10 Cfoe Conservative *
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Colored lights in grcnt variety are
obtained by a London company by
coating the lamp bulbs with a mixture
of an alkaline silicate , silicon , oryolith ,
and the desired mineral colors.
What we don't know about milk is of
such importance that a Brussels pub
lisher has felt justified in starting a
periodical devoted wholly to the
scientific study of this food product.
A new tape-worm described by a
Japanese physician is of gigantic size ,
being more than four inches broad and
about thirty-five feet long. In the
ordinary tape-worm , new segments are
prodxiced by the head , the rear seg
ments being the most mature , but iu the
new species each- segment divides , and
the old and young alternate. The
symptoms produced are those of the
common species intensified.
In the eager collection of meteorites ,
stones not of celestial origin are brought
forward in great numbers. M. Meuuier
mentions that not long ago some Corsicans -
sicans were convicted of forging me
teorites by coating ophites and serpen
tines with sulphur and lamp-black ;
and the famous meteorite of Iglast has
been proven to be furnace slag. A
three-pound iron ball made by negroes
deceived Schweinfurth , who supposed
it a meteorite from the Libyan desert.
The necessity for new fuel supplies is
stimulating.Europeau inventors to great
activity. The new process of Herr
Stnber is claimed to convert peat and
lignite into briquettes having a heating
value fully equal to brown coal , and
Germany's 5,000,000 acres of peat-beds
are consequently rising in importance.
Not less noteworthy is the system by
which M. Riche , of Paris , claims to
treble the yield of gas from the destruc
tive distillation of wood , peat or lignite ,
the product being scarcely inferior to
coal gas.
Wood alcohol is gaining an ill repute
all its own. Dr. H. Moulton has point
ed out to the American Medical Asso
ciation that no other known substance
when swallowed so uniformly selects
for attack the optic nerve and retina ,
and in thirty cases of poisoning from it
reported within two or three years
fifteen have resulted in total blindness ,
while twelve cases of blindness from
Jamaica ginger and other essences seem
to have been due to contained wood
alcohol. The quantity taken has varied
from a dram to an ounce or more.
After moderate doses the symptoms-
such as nausea , vomiting and headache
do not appear until the second or third
day , and disturbances of vision are de
layed a day or two longer , when blind
ness becomes total in twelve to forty-
eight hours.
The filament of the incandescent
lamp has been found by Janet , a French
physicist , to reach a temperature of
1610 ° to 1720 ° O. The radiation ,
though surprisingly small , is sufficient
to boil water.
Scientific walking and marching have
been strangely neglected , in the view of
Mr. Giles A. Danbeuy , a former officer
in the British army. He finds that
when walking on the level , up hill , or
down-hill , the best and safest work with
the least fatigue can be had only by
adapting to each case the length of
pace , the time of each pace , and the
attitude and movements of the arms and
the whole body. Greater efficiency of
soldiers and civilians will come from
better walking.
Mat6 , or Paraguay tea * whioh is the
favorite beverage among a population
of some 20,000,000 , grows wild in the
woods of the southern half of South
America. For many years its cultiva
tion was a lost art. Although large
plantations were planted by Jesuit mis
sionaries more than a century ago ,
later attempts to raise the plants were
fruitless , and not until recently have
new plantations been established in
Paraguay. The secret of cultivation ,
it is alleged , is that the seeds will not
germinate until treated with a potas
sium salt. The leaves are usually pre
pared for market by roasting over a
brushwood fire , grinding to powder , and
ramming into rawhide bags ; but the
dried leaves are sometimes merely
broken. With a liberal supply of mate ,
native Paraguayans are said to do hard
work for days at a time with scarcely
any food.
The ordinary infectious cold is men
tioned as by far the most common of all
diseases. Citing evidence of its infectiousness -
fectiousness , Dr. Willoughby Gardner ,
an English physician , states that Conway -
way , Nansen and other explorers , with
their men , have been free from colds
while exposed to the dampness and
severe weather of the Arctic regions ,
but have at once caught cold on enter
ing a settlement. High mountains and
open-air sauitoriums show a like im
munity. So infectious is the ordinary
cold that its spread may be followed ,
and Dr. Gardner has watched a cold
pass from house to house and has even
traced it from village to village , and
has listened to explanations of sufferers
that it was caught from an open window
or some fancied imprudence !
An improvement of the Goldsohrnidt
process of welding and casting metals
adapts it to the unskilled workman.
The crucible is of iron with a refractory
lining , and the bottom is closed by one
or more small iron plates , the top hav
ing an iron cover with a fuse-hole in
the center. A substantial tripod is used
as support. The crucible is charged
with "thermit" mixture , which con-
ists of powdered aluminum and oxide
of iron or other metal , and for ea'ch
pound of its weight may yield nearly
mlf a pound of molten metal , and on
: his is placed a kindling material con
nected with the fuse. "Within a few
seconds after the fuse is lighted , the
ontents of the crucible become fluid
from the heat of the oxidizing alumi
num. The reduced iron from , the oxide
elts the supporting iron plates and
passes through the bottom into a re
fractory mold , the special advantage of
the new method being the holding back
of the corundum slag floating on top.
In welding , the clay mold is made to
clasp tightly the rails or broken shaft ,
with the opening over the ends to be
joined. The appliances are simple , and
not least of the claims for the improved
process is its convenience for repairs on
shipboard.
THE GATES AJAR.
Sunday's papers contained an evi
dently truthful and most important
story from St. Louis , which throws
more light on the actual state of
things beyond the grave than all the /
reports of the Society for Psychical /
Research. It tells how a good lady . /
decided to commit suicide , and how , / 1
i J
while she was about it , her daughter
heard the voice of her father , who had * /
been dead for tenyears , calling to her in
considerable excitement and distress ,
to look after her mother and stop her.
So the daughter got up , found what
she was at , and stopped her.
From this it is perfectly plain that
after death we can still keep tab on
what is going on here , and that under
exceptional circumstances we can hol
ler loud enough to be heard in St.
Louis. One cannot help wondering ,
however , what the especial emergency
in this case may have been ; wo would
think that the daughter and friends
would feel somewhat uneasy about it.
Why was pa so solicitous that ma
should not join him at that time ,
knowing that she was bound to come
sooner or later ? Was he alarmed for
her or for himself ? Did he know that
she would not enjoy the place pre
pared for her ? Or didn't he want her
to see him at some occupation he was
engaged in ? Or did he feel that ho
needed a few more years to rest up ?
It would bo curious to know what
more they hear from pa.
TO CURE A COLD IN ONE DAY.
Take Laxative Brome Quinine Tablets.
All druggists refund the money if it
fails to cure. E. W. Grove's signature
is on each box. 25c.
