Volume 24 (1872) (424 pages)

May 18, 1872.} SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 311 Usefut INfpoRMATion. Good and Poor Varnish. Good varnish is difficult to get; ono trick of ths trads is to uss but little gum, and putting into the linseed oil, white vitriol and sngar of lead, renderiug the oil nearly thick enough for varnish before any gnm is added. Another cheat is to make cheap, sticky, worthless stnff by using raw oil without dryers; because, if a black, stiff, worthless article dries qnickly (and cracks and scales quickly also), a light colored, limpid, slow drying article must be good. ‘Twenty years ago we mechanics up here in Verinont made our own varnish and japan; it was the only way by which we could get anything reliable. In the meantime, Mr. Abbott, of New Hampshire, got Moses Bigelow to go up to Concord aud make varish for the carriage shops; and then we commenced buying of Mr. Abbott. Since that time, we have had dealings with all the manufacturers iu Boston New York, aud Newark, and, until the recent war, generally got good varnish; but during the war adulteration found its way into every manufactory, and eveu to-day a good article of varnish is perhaps, stored in one cask ont of a hundred, and there are two ways to get it. One is to make it, and the other is to eschew dealers and specniators; buy of the maker, pay just what he asks, and, if your custom is worth anything, yon will get a good articlo. Otherwise, doubtful. The best copal varnish is made as follows, Take three pounds of tho best Zanzibar copal gum to every gallon required, pulverize the gum in an iron mortar, and theu pnt it into a copper pot which will hold double the quantity required; fit a cover to the pot with a small hole in the cover, through which to insert an iron rodto stir the gam when melting; heat over a slow fire nntil thoroughly melted, stirring it constantly during the process. In the meantime, put into another pot and over another fire 114 pints of raw liuseed oil to every pound of gum in the first pot, boiling as nsual for ordinary purposes, keeping it hot until the gum is thoroughly melted. Then remove from the fire to a distance of twenty or thirty feet, pour the oil in gardually, stirring at the same time; and while still hot, add sufficient turpentine to rednce the gum to a proper consistency, which ean be tested by dropping a little from the end of the rod on a piece of glass to cool in the air, The gas arising from a hot pot of varnish is yery inflammable; and if the steam, . by floating around, reaches the fire, it will flash ag qnick as gunpowder, and tho face and hands of the workman will be burned and the varnish set on fire; thereforo remove to a distance before adding the turpentine, also have a wet cloth ready to throw over the fire in case of accident. Wheu all is mixed, strain, while quite hot, through and a funuel partly filled with clean flax, through which not a speck of unmelted gnm, dirt, or settlings will pass. If flowing varnish is required, add a trifle more oil, with no dryers except a Httle red lead. If hard or scraping varnish is required, use but half a pint of oil to each pound of gum, and boil hard will plenty of dryers.—Cor. Sci, Am. DIFFERENCE IN THE VALUE or Diamonps.— While many can approximate the value of a diamond, few can appreciate its exact worth. All know it to be the most expensive of all substances (excepting rubies of rare color and size), from its beauty, rarity, and indestructibility. The diamond which first decked some fabulous Indian god would blaze to-day with all its fire if adorning some fair American woman. Not a single aparkle has been dimmed, nor an atom of its weight lost. Whero the real difficulty exists is to make the public understand the comparative merits of various gems. In the jeweler’s tray niany stones may be exhibited. They may be all of good quality, but there is n decided choice. -This one may have size and purity of color, yet marred by asingle flaw; that one, limpidity, without a flaw, yet defective in shape; while a third, even smaller than the other two, may unite every desirable quality, be in fact almost faultless. Combining, then, every excellence within itself, its value is largely enhanced. The comparison between the price paid for a horse and a dianiond is not an tmapt one. An animal possessing beauty, health, speed, and docility, commands a price far above another having all these. qualities save one. It is precisely the same case with a diamond. A stone approaching perfection possesses a value infinitely above one with a single depreciating quality. ProsrHate Canpy.