Volume 17 (1868) (428 pages)

The Mining and Scientific Press. 179 Mechanical, Use and Care of Tools. It is said the Yankecs aro the most inveterate whittlers in existence, aud wo once heard one of onr Yankee friends remark that the most valued and indispensable of his possessions were a pockct knifo, pocket eomb, and watch, with trne national or natural instinct, placing the knife at the licad ef the inventory. Yet comparatively fow who consider the pocket knife » neecssary adjunct secm to understandi care. Itis scldem one can borrow ais kuife from au acqnaintance. It is eithe. icft as it came fromthe mauufacturer, er has its edge rounded se its cross scction is a conieal wedge, or it is abraded to tenuity by the action of the coarse stone of the street. grinder’s machine, one of the most rninous contrivances for sharpening knives or razors. Dnt besides the neglect of the edge of a knife blade, the heel, which acts on the biek spring, and the rivet’ in which the! blade turns, are scllom oiled, and it re-. quires an effort not only to open a hlade but also to close it. As the pocket-knife conies from the mannfactory er store, its cdge is unfit for use; it may cut butter or cheese, possihly soft wood, but it will not pare finger uails or shurpen lead pencils. It ueeds the hone and strop to produce an effectiveedge. And in the proper nse of the bone, or ail stoue, many are quite ignorant. First, nothing bunt a good oil stone is fit for sharpening a knife blade. Ordinary ‘‘ whetstones,” mere sandstones to be used with water, or dry, are too coarse; they are but fixed grindstones, and rapidly abrade the substance of the blade without giving it an edge. The philosophy of whetting or honing isa gradual and mutnal abrasion of the particles of the stone with those of the steel. The oil, with its glutinous quality, holds these commingled particles, sothat by the movement of the blade they act on the steel, and ahrade it very gradually. If the stone is too hard it quickly glazes, and the blade slips over a perfectly smooth surface, producing no action on the hardened steel; if too soft, the stone allows the edge of the blade to disintegrate its surface and heap up a ridge of quartz-like or flinty particles, which produce a round or ‘‘stunt” edge, that in time must be removed by the action of the grindstone. One accustomed to sharpening kuife blades can easily tell when the operation of honing is going on properly, and only experience can fully teach the process. There should he a certain feeling of resistance in the operation. The motion for whetting or honing should be cirenlar; not as in stropping a razor, merely back and forth. The educated fingers will readily feel when the blade bears properly on the surface of the stone, and will guard against the mere abrasion of the back and the cutting iu of the edge. This art ean only be acquired by practice.—Jron Age. ComPRESsED AIR FOR PropeLuInG STREET Cars.—New Orleans seems to be taking the lead in devisiug new methods for propelling street cars. Myr. Wayliss, of that city, has recently invented a car whichis said to have proved a complete success. In the car station there is an ordinary steam engine of about 66 horse power for compressing air into reservoirs, which are made of a paper composition, and two of them are placed on top of the cars. On each car there is a small engino operated by air supplied from the reservoir in the same manner as steam, giving tho exact amouut of power that was required to compress the air. ‘The engine is not difficult to run, and the cars can be stopped much more readily than when horses are used. Jach car will have 300 pounds of compressed air to start with, which will be sufficient to run it nino or ten miles. The exhansted air, as it escapes from the engine, may be nsed for ventilation. In New Orleans there are 5,000 mnles and in New York 40,000 horses, said to be employed in the various railway lines. By this method of compressed air, they will be Superseded, as it is cheapor, and at the Same time, less wearing to the conscience of riding humanity. Porosity or Hypravunic Crrinpers.—To stop up a porous cylinder cast for a hydraulie press, Kohn, a Berlin engineer, heats it over a charcoal fire to about 176° Fah., then fills it up with resin, and snspends it by a crane over the fire, nutil the liquefied resin is seen sweating through the outside. Theexcess of resin is then poured out, and the cylinderallowed to cool, The pores will be found so completely stopped, thatno water can possibly pass. Smoxy Cumrmveys.