Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1882 — SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP. [ARTICLE]

SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP.

Yeast mixed with about one-eight of pureglyoerine will keep well for a long time if placed in a cool cellar or chamber. This country hae one medical man to every 600 inhabitants, while Canada has only one to 1,200 inhabitants. Great Britain one to 1,672, and Germany one to 3,000. The inauguration of the statute to the mathematician Fermat will take 81ace at his birthplace in Taro-et-faronne on Aug. 20. M. Bert rant will represent the Frenoh Academy on the occasion. A curious fact appears to have been determined by MM. Arlong, Cornevin, and Thomas. They have proved that if a cow is inocculated against anthrax during gestation her calf obtains immunity against the disease. Daring the months of August and September there will be an exhibition in Brussels of gas-heating appliances, in order to give an idea to the general public of the economical Value of gas for industrial, domestic and oulinary purposes. There is eminent medical authority for the statement that unripe or very old potatoes contain a certain quantity of splanine. This may produoe serious results, if the potatoes are boiled With their skins on, and if they are eaten in large quantities. M. Chauveau says that heating (according to certain rules) blood infeoted with bacteria makes it a vaccinating liquid <?uite as sure as that of M. Pasteur. The temperature 43-44 degrees sufflcies. In any hour enough vaccine matter for 500 sheep can be prepared from one guinee pig. In examining tallow in Paris the sample is dissolved in chloroform when gelatinous matters, fragments of skins, calcium phosphate of lime* and other non-fatty matters remain undlssolved. The French stearine makers take 44 degrees as the lowest possible melting point for tallow. Salting, M. L. Fourment asserts, is not necessarily fatal to trlchinse imbedded in meat. These parasites may live in salt provisions for 15 months. Salting, indeed, often serves to preserve the vitality of trichisse, as it protects them to some extent from the destructive influence of heat Mr. H. W. P. Wilson flndß that in many plants the exoretion of carbonic acid decreases at once if a supply of oxygen is excluded.. Hence the view that the carbonic acid exhaled by {riants has its origin in inter-molecu-ar decomposition, independent of the oxygen of the air, is not at all tenable.

The Sewer Inspector of Cleveland lately opened a dogged sewer and found that the roots of a tree had grown and forced their way into a socket joint, and, penetrating the sewer completely filled it up. The roots had clasped themselves so firmly about the pipe that it took the united strength of two or three men to remove them. Another canal is contemplated by the French Government. This waterway is intended to connect the Meuse and the Scheldt, and place in cheap communication the collieries and blast furnaces of the north with the mines and iron-works of the east. A restoration to Dunkirk of the trade which had been diverted to Antwerp is anticipated if the canal is finished. Magnesia in limestone. M. Pichard says, is quickly detected by its alkaline reaction. If the stone when pulverized does not at once react upon red litmus paper a portion is heated on platinum toil at the spirit lamp to a temperature below dull redness. Pure limestone remains unchanged, but if the one-ten-thousandth part of magnesia is present an alkaline reaotakes place. Compound armor plates—iron faced with steel—will very probably be adopted by the French Government for new men-of-war. The steel resists penetration, and the iron backing gives the desired tenacity. Steel alone when struck fractures and falls to pieces. Heavy shot easily passes through a considerable thickness of iron. Iron and steel combined make a surprisingly strong resistance to proFrom the annual report of the Royal Society, London, it appears that the Council unanimously agreed to award the Clarke memorial medal for 1882 to Prof. James Dwight Dana, LL. D.,of Yale College, New Haven, Conn., “in recognition of his eminent work as a naturalist, and especially in reference to his geological and other labors in Australia when with the United States exploring expedition round the world in 1886 to 1842.” A Belgian engineer is said to have invented a process by which he can weld steel at a red heat.' He keeps an essential portion of his method a secret. It seems, however, that he carefully polishes the surfaces to be united, smears them over with some sort of liquid, raises the temperature of the metal to redness, and then , oins the pieces. After severe teste >ars welded in this way were in no nstance broken at the point of juncture. The first screw boats ever built in America, and, so far as the Engineer knows, the first iron hulls, were the Anthracite and the Black Diamond, constructed on the plans of Capt. Ericsson and employed in carrying cdal through the Delaware and Raritan canal. The first sea-going proKller built iu America was the frigate inceton, also after Capt. Ericsson’s designs but under the superintend* ance of Capt. Stockton. This vessel was a full-rigged ship, and it was the intention to use steam only as occasion might require and as an aid to the sails.