—The restoration of the phosphorus to bread, which has been removed in the bran, as so successfully accomplished in the Horsford baking powders, is well known both in this country and Europe. We now hear of a novcl way of turning our national lovo of candy to similar benefit, by employing phosphorus instead of sulphuric acid in sour drops. Mr. Charles Allen, of the School of Mines of Columbia College, has invented a phosphated eandy, which he prepares by combining one or more of the acids or salts of phosphorus with sugar, thus ingeniously presentiug as acceptablo form of assimilable phosphorus to those who need some repair of the norvous and brain forces. It is aplesent way of taking phosphorus asa niedicine, and has been deemed worthy of a patent. A Method of Observing Vibrating Flames. A cotemporary givesa description of a simple apparatus for observing the phenomena of vibrating or sonnding flames. A disk of white card board is constracted with eblong apertures in a radial direction; this is set npon a spindle so as to admit of rotation at the requisit speed. To exainins tho flame of a gus hght, for inStunce (ths flames heing protected by a gluss tube froin the disturbing uficets of air currents), placs the disk in front of the light, so that the eye can see the light thruugh each slit as it comes to tho vertical position. Ifnow the speed of the disks’ rotation is snch that the interval of time between two slits passing the cye is just equal to the period of a vibration of the flames, the flaine appears to he motiouloss; but if this velocity of rotation be reduced, the flames will he observed to pass slowly through its changes of form. If the interval is one-half, or one-third of the period of the vibration of the flame, the illusion of a disk having wwo or threo times tbe number of real slits will be produced. Itis only when the periods of flame-vibration and of tho over lapping of two successive slits coincide in time, that the flame and disk appear motionless; when this is otherwise, the disk revolves in one direction or the other, This plan affords a ready means of couuting the number of vibratious of a tlame, and by substituting a wire for the vibrating flame, the spiral course of the undulations produced in it may likewise be observed. Mr. Charles Watson, who has described the experiment, has made some very accurate ohservations upon the times of vibrations of flames within tubes of different dimensions.—Jour. Franidin Inslilute, ExaMEL ror Copper Cooxine Utensins.—A preparation for coating copper vesscls used in cooking, especially for cooking acid fruits which attack the copper, forming so-called verdigris, may be made as follows: 12 parts white fluor-. spar, 12 parts unburnt gypsum, 1 part powdered borax’ all intimately mixed and fused in a crucible. The fnsed mass is thon poured out, and after cooling triturated with water to a doughy paint. The copper vessel is painted inside and put in a warm place, so thatthe mass dries uniformly throughout. Wheu thoroughly dried the vessels are baked, if small, in a muffel' if large, in an oven, until the mass is fused. On cooling it forms a white, opaque enamel, which adheres very strongly to the copper, and is not removed by ordinary blows or percussion, and protects the vessel from the action of vegetable acids. Vessels thus coated may be used for preparing pickles, sauer-kraut, etc., withont danger of copper poison. Use or Sonvsie Grass Iv Parntine.—Our exchanges still continue to suggest new application of water glass in the arts; but especially in paintiug where it appears to furnish a means of applying certain colors to fresh wood or clean iron in a niost efficient manner, and at a very slight cost compared with oil. It can also be used advantageously for painting houses, hasket ware, decorations for theaters, etc., and is especially suitable in the latter case, as it renders wood incombustible to a certain extent, instead of increasing the danger from fire, as with oil paint. Care must, of course, be taken to use only such mineral colors as are not decomposed. by the glass, such as ultramarine, chrome-green. uremberg-green, yellow and red earth, ochre, ‘green-earth, terra de Sienna, etc. In ;coating paper with this paint, a little glycerine may be added to prevent its breaking. Corralline, bonceau, and Vesuvine have also been used to advantage in connection with soluble glass.— Harper’s Magazine. To Coat Zino Witn Iron.—The objects of zine are dipped ina warm solution of 150 grammes sulphate of iron, 90 perms, salammoniac and 21% kilograms of boiling water. The sulphate of iron mnst be free from copper. They are boiled fron: one to 15 minutes, taken out and the iron deposited removed with water anda brush. This first operation has for its sole object a thorough cleaning of the zinc. They are again placed ina warm sulphuric bath and afterward heated. They are thus covered with a fresh black coating. Without being washed they are put on a brasier of glowing coals and heated as long as sal-ammonia fumes are given off, which requires but a short time. Turse Metuops oF PREPARING PLASTER Casts. First, varnish them over with shellac, and the plaster, when poured in, will not adhere to the sides. Second, let the plaster cast absorb some hot bees’ wax, which can be applied by means of a paint brush. Third, oil them with sweet oil till they will not absorb, and let them dry thoroughly before using. Or brush them over with melted white wax, and keep moulds hot, so that all wax is absorbed. Ren or Bure Stamping Inx.—An excellent red or blue stamping ink can be prepared by making a saturated solution of fuchsin or sublime blue with pure glycerine, and adding afterwards forthe red color madder cake, and ultramarine for the blue, thickening with enough dextrine to give the desired consistency. This color possesses all the peculiarities which are required for good stamping ink. Mate ayn Femave Voices.