—A correspondent of the Builder submits a simple and cheap remedy for smoky flues, which is stated to be successfnl in cight out of ten bad chimneys. ‘The principle upou which itdepends is sound. He says: ‘I find from experience that, by the use of fino wire gauze of from thirty-six to forty wires to the inch, as ascreen, blower, or guard, judiciously applied to register stoves, ranges, or stove doors, little if any smoke will come into the room through the ganze, and if applied immediately to the front of tho fire more smoko will be consumed than by any other means. In that case the wire should be kept two inches from immediate contact with the hot fire.” A New Kiyp or Bayonzr has been invented by Colonel] Rice, in the shape of a stcel trowel, niue inches long, and three or four wide. It is designed to enablo troops to cover themselves very rapidly. In the last war, the troops did this with knives, spoons, fingers and their bayonets, with which, however, they ceuld not scoep up the earth. This provides them always with facilities for entrenchment. Colonel Rice estimates that a line could throw up tweuty inches of dirt in ten minutes, so that troops need never to bo caught out of shelter. That this weapon wonld uot answer all the purposes of the old bayonet must be adnitted; but it is nrged that the weapon is now obsolete; that not a hundred men were killed by it duriug five years of war. VELOCIPEDES are much in vogue now for rapid and easy movement, aud grace of evolution. They have one fore and ove hind wheel, and are kept upright by the skill of the rider in turning the front wheel, so as to regain his ba'ance. In the south of France, near Toulouse, there was a race, not long since, between a velocipeddist and a horseman for a distance of forty-five miles, which the latter only won by twenty-five minntes, after a run of six hours, The result, it is said, might eveu have been reversed, and the inanimate have beaten the animate machine, had not the former been impeded by a strong head wind, which was hlowing the whole time. A New ProsectiiE.—We were last evening shown anew invention called the ‘ improved projectile.” It is a three-fanged cannon ball. The inventor, Mr. A. F. Potter, claims that tbis ball can be thrown from a smooth bore Rodman gunn with greater accnracy and force than auy ball fired from the rifled canuon now in nse. Mr. P. has for the past six years been engaged in working out this inventiou, and thiuks he has it now nearly perfect. This will be proven by a trial very shortly of his gun aud projectile, the resnlt of which we will lay before our readers.—Oakland Transeript, Sept, 1lik. SUBMARINE Navyroarion.—An account is given in the Marseilles Nouvelliste of a successful metbod of suhmarine uavigation and perambulation which has been employed there in doing work under water. .The air is supplied by a. mechanical and chemica] process combined. Before the vessel is let down, a provision of compressed air is secured by means of pumps, and distributed among the various compartments; it is calculated to balance the pressure of the column of water she is to encounter at the depth required. The immersion of the submarine boat is obtained by increasing her specific weight throngh the introduction of water into her reservoirs; the immersion is effected by the expulsion of this water, which latter, therefore, acts as a movable hallast. The boat’s center of gravity is so arranged as to make her touch the bottom with her base flat, and almost without a shock. Wheu the ground has not been explored before, the vessel is kept in suspensiou until, bya skillful manenvre, a proper place is found for her. By ingenious contrivances, au exact eqnilibrium is obtained hetweeu the compressed air and the column of water, aud the trap doors commuuicating with the bed of thesea are then opened. The men, standing with their teet on the latter, but having tbeir heads still in the chamber coutaining their supply of air, carry the boat to the spot they want to cxplore; hut if they find it necessary to leave the craft, each puts on his scapbander, or water-tight helmet, provided with a hose, through which he receives air from the vessel, and which is screwed to one of the reservoirs of compressed air, and cau thus) that fishes were seen passiug backand forth . Cruz, work at a tolerable distauce from the boat. Sclentijic Miscellany’. The Moon and The Weather. Professor Elias Loomis read a paper before the American Association for the Advancement of Scicneonpon the “ Influence of the Moon upon the Weather,” of which tho following is an abstract : Several meteorologists have attempted by acomparison of a long series of ohservations to determine if the moon exerts any iniluence npon the weather. Irom a comparison of twenty-eight years of observationin Germany, Schubler, in 1830, dedueed a sensible influence of the moon, the nnmher of rainy days at the time of the second octant being tweuty-five per cent. greater than at the time of the fourth octant. From a comparison of observations made at Paris, Orange and Carlsruhe, Gasparin arrived at results not differing greatly from those of Schubler. By a comparison of sixteen years of ohservation at