drillpoint with it.