—Glashier, an aeronaut, says that the voice of 2 woman can be heard in a balloon when at the hight of two mniles, while that of aman cannot be heard when higher than a mile. Goon HeartH. Heat as a Polson. Oue of ths French journals gives an account of soms curious expsriments by M. Clauds Bernard on the effects of heat npon animals. It appears from these that heat, when it attains too high a degres, acts like a poison, and destroys feeling and motion. It scems to act directly on the musculur element; and the loss of muscular power necessarially producss death by arrestiug the action of the heart and circulation. The degrec of heat which must not be exceeded for cold-blooded animals is from 115° to 120° F., for mammalia 128° to 131°, for hirds 140° to 145°, In each case the maximum differs by a few degress only from the animal's normal temperature. There is, then, an inward medium, the temperature of which is kept np by that of the blood—a certain atmosphere of heat, so to speak, which shonld remain nnalterahlo. ‘Tho artificial increase of this heat leads to the most serious consequences as soon as it exceeds a very few degrees. To what particular poisous, then, can heat be assimilated? Those must be sought which have a direct action upou the contractile muscular element, such as theantiar (the milky sap of tho Upas antiar), the vas, and the corwal, American vegetable poisons. These substances, prohably, have the same chemical action upon the blood as heat. The precise action of heat upon the blood is thus stated by M. Bernard: The blood of an animal killed by heat becomes black, the oxygen it contains is rapidly transformed into carhonic acid, and finally disappears. This is not a true toxical action, but rather an excitement of the vital and normal properties of the red particles. The black blood of the rabbit killed by heat is still liviug; it absorbs oxygen by contact with the air, and again hecomes ruddy, if the experiment is tried in time. Between 167° and 190° F., however, the blood coagulates, loses its vital properties, and cannot again become red, Heat above a certain degree kills the muscles without killing the hlood. The chemical character of this poisoning of the muselcs by heat is the most obscure part of the subject. It now remains for chemists to analyze the phenomena which accompany the muscular rigidity and cessation of motion produced by heat, and thus to solve the prohlem of the precise action of this poison, as they have done in ,the case of certain others. Sunsrroxe.—Dr. George H. Hope, M.D., in his work, entitled ‘Till the Doctor Comes and How to Help Him,” gives the following directions for the treatment of sunstroke until med ical aid can be obtained: Sunstroke, is a sudden prostration due to long exposure to great heat, especially when one is much fatigued or exhausted. It commoniy happens from nndue exposure to the sun’s rays in summer, but I have seen the same effects produced in a baker from the great heat of the bake-room. It begins with pain in the head or dizziness, quickly followed by loss of consciousness and complete prostration. Sometimes, however, the attack is as sudden as astroke of apoplexy. The head is often burning hot, the face dark and swollen, the breathing labored and snoring, and the extremities cold. Take the patient at once to a cool and shady place, but don’t carry him far toa housa or hospital. Loosen the clothes thoroughly about his neck and waist. Lay him down with the head a little raised. Apply wet cloths to the head, and mustard or turpentine to the calves of the legs and the soles of the feet. Give a little weak whisky and water if he can swallow. Meanwhile let some one go for the doctor. You cannot safely do more than I have said without his advice. BIsuLpHiTEe of Sona iN THRoat Diseases.— Dr. Tyrell, in the Pacifie Medical Journal, commends, as a new remedy in this class of affections, bisulphite of sodx, given in large and continuous doses. Diptheria,inflammation of the tonsils, and quinsy, though local exhibitions, have their source in poisonous fermentations of the blood, the same as scarlet fever and other zymotic diseases. It is held that salt prescrihed enters into the circulation and retards putrefactive fermentation. Dr. T. failed of success when he administered it in small doses and in three hour intervals; but when he gave thirty grain doses every hour, day and night, so as to saturate the system with the salt, he was almost invariably successful in removing all the severe symptoms in twenty-four hours. He asks physicians to give this medicine a trial, that the curative effects may have more extended proofs. Consomption.—The late Dr. Marshall Hall, of England, said: 1f I wero seriously ill of consumption, I would live out doors day and night, except in rainy weather or mid-winter; then I would sleep in an unplastered log house. Physic has no nutriment, gasping for air cannot cure you; monkey capers in a gymnasium cannot cure you, and stimulants cannot cure you. What consumptives want is air, not physic— purcair, not medicated air—plenty of meat and bread. ScaxLet Fever.-A Brooklyn physician considers Turkey figs, boiled in water, so as to make a sort of tea, and mixed with a little fresh brewer’s yeast, a specific remedy for scarlet fever. He recommends that thissimple preparation be used as food, drink and medicine. ‘Try it. [mediately fatal. Prescribing for Infauts. The following sensible hints on this subject are from a lecture by Prof. J. O'Reilly, pnblished in the Arnerican Practitioner for April 1872: There ars two points in ths general medication of children to which I wish especially to call your attention. Ons is the subject of thirst, the other is the intervals