Greenwich, nine years at Oxford, and sixteeu ycars at Berlin, Mr. Harrisen,of England, has obtained results which are remarkahly consistent with each other, and which indicate that the moon exerts an apprecinhle influence upou terrestial temperature, the maximum occurring six or nine days after the new moon, and the minimum ahout four days after the full, The difference between the maximnm near the first quarter and the minimum near the last quarter is two and a half degrees Fahreuheit. These results, which are so differeut from what might have beeu anticipated, Mr. Harrison explains by supposing that the moou really attaius its greatest heat about the last quarter; but that the heat which the moon radiates to the earth is entirely dark heat, and therefore absorbed hy our atmosphere. This heat raises the temperature of the air above the clouds, causing increased evaporation from their surface, by which they are dispersed, and thus there is an increased radiation of terrestial heat to the sky, and consequently a dimunition in the temperature of the air near the ground. He snpposes that opposite results must ocew at the period of minimnm heat in the moon, Upon extending the comparison to forty-three years of observations at Greenwich, Mz. Harrison finds still a fluctuation of temperature, but the range is reduced to one degree and one minnte instead of two degrees and five minutes. Mr. Ballat, on tahulating aseries of soventy years mean daily temperatnre, according to the moon’s age, touud that the highest temperature occurred during tho seven days after fnll moon, being almost precisely opposite to the resnltsof My. Harrison. Schiaparella has made a careful analysis of 38 years of observations, made at Vigiroano, near Milan, in Northern Italy, and has attained results which aré also remarkably consistent with each other, They show that abont the time of the last quarter of the moon there is a maximum in the num.ber of raiuy days, as also in the frequency of storms, and in the degrce of ciondiness, The Professor then exhihited a table of results which he had deduced from seven years’ observation, and drew the couclnsion that the moon did affect the weather, and maintained, in direct opposition to Prof. Herschel, that the moon just hefore its full influenced the weather toward cloudness rather than clearness, and followed thesame law as the sun. Fautine Srars.—At a meetiug of the French Academy of Sciences, M. Chapelas seut in a new paper on falling stars, accompanied with a tahle of the position of the sixteen gronps or centers of emanation from which they seem to proceed. The author has discovered thatthe zenithal distauces of these apparent centers are more considerable in January than in Fehruary, and that at the same timethe correspondiug average barometrical pressure follow the same law.—Galignani. OXxYGENIzED Buoop anp DEcAPiTaTIon. The Revue Populaire, of Paris, gives an account of some very curious experiments made by Dr. Claude Bernard. Ii oxygenized blood be injected into the arteries of the neck immediately after decapitation, warmth aud sensibility return, the eye gets animated, and displayssuch perception that au object shakeu before it will cause wiuking of the eyelids and movements of eyehalls as though to avoid injury. . A sunManrINe telescope has lately been tried on the river Enye, France, with great, success. It is stated that the smallest) pearls and the barnacles attached to the! bull of a large ship were plainly seen, and without being disturbed. Liguip Fuen Coamustion.—Tho Patent Fuel Company, at Doptferd, England, burn liquid fnel, or creosote, by a patent process in tar boiling, The liquid is pumped from a rescrvoi by a small force pnmp intoa boiler, till a pressnre is obtained of twenty-tive pounds to tbe square inch, which enables it to be injected with considerable forco into tbe furnace, where the steam is gencrated. The fced from the boiler, when the pressure is raised, takes placo throngha small wrought iron gas-pipe, haying one coil near the surface of the grate, from which the creosoteescapes at a temperature of about 670° to 700° Fahr,, through four apertures, each abont one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. The productive power of thirty-six gallons, costing 8s., was eqnivalent to eigbt te ten ewt of coal, while the relative volume was ouly two-fifths of that of the coal. Tunxasten Stren Macxers.—In a recent lecture, C. W. Siemens, F.R.8., spoke of the remarkable effect of tnngsten upon steel, in increasing its power of retaining magnetism when hardened. A horse-shoe magnet of ordinary steel, weighing two pounds, is considered of good quality when it hears seven times its own weight. The famous Haarlem magnet supports thirteen times its own weight. But Mr. Siemens has succeeded in producing a similar horseshoe magnet of tuugsten steel, which will carry twenty times its own weight suspended from its armature. SyntHesis or Neurtne.