Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1876 — MECHANICAL AND SCIENTIFIC. [ARTICLE]

MECHANICAL AND SCIENTIFIC.

—That eminent British scientist, Sir W. Thompson, thinks the earth has been cool enough to be habitable about 100,000,900} ears. Prof. Tait reduces this calculation to 10,000,000 years. The memory of the oldest inhabitant fails to throw any light upon the subject. —A course in Herbert Spencer’s Principles of Psychology will be given at Harvard College during the year 1876-7, under the direction of Prof. James. This and a course of speculative philosophy under Prof. Bowen, are the only two courses of philosophy of the present day now given. —M. Leverrier proposes to the French Government to establish a system of warnings to colliery managers ot probable falls of the barometer, the tact being now well established that the chance ot explosions of fire-damp is seriously increased when the atmospheric pressure is lessened. —ln Australia sub-cutaneous injections of ammonia are being used very success-’ fully for the cure of snakebites. Tire Melbourne Arz/us reports several cases in which coma had set in. One case was of a woman whose body was growing cold when the remedy was successfully applied. —A clean tooth does not decay. Acids and sour fruit always injure the teeth! instantly; sweets never do; without them ■ children w ould die, hence their insatiable I instincts for sugar. If a tooth-powder was never used the teeth would not tie so white; ; but, kept perfectly clean, would last lor life. — Exchange. —The best way to admit pure air in the j night (where windows are the only moile j of”ventilation) is to open the sleepingroom into a.ball'where there is an open window, in order to avoid the draught. wlndoJtwiih-ar-nmalf-opening atdhe top and bottom ventilates more than one with one opening only. —A Swedish Professor of chemistry experimenting with a quantity of “reindeer moss,” a peculiar growth with wffiifh the Scandinavian mountains are covered, declares that I,BUO pounds ot the moss under proper treatment will produce nearly 1,2011 pounds of refined sugar, and five gallons of pure alcohol may be extracted from sixty-three pounds. —Some persons believe, or at least affect to believe, that the effects of keeping plants in room* are bad for the health of the occupants. Prof. Kedzie has dispelled this old notion by analyzing the’atmosphere of a green-house full of plants and the atmosphere outside. There'was no difference in the amount of carbonic acid worthy of note. The truth is that plants growing and in good health do not hurt anybody.— Detroit Tribune. ---The Fmglieh JottrnnZ-aescribcs a combination of a foot-warming apparatus with a boot. The beet of the boot is of metal, and hollow, and contains a supply of artificial fueL The heat from this is made to pass through channels in the inner sole; arpart of w hich is placed upon a spring, so Hi at the action of the foot in walking acts like a bellows, drawing in the cold air by an aperture in the heel and driving the heated air into the boot. A modification of the apparatus can?it i* said, be applied to horse-shoes. " ~

—Many persons suppose that white cats with blue eyes are deaf; this can by no means, however, be deemed to be so commonly the case as to afford a foundation for a theory. A New Zealand correspondent sends to Nature some interesting facts bearing on this point: “At Taranaki. N. Z.,” he says, “ I saw a white cat with blue eyes whiyh was not at nil deaf, and a good many of Its kittens were white and had light blue eyes. As many ot these hail perfect hearing as were afflicted with deafness. This cat had a grownmp kitten, perfectly black, which hail sometimes also white young ones with blue eyes; it showed, as did the old cat, a singular partiality for them. One one occasion it happened that the old white cat and her black daughter had litters at the same time; among them there was one white kitten with blue eyes - the black cat’s. The two fought fiercely for possession of the coVeted beauty, and the old ent frequently took it away and placed it among her own. One morning the unfortunate object of quarrel was found divided by the recommendation of some feline Solomon, and each cat quite contentedly in possession of half. Both of these litters had sonic light tortoiseshellcolored kittens among them, of which a moiety appeared to hare their hearing imperfect.”