Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1904-05-14
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Gravel will shrink eight per cent;
gravel and sand, nine per cent; clay
and clay earths, ten per cent; loan and
light sandy earths, twelve per cent.
These figures are useful in making
estimates for such work.
Among the innumerable expert.
ments with liquid air two are particu-
larry curious. A ball of india rubber
Immersed in 1t becomes as brittle as
glass but ball of lead In the same
circumstances, acquires elasticity, and
will rebound like rubber.
French statistics show that total
of 23S, 703 horse power from the falls
of the Alps is now used for generating
electricity. The electric power serves
the following: Aluminium works, o.
536 horsepower, other metallurglcal
factories 20,4S5; chlorate OF potassium
works, 1900: calcium carbide works,
104,466; sodium chlorate works, 49,
800; transmission Of power and light
ing, 3S,727; various Industries, 1880.
1t Is reported from Johannesburg
that a new and unexpected source of
wealth has been discovered In the ter
ritory of the late Boer republic Near
the eastern border of the Transvaal. on
the edge Of the lofty South African
plateau, three valuable lodes of tin ore
have been found, and the deposits are
apparently so extensive that predic-
lions are heard that the new colony
I, ~, H..
copper as 1t is already known to be in
gold
The human body changes its tenn
perature very slightly under any coma
ditions of heat or cold, but a Russian
naturalist finds that the body tempera-
ture of insects Is practically that Of the
atmosphere. 1t usually rises more
slowly than the air, though more rap
Idly when the mir is very moist. When
the insect begins to move, the temper
allure rises rapidly, and may reach
about SO degrees G. 002.2 degrees FD
Below-0.5 degrees G. insects remain
motionless, and the wings are not
moved until the temperature reaches
about IL degrees G.
The latest new form Of dirigible bal
loon, invented by l.. j. Andersen, of
London, has two elongated gas-bags
Of the same shape and size placed side
by side, like the two bulls Of a cata-
maran boat The car is suspended
beneath, being equally supported by
both balloons, and the driving pro-
peller is placed behind their rear ends,
and halfway between them. In expe-
rimenting with a model having bal
looms seven feet long, the inventor
finds that this form Of air-shlp pos
sesses advantages in steering and In
maintaining a straight course. He Is
constructing full-sized apparatus
with balloons 20 feet long, to be driven
by a 5O-horse-pQwer electrict motor.
After forty years of agitation, led
by Liverpool merchants, the British
government has just sanctioned the
use of a weight Of fifty pounds In
place of the standard "hundredweight
112 pounds), and "half-hundred-
weight" (fifty-six pounds) The re
form was demanded because the I'M
mense quantities Of cotton, corn, to-
bacco and other American products
landed at Liverpool We're calculated by
the sellers in pounds, while the buyers
were compelled to reckon in hundred
weights" which did not represent the
number of pounds that the name I'M
plies. 1t is claimed that the reform
will save a great amount OF time ana
labor and prevent many errors. 1t Is
also regarded as an entering wedge
for the introduction Of the decimal
system In England.