—M. Wurtz has succeeded in preparing by synthesis, chlorhydrate of trimethyloxethylanmonium. It is in long deliquesccnt needles, and is identical with thenenrine usually obtained from brain matter. L'Jnstitut gives an saecouut of M. Wurtz’s experiments. A Prusstan chemist has invented a new method of warfare on the battle-field. It isa powder that makes a whole regiment sneeze for half an hour. Discovery or Goup Frecps m Sour Argrica,—Gold has been found pretty extensively in South Africa, between 17 aud 21% degrees south latitude, and about 400 miles distant from Pretoria, the nearest point of civilization, in the South African Republic of Transvaal. The kingdom of Sofala, situated on the coast to the eastward of the alleged gold formation, has heretofore been considered to be the Ophir of King Solomon’stime. Messrs. Hartly & Manch,— the former an old elephant hunter, the latter an emissary of a Berliu Sciontifie Society,—report that the gold is found in quartz veins, and that the fields are of vast extent. The natives are known from old times to have brought gold to the Portuguese iu quills. They are said to light big fires to . loosen the rock containing visihle gold, and then further disintegrate it with their ‘“ mashetes. ” Tar Canmrornia PionzrrR Fuse ManvFACTURING Company commenced business in this city iu 1866. Their factory is located on the Potrero, and is in constant operation for the mannfacture of all kinds of safety fnse for blasting purposes. They employ at present 12men. They are tbe first company which commenced thé mannfactnre of the article, and their first work was done in Janua:y 1855, at Grass Valley, by James Eva, the inventor of the machines, The samples exhibited by the company comprise submarine water-proof tape fuse, siugle, double and triple, and common dry ground hemp fuse. A section of the first fuse made in the State, by Mr, Eva, was exhibited at the recent Fair The capacity of the manntfactory at present is abont 12,000 feet per day, and as the demand increases, the facilities of the company are enlarged. The jute and flax thread is imported from Dundee, Scotland, but the company are about to erect machinery for spinning their own jute and flax. The other materials nsed are imported from the East, except the powder, which is made by the California Powder Company at Santa We quote the above from the Builetin.

The Mining and Scientific Press. 179 Mechanical, Use and Care of Tools. It is said the Yankecs aro the most inveterate whittlers in existence, aud wo once heard one of onr Yankee friends remark that the most valued and indispensable of his possessions were a pockct knifo, pocket eomb, and watch, with trne national or natural instinct, placing the knife at the licad ef the inventory. Yet comparatively fow who consider the pocket knife » neecssary adjunct secm to understandi care. Itis scldem one can borrow ais kuife from au acqnaintance. It is eithe. icft as it came fromthe mauufacturer, er has its edge rounded se its cross scction is a conieal wedge, or it is abraded to tenuity by the action of the coarse stone of the street. grinder’s machine, one of the most rninous contrivances for sharpening knives or razors. Dnt besides the neglect of the edge of a knife blade, the heel, which acts on the biek spring, and the rivet’ in which the! blade turns, are scllom oiled, and it re-. quires an effort not only to open a hlade but also to close it. As the pocket-knife conies from the mannfactory er store, its cdge is unfit for use; it may cut butter or cheese, possihly soft wood, but it will not pare finger uails or shurpen lead pencils. It ueeds the hone and strop to produce an effectiveedge. And in the proper nse of the bone, or ail stoue, many are quite ignorant. First, nothing bunt a good oil stone is fit for sharpening a knife blade. Ordinary ‘‘ whetstones,” mere sandstones to be used with water, or dry, are too coarse; they are but fixed grindstones, and rapidly abrade the substance of the blade without giving it an edge. The philosophy of whetting or honing isa gradual and mutnal abrasion of the particles of the stone with those of the steel. The oil, with its glutinous quality, holds these commingled particles, sothat by the movement of the blade they act on the steel, and ahrade it very gradually. If the stone is too hard it quickly glazes, and the blade slips over a perfectly smooth surface, producing no action on the hardened steel; if too soft, the stone allows the edge of the blade to disintegrate its surface and heap up a ridge of quartz-like or flinty particles, which produce a round or ‘‘stunt” edge, that in time must be removed by the action of the grindstone. One accustomed to sharpening kuife blades can easily tell when the operation of honing is going on properly, and only experience can fully teach the process. There should he a certain feeling of resistance in the operation. The motion for whetting or honing should be cirenlar; not as in stropping a razor, merely back and forth. The educated fingers will readily feel when the blade bears properly on the surface of the stone, and will guard against the mere abrasion of the back and the cutting iu of the edge. This art ean only be acquired by practice.