Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1890 — SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. [ARTICLE]

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

The stoppage of travel in the vicinity, of fires cau.-ed by the lines of fire hose crossing the street, has long been B.tource of complaint, and it has been wondered that no practical means of running hose across a roadway so as not to interfere with the passage of vehicles has been devised, Such a deice has been brought opt by an arch--1 act of Chicago. It consisis of a temporary bridge upon which the hose Cm be carried over the street ata height permitting cars and general travel. It is said to have worked well both in San Francisco and Denver. A simple method has been devised by means of which, in the midst of a busy workshop full of machinery in motion, any special noise, even though slight, can be distinguished and its origin traced. The apparatus consists es an ordinary india-rubber gas' tube about a yard in- length; the length may, however, be varied to suit the nature of the investigation. The tube in unprovided with ear-pieces or bell. One end is applied to the ear of the observer, while the other is moved about in order to explore the seat of the irregularity. Since the free orifice of the tube is comparatively small and is applied as closely as possible to the vibrating surface, it practically receives only those sonorous vibrations which are emitted by this surface. Those who will have to do with machinery will find it especially useful for observing noises due to irregularities in the working of small parts of machines, which may be either difficult or dangerous to approach in any other way. It has been recently stated that a prize offered some years ago for the discovery of some means whereby the inexperienced might at once determine whether in a given case death had or had not occurred was won by a physician who discovered that if a light were placed behind the hand of the supposed dead, person a scarlet tint would be apparent where the fingers touched each other if life was not extinct, and. that if no glow were visible death had taken place. Dr. B. W. Richardson has written! an essay in which he states that, although this test has its value, it is not by any means to be trusted as an unfailing indication of life or death. He gives the case of a person in a state of syncope to whom the test was most carefully applied. Not the faintest sign of red coloration between the fingers could be traced, yet the recovery of the syncope was complete and was effected without any artificial aid. Dr. Richardson regards it as a good test, but is of opinion that more certain proofs are the pulsation, the respiratory murmur, pressure on veins, the electric test for muscular irritability, the ammonir hypodermic test, coagulation of blood in the veins, rigor mortis, and decomposition. Remarkable success has been attained by Prof. Ahn of Breslau in applying photography to fix the indications of different diseases of the eye. Another contribution to one of the newest departments of science is Prof. Fisher’s photographs of cultivation of luminous bacteria, which were photographed by their own light —the views giving evidence of the constant movement in which the tiny organisms are unceasingly engaged. One of the greatest anthropologists of the century in Paris has been making a collection of the various types of mankind, and he does it by means of the photograph. He inclines to the opinion that the type or origin, the race to which the party originally belonged is better preserved among women than among men. He has therefore made his col- ' lection from among women, and to increase its attractiveness and value be ' has announced his intention to ch’use only beautiful women for his types, i Apropos of this idea a prominent photographer proposes to appeal to phojtographers for-selection and contribu- ‘ tion of a photographic reproduction of ] the representative women whom they consider the most beautiful; so that a collection can be made which will be handed down to posterity as representing the standard types of ■ in the nineteenth century. , A shoe dealer says that girls’.between sixteen and eighteen have bigger feet then after tr*«z.v aafl twentyfour. The foot is fleshy at that time ' and large, but as years' come the. flesh decreases and the musoies grow more firm.