Daily inter mountain., 1900-01-02
SCIENCE.


Or two dynanltcal problems that have
long attracted Lord Kelvin's attention.
that OF the boy's spinning top has been
under consideration by him for seventy
years. Mathematicians have solved the
problems of the procession of the equin-
oxes the mutation of the earth's axis, and
the retrogreSsion OF the nodes of the
moons orbit. but have stumbled over or
avoided the problem Of the boys top.
Only Archibald Smith has made any ap-
proach to success with this. AS every
boy knows, there are three acts in the
spinning of a tOp--the first the rising of
to the second or perpendicular or "sleep-
ing position. The first act is the most
difficult to explain. Smith was the first
so show that it was not the retarding eff
feet of friction on the point of the top, but
the spin of the toy assisting the procession
or the point through series of move
ments. that brought the top UP; and has
shown further that the rounder the point
the greater is the inclination of the top
in spinning to the upright position. Lord
Kelvin has been estimating the smallest
angular velocity that would cause the top
to rise. He concludes that the less the
angular point the longer is the period of
rotation; and that five times round in
second would suffice il the point were
moving in ring with a radius of a cent?
meter; or ten times in a second IL the
| radius were a quartz of centimeter.
The properties Of alloys, showing many
! anomalies. are even now but little un-
i derstood. Summarizing few striking
! facts, Mr.. A. e. Tucker. a British metal
lurgist. lately pointed out instances of
| remarkable change In alloys due to ex-
! ternal action and internal causes. and
described an alloy Of aluminium with 4
per cent of nickel that at ordinary tenn
peratures falls to powder in an extraor-
| dinary manner within few hours after
being cast. Mentioning the effect of bis
muth upon copper and brass, he stated
that the influence of even trace of for
eign substance upon the properties Of a
| definite alloy could not be foretold by
any reasoning from analogy. The Won
! derful metallurgicai skill of the Japanese
has been reached by generations Of plod-
ding, and their methods often baflle all
! our science to discover. The use of me-
| tallic aluminium as a means OF produc-
4! ing the rarer metals in pure form is q
process likely to replace the more cum
| bersome electric furnace in obtaining
valuable metals for alloys. An interest
| ing recent alloy Is steel that does not
lose it's hardness by heating. during use,
this being produced by melting hematite
pig with steel scrap, increasing the nat
ural hardness by addition of manganese
tungsten alloy, and insuring solidity by
adding aluminium nickel.
Small metallic objects are readily plat
ed without the use of electricity by the
lately patented method of M. A. Darby.
a French inventor. The objects are sim
ply placed in contact with aluminium or
magnesium in bath of the metal to be
deposited, such, for instance, as C) a So
| luton of double chloride of ammonium
! and of the said metal, to which is added
an excess of AN alkaline phosphate. or (2)
i a solution of double cyanide of tpotas-
sium and of the metal ito which is added
an alkaM Nickel cobalt. tin copper and
T gold are among the metals that may be
| deposited in this way. A process already
well-known uses the plating bath with
4 zinc in contact with the object. but this
is unsatisfactory because the zinc itself
becomes plated nearly as quickly as the
article immersed with it.
! Paper is growing a very satisfactory
material Cor driving ropes. At the Eng
lish factories of erhampton the rope
is made like that from other materials.
and contains three main strands, each
made up of a number of continuous strips
of twisted pulp paper. The material is
made wa atenproof by trea tment with boil
i ed Oil. The rope is fairly smooth and
wonderfully plant, and in recent tests
slightly polished under conditions that
have caused cotton rope to become badly
worn and frayed. Its actual TENSILE
strength is supposed to be consile erably
less than that Of Manila rope.
/ The new match of M. O. Linder of
Paris is claimed to be free from danger
and to emit no unpleasant odor. The
splints are first dipped into mixture OF
12 parts of chlorate of potash, four OF
sulnhide of antimony, three OF gum and
three of powdered clay. The inf1amma-
BILE compound is then applied. This con-
sists of four to six parts of chlorate OF
potash, IL parts Of amorphous phos-
phorus (the red or harmless phosphorus),
three parts of gum and three of aniline
The match may be lighted by friction on
any surface.
BY novel combination OF a telephone
with usua, electric alarm, the cause OF
any disturbance in bank vault or SINH
lar place can be made out before the po-
lice are summoned. A sensitive trans.
mitter Is placed in the vault. and at tine
sound of the alarm. the person at the re-
ceiying end has only to turn a switch
sending current through the coil of the
transm'3tter, when the slightest sound in
or near the vault can be distinguished.
Some curious cases Of temporary but
absolute blindness from nervousness
have been recorded by DIR. j. Ramos. a
Mexican physician. The blindness usu-
ally appeared after strong emotion and
gradually passed away in few days or
weeks: but one healthy young woman
. of tranquil temperament was suddenly
4 attacked while, calmly sewing, recovery
taking place in a fortnight.
7 The heat insulating composition of
J Mr. a. Hardy. an English inventor, con-