—Jron Age. ComPRESsED AIR FOR PropeLuInG STREET Cars.—New Orleans seems to be taking the lead in devisiug new methods for propelling street cars. Myr. Wayliss, of that city, has recently invented a car whichis said to have proved a complete success. In the car station there is an ordinary steam engine of about 66 horse power for compressing air into reservoirs, which are made of a paper composition, and two of them are placed on top of the cars. On each car there is a small engino operated by air supplied from the reservoir in the same manner as steam, giving tho exact amouut of power that was required to compress the air. ‘The engine is not difficult to run, and the cars can be stopped much more readily than when horses are used. Jach car will have 300 pounds of compressed air to start with, which will be sufficient to run it nino or ten miles. The exhansted air, as it escapes from the engine, may be nsed for ventilation. In New Orleans there are 5,000 mnles and in New York 40,000 horses, said to be employed in the various railway lines. By this method of compressed air, they will be Superseded, as it is cheapor, and at the Same time, less wearing to the conscience of riding humanity. Porosity or Hypravunic Crrinpers.—To stop up a porous cylinder cast for a hydraulie press, Kohn, a Berlin engineer, heats it over a charcoal fire to about 176° Fah., then fills it up with resin, and snspends it by a crane over the fire, nutil the liquefied resin is seen sweating through the outside. Theexcess of resin is then poured out, and the cylinderallowed to cool, The pores will be found so completely stopped, thatno water can possibly pass. Smoxy Cumrmveys.—A correspondent of the Builder submits a simple and cheap remedy for smoky flues, which is stated to be successfnl in cight out of ten bad chimneys. ‘The principle upou which itdepends is sound. He says: ‘I find from experience that, by the use of fino wire gauze of from thirty-six to forty wires to the inch, as ascreen, blower, or guard, judiciously applied to register stoves, ranges, or stove doors, little if any smoke will come into the room through the ganze, and if applied immediately to the front of tho fire more smoko will be consumed than by any other means. In that case the wire should be kept two inches from immediate contact with the hot fire.” A New Kiyp or Bayonzr has been invented by Colonel] Rice, in the shape of a stcel trowel, niue inches long, and three or four wide. It is designed to enablo troops to cover themselves very rapidly. In the last war, the troops did this with knives, spoons, fingers and their bayonets, with which, however, they ceuld not scoep up the earth. This provides them always with facilities for entrenchment. Colonel Rice estimates that a line could throw up tweuty inches of dirt in ten minutes, so that troops need never to bo caught out of shelter. That this weapon wonld uot answer all the purposes of the old bayonet must be adnitted; but it is nrged that the weapon is now obsolete; that not a hundred men were killed by it duriug five years of war. VELOCIPEDES are much in vogue now for rapid and easy movement, aud grace of evolution. They have one fore and ove hind wheel, and are kept upright by the skill of the rider in turning the front wheel, so as to regain his ba'ance. In the south of France, near Toulouse, there was a race, not long since, between a velocipeddist and a horseman for a distance of forty-five miles, which the latter only won by twenty-five minntes, after a run of six hours, The result, it is said, might eveu have been reversed, and the inanimate have beaten the animate machine, had not the former been impeded by a strong head wind, which was hlowing the whole time. A New ProsectiiE.—We were last evening shown anew invention called the ‘ improved projectile.” It is a three-fanged cannon ball. The inventor, Mr. A. F. Potter, claims that tbis ball can be thrown from a smooth bore Rodman gunn with greater accnracy and force than auy ball fired from the rifled canuon now in nse. Mr. P. has for the past six years been engaged in working out this inventiou, and thiuks he has it now nearly perfect. This will be proven by a trial very shortly of his gun aud projectile, the resnlt of which we will lay before our readers.—Oakland Transeript, Sept, 1lik. SUBMARINE Navyroarion.