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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1902)
Conservative * is SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. Porcelain-violins and mandolins , shaped exactly like the wooden ones , are claimed to have greatly improved tones. Their weight and liability to breakage are disadvantages. The chemical destruction of weeds is advocated by learned French horti culturists. One application of mineral oil and water keeps down the grass in walks for two years , sea-salt kills thistles , and a spray of sulphate of iron is effective against injurious plants of all kinds. Carbolic acid as a dressing for wounds seems to be attended by risk little understood. Dr. J. G. Sheldon reports a recent amputation of the leg made necessary by spilling weak car bolic solution on the foot , and a Mass achusetts physician some years ago found records of more than 100 cases of gangrene duo to free use of carbolic acid much diluted for slight wounds and bruises. Artificial hair has been a difficult material to make. Gocoanut and agave fibers have been much used for stuffing furniture and chemical treat ment is claimed to make them im pervious to wet , odorless , elastic , un- feltable and unbreakable. ' But their short length limits their use in fabrics. The success of silk from cellulose has led some manufacturers at tfrankfort-on-the-Maiii to make further trials , with the same sub stance , and they seem to have pro duced not only a very satisfactory im itation horse hair but a very good sub stitute for human hair for wigs. Brittleness - tleness of the cellulose , the troublesome difficulty , was overcome by spinning several threads together. Air soundings of the last few years have given very unexpected tempera ture results. The upper air is colder than was supposed , the average being about 13 degrees below /oro F. at 20,000 feet and 85 degrees below at 25,000 feet ; and the decrease of tem perature gains in rate instead of becoming - coming slower as the altitude in- creases. The fall of 8 degrees for each 1,000 feet in the lower strata be comes nearly twice as mncli at the greatest height reached. The influ ence of seasons at high altitudes is surprisingly great , and at 80,000 feet , the average March temperature is about Co degrees below zero , while that of August is only 44 below. About sound wo have much to learn. Describing some late trials of fog horns , Lord Hayleigh stated that these having elliptical , instead of cir cular , cones best spread the sound hors - \ r s \ izontally when the long axis which was four times tliu length of the shorter was vertical. The anomaly of the silent zone , on both sides of which the sound is heard , is still a mystery. It has been thought to bo duo to interference between waves of sound reaching the spot direct and : hose reflected by the sea , but failure ; o recover the sound by climbing a tall mast throws doubt on the theory. One fog horn at a station may bo bet ter than several , as two or more sounds may tend to neutralize one another. Moving pictures of the electric arc liave given Ruhrner , a German exper imenter , some interesting results. In the arc circuit were placed an induc tion coil and a microphone , with a liquid interrupter to be used as de sired ; and a slit in front of the hori zontal arc caused the image of two carbons to fall upon the ground glass of the kinematograph. The moving photographic film recorded the steady arc as a bright , continuous baud. When the arc hissed tne band became wavy , the liquid interrupter cut it in to rectangles of varying lengths , and whistling caused hundreds of vibra tions to appear. Before talking into the arc , the image was reduced by a lens to a fine point upon the film which was moved ton feet a second. After the speech photograph was taken , the film was again passed through the camera box at the same rate and the picture was thrown by the arc upon a sensitive selenium cell. The vary ing brightness of the picture varied the electric resistance of the selenium so affecting the current passing through it that two telephones in the circuit reproduced the speech with surprising clearness. Such quantities of shingle are being deposited by the sea at Dungeness , on the English Channel , that in sixty years a lighthouse has been loft half a mile inland. The "water kite" of Sjostrand , a Swedish inventor , is a novel shoal- water indicator , consisting of an alumium plato , held by two wires and so balanced by weights as to swim beneath the vessel at a practical ly uniform depth with speeds of five to fifteen knots. If an obstacle is struck , one wire is detached , causing an alarm boll to ring. This signature is on every box of the genuine Laxative Bromo-Quinine Tablets tbt remedy that cures a cold In one day STOPS THE COUGH AND WORKS OFF THE COLD. Laxative BromoQniniuo Tablets euro i cold iu one day. No Cure , no Pay. ? rice 25 ceuts. It isn't the Cook's ' Fault , It isn't ' your Grocer's ' Fault , that the bulk coffee you just purchased turns out to be differ ent from the "same kind" bought before. Coffee purchased in , bulk is sure to vary. The sealed package in which LION COFFEE is sold insures uniform flavor and strength. It also keeps the coffee fresh and insures absolute purity. Waukegan Nurseries Ornamental Shade and Forest Trees. Evergreens- Shrubs , Etc. RARE HARDY BEAUTIFUL Largest Stock in America , includ ing Colorado Blue Spruce , and Douglas Spruce of Colorado. Wholesale and Retail Price Lists on Application. R. DOUGLAS' SONS. WAUKEGAN , ILL.
