Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1890 — Scales that Will Weigh a Hair. [ARTICLE]

Scales that Will Weigh a Hair.

The finest thing in the way of delicately adjusted scales of which I Suave heard, recently has just been turned out by a Philadelphia firm for the mint at New Orleans, aud they are certainly marvels of mechanical invention and expert workmanship. There are two pair- The larger has a capacity of 10,000 ounces troy, or about 785 pounds avoirdupois, and when loaded to its full capacity will indicate the variation of one-thousandth of an inch. The other is intended for lighter work. All its bearings are of agate. This instrument is believed to be the most delicate in the world. It will give the precise weight of a human hair apd is susceptible to the slightest atmospheric change. A signature written on a card with an ordinary pencil will make a perceptible difference in the weight of the card.

An important advance in surgery;— the successful substitution of catgut, ivory and bone for defects in bones, muscles and nerve sinews—was illustrated by Professor Gluck at the surgical congress at Berlin. The inserted material sucks up the juices of the body, establishing the junction of the separated ends without any shortening of the part. Professor Gluck presented cases in which mobility had been restored to defective fingers—a hitherto impossible feat—by insertions of from two to four inches of catgut; a case in which the removal of a tumor from the thigh had left a defective bone, which was remedied by the insertion of ivory, shortening being prevented; and a case in which a large piece of nerve in the groin had been replaced with catgut, with no serious impairment of functions. Compulsory eduoation destroys the ambition to seek for knowledge 1