The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-09-25
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3 sfIlveTntion

The papyrus plant WHICH furnished
the paper of ancient manuscripts IS
now extinct in Egypt and is found only
in Sicily.
Plants for the publication Of water
for municipal use by passing ozone
through it are in successful operation
in Germany.
A Swede has made a kerosene lamp
which will produce light Of 12o can
dlepOwer at cost of one cent for each
seven hours.
Though vesuvus has been for cen
turtles discharging steam charged with
hydrochloric acid, extensive injury to
vegetation in the surrounding region
seems to have been unknown until last
year.
Very light plates for electric primary
cells are made by A. De Castro, or
Berlin, by depositing metal ON textile
fabrics by electrOlysis. Sall-cloth. for
instance, may be impregnated with re-
duced copper for the negative ele-
positive elements.
Mr.. Hughes, our cOnsul-general at
Coburg, thinks there Is the suggestion
OF a new industry for the pine lands
of the South and West Of our country
in the success with which the business
of extracting and preparing pine-nee-
die oil is pursued in the Thuringen
Mountains of southern Germany. his
oil finds sale all over the world, be-
ing used for pharmaceutical purposes
for indicating baths, and so on, while
the dried fbers, perfumed with little
Of the concentrated oil, are used for
stutting mattresses and pillows, being
sent in packages to many markets.
The committee on coinage, weights
and measures, in its report to the
House of Representatives favOring the
adoption of the metric system by the
United States government, says that
estimates made by the Department OF
Education and others show that, in
the life of every child at school, two
thirds Of a year would be saved by
the adoption Of the metric arithmetic
1t is also averred, as a matter of evil
dence that the metric system and its
application to the solution of problems
may be learned in one-tenth Of the time
required for gaining equal facility in
the use Of the English system Of
weights and measures.
Poisoning by shell-1sh Is not yet
fully understood. Professor Thesen of
Norway finds that 1t Is not due to the
substance on which they grow-such
as the copper sheathing Of vessels
but that it depends on impure water
The poison. however, does not seem
to be produced by bacteria. 1t Is con-
Guided that the impurities of the wa
ter-even such pOisons as strychnine
and curare-are readily absorbed and
stored away by the mOllusks, but that
the storing is only temporary, for mol
luskS in foul water are not at all times
poisonous. Whether the pOisons are
made harmless or are returned to the
water unchanged remains to be proven.
An interesting application of the
freezing system In Shaft-Slnking Is ex-
hibited at the Washington cOlliery in
England. When the shaft had been
sunk a short distance, it was found
that a layer of quicksand 80 feet IN
depth must be penetrated. To prevent
the wet sand from flowing into the
shaft. it was frozen solid. A circular
row of holes, forming a ring over 20
feet in diameter, was made round the
shaft and by means Of metal pipes a
freezing mixture or brine, of chloride
of sodium, was caused to circulate in
the holes. This had the effect of freez-
ing the sand in a circular wall round
the shaft. rs hard as rock. On the re-
moval Of the soft sand in the center.
the frozen wall remained intact. pro.
tecting the workmen from the quick
sand behind 1t.