—An account is given in the Marseilles Nouvelliste of a successful metbod of suhmarine uavigation and perambulation which has been employed there in doing work under water. .The air is supplied by a. mechanical and chemica] process combined. Before the vessel is let down, a provision of compressed air is secured by means of pumps, and distributed among the various compartments; it is calculated to balance the pressure of the column of water she is to encounter at the depth required. The immersion of the submarine boat is obtained by increasing her specific weight throngh the introduction of water into her reservoirs; the immersion is effected by the expulsion of this water, which latter, therefore, acts as a movable hallast. The boat’s center of gravity is so arranged as to make her touch the bottom with her base flat, and almost without a shock. Wheu the ground has not been explored before, the vessel is kept in suspensiou until, bya skillful manenvre, a proper place is found for her. By ingenious contrivances, au exact eqnilibrium is obtained hetweeu the compressed air and the column of water, aud the trap doors commuuicating with the bed of thesea are then opened. The men, standing with their teet on the

latter, but having tbeir heads still in the chamber coutaining their supply of air, carry the boat to the spot they want to cxplore; hut if they find it necessary to leave the craft, each puts on his scapbander, or water-tight helmet, provided with a hose, through which he receives air from the vessel, and which is screwed to one of the reservoirs of compressed air, and cau thus) that fishes were seen passiug backand forth . Cruz, work at a tolerable distauce from the boat. Sclentijic Miscellany’. The Moon and The Weather. Professor Elias Loomis read a paper before the American Association for the Advancement of Scicneonpon the “ Influence of the Moon upon the Weather,” of which tho following is an abstract : Several meteorologists have attempted by acomparison of a long series of ohservations to determine if the moon exerts any iniluence npon the weather. Irom a comparison of twenty-eight years of observationin Germany, Schubler, in 1830, dedueed a sensible influence of the moon, the nnmher of rainy days at the time of the second octant being tweuty-five per cent. greater than at the time of the fourth octant. From a comparison of observations made at Paris, Orange and Carlsruhe, Gasparin arrived at results not differing greatly from those of Schubler. By a comparison of sixteen years of ohservation at Greenwich, nine years at Oxford, and sixteeu ycars at Berlin, Mr. Harrisen,of England, has obtained results which are remarkahly consistent with each other, and which indicate that the moon exerts an apprecinhle influence upou terrestial temperature, the maximum occurring six or nine days after the new moon, and the minimum ahout four days after the full, The difference between the maximnm near the first quarter and the minimum near the last quarter is two and a half degrees Fahreuheit. These results, which are so differeut from what might have beeu anticipated, Mr. Harrison explains by supposing that the moou really attaius its greatest heat about the last quarter; but that the heat which the moon radiates to the earth is entirely dark heat, and therefore absorbed hy our atmosphere. This heat raises the temperature of the air above the clouds, causing increased evaporation from their surface, by which they are dispersed, and thus there is an increased radiation of terrestial heat to the sky, and consequently a dimunition in the temperature of the air near the ground. He snpposes that opposite results must ocew at the period of minimnm heat in the moon, Upon extending the comparison to forty-three years of observations at Greenwich, Mz. Harrison finds still a fluctuation of temperature, but the range is reduced to one degree and one minnte instead of two degrees and five minutes. Mr. Ballat, on tahulating aseries of soventy years mean daily temperatnre, according to the moon’s age, touud that the highest temperature occurred during tho seven days after fnll moon, being almost precisely opposite to the resnltsof My. Harrison. Schiaparella has made a careful analysis of 38 years of observations, made at Vigiroano, near Milan, in Northern Italy, and has attained results which aré also remarkably consistent with each other, They show that abont the time of the last quarter of the moon there is a maximum in the num.ber of raiuy days, as also in the frequency of storms, and in the degrce of ciondiness, The Professor then exhihited a table of results which he had deduced from seven years’ observation, and drew the couclnsion that the moon did affect the weather, and maintained, in direct opposition to Prof. Herschel, that the moon just hefore its full influenced the weather toward cloudness rather than clearness, and followed thesame law as the sun. Fautine Srars.