Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-10-25
sclsscs AND INDUSTRY.

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
1t mas been generally supposed that
the evil taste of distilled water is due
to the absence of dissolved gases. We
are told now that the reverse is the
case. and that the reason is the pres
ence of gases generated in the still.
Filtration through animal charcoal de-
Stroys these.
A substitute for celluloid is now
being produced from urtanned leather
boiled in oil, which is said to resemble
celluloid in every particular. 1t Is
known as marloid and shows tex
ture similar to horn, while it can be
made flexible and elastic or hard and
unyielding. 1t will take high polish
readily, and may be stamped or
pressed into any desired shape.
Ice has proved successful as an in
sulator on Mount Blanc. A double
line of ordinary galvanized iron wire
was laid on the ground between the
Grands Mulets at the top Of the noun
tain and the Petits Mulets at the base.
Each line was $500 feet long. Mes
sages were sent without trouble and
the loss of electricity, as measured by
the instruments, was very slight.
| Professor Simon Newcomb, writing
of stars which are so distant that they
have no measurable parallax, remarks
that one of these, the brilliant Cano-
pus, can be said, with confidence, to
be thousands of times brighter than
the sun. whether we should say 2O,-
900, 10000 or 5000, no one can decide"
The first-magnitude stars, Rigel and
| Spica, also are at an immeasurable
distance, and must, in view of their
actual brightness, enormously outshine
the sun.
Silicon has been detected by Profes-
sOr ]. Lunt in one of the fixed stars
Beta Crucis, one of the stars of the
Southern Cross. Three lines of un.
known origin has previously been OBJ
| served in the stars spectrum, and
while examining the spectra of tubes of
carbonic oxide this observer discovered
the same lines. They were seen only
when a powerful discharge was used,
and they proved to be occasioned by
dsintegration Of the glass Of the
tube and to be lines of silicon.
A late Improvement in trolley ap-
paratus has been introduced by Ger
man company. 1t is an ingenious de-
vice for lubricating the trolley Wire
of an overhead system of conductors.
AS an effective fabrication of this sort
would lesson the wear on both the
wire and the trolley, the device may be
extensively adopted, if its efficiency
can be established. Many unsuccess-
full efforts to attain this end have been
made. but the present may be success.
full. 1t is said to enable a thin and
uniform coating of lubricant to be
spread along the wire, and the lubri-
Gator is Of light construction. being of
aluminium, and carried either OH the
trolley pole or Independently.
| The patterns for castings used in
| foundries are made of wood, and 1t
! often happens that a number of articles
are made from the same design. In
such a case, if the same pattern is
employed. it's edges are apt to suffer,
and it must either be repaired or re-
newed. 1t has recently been suggest
! ed that aluminium would be available
/ for this purpose, and that from an
! original pattern in wood one or more
copies in aluminium could be cast. The
aluminium patterns soon acquire sort
of greasy surface, and separate from
| the moulding sand with peculiar ease.
In case the pattern become injured
or are no longer needed, they can be
melted down without any loss of the
material