—At a meetiug of the French Academy of Sciences, M. Chapelas seut in a new paper on falling stars, accompanied with a tahle of the position of the sixteen gronps or centers of emanation from which they seem to proceed. The author has discovered thatthe zenithal distauces of these apparent centers are more considerable in January than in Fehruary, and that at the same timethe correspondiug average barometrical pressure follow the same law.—Galignani. OXxYGENIzED Buoop anp DEcAPiTaTIon. The Revue Populaire, of Paris, gives an account of some very curious experiments made by Dr. Claude Bernard. Ii oxygenized blood be injected into the arteries of the neck immediately after decapitation, warmth aud sensibility return, the eye gets animated, and displayssuch perception that au object shakeu before it will cause wiuking of the eyelids and movements of eyehalls as though to avoid injury. . A sunManrINe telescope has lately been tried on the river Enye, France, with great, success. It is stated that the smallest) pearls and the barnacles attached to the! bull of a large ship were plainly seen, and without being disturbed. Liguip Fuen Coamustion.—Tho Patent Fuel Company, at Doptferd, England, burn liquid fnel, or creosote, by a patent process in tar boiling, The liquid is pumped from a rescrvoi by a small force pnmp intoa boiler, till a pressnre is obtained of twenty-tive pounds to tbe square inch, which enables it to be injected with considerable forco into tbe furnace, where the steam is gencrated. The fced from the boiler, when the pressure is raised, takes placo throngha small wrought iron gas-pipe, haying one coil near the surface of the grate, from which the creosoteescapes at a temperature of about 670° to 700° Fahr,, through four apertures, each abont one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. The productive power of thirty-six gallons, costing 8s., was eqnivalent to eigbt te ten ewt of coal, while the relative volume was ouly two-fifths of that of the coal. Tunxasten Stren Macxers.—In a recent lecture, C. W. Siemens, F.R.8., spoke of the remarkable effect of tnngsten upon steel, in increasing its power of retaining magnetism when hardened. A horse-shoe magnet of ordinary steel, weighing two pounds, is considered of good quality when it hears seven times its own weight. The famous Haarlem magnet supports thirteen times its own weight. But Mr. Siemens has succeeded in producing a similar horseshoe magnet of tuugsten steel, which will carry twenty times its own weight suspended from its armature. SyntHesis or Neurtne.—M. Wurtz has succeeded in preparing by synthesis, chlorhydrate of trimethyloxethylanmonium. It is in long deliquesccnt needles, and is identical with thenenrine usually obtained from brain matter. L'Jnstitut gives an saecouut of M. Wurtz’s experiments. A Prusstan chemist has invented a new method of warfare on the battle-field. It isa powder that makes a whole regiment sneeze for half an hour. Discovery or Goup Frecps m Sour Argrica,—Gold has been found pretty extensively in South Africa, between 17 aud 21% degrees south latitude, and about 400 miles distant from Pretoria, the nearest point of civilization, in the South African Republic of Transvaal. The kingdom of Sofala, situated on the coast to the eastward of the alleged gold formation, has heretofore been considered to be the Ophir of King Solomon’stime. Messrs. Hartly & Manch,— the former an old elephant hunter, the latter an emissary of a Berliu Sciontifie Society,—report that the gold is found in quartz veins, and that the fields are of vast extent. The natives are known from old times to have brought gold to the Portuguese iu quills. They are said to light big fires to . loosen the rock containing visihle gold, and then further disintegrate it with their ‘“ mashetes. ” Tar Canmrornia PionzrrR Fuse ManvFACTURING Company commenced business in this city iu 1866. Their factory is located on the Potrero, and is in constant operation for the mannfacture of all kinds of safety fnse for blasting purposes. They employ at present 12men. They are tbe first company which commenced thé mannfactnre of the article, and their first work was done in Janua:y 1855, at Grass Valley, by James Eva, the inventor of the machines, The samples exhibited by the company comprise submarine water-proof tape fuse, siugle, double and triple, and common dry ground hemp fuse. A section of the first fuse made in the State, by Mr, Eva, was exhibited at the recent Fair The capacity of the manntfactory at present is abont 12,000 feet per day, and as the demand increases, the facilities of the company are enlarged. The jute and flax thread is imported from Dundee, Scotland, but the company are about to erect machinery for spinning their own jute and flax. The other materials nsed are imported from the East, except the powder, which is made by the California Powder Company at Santa We quote the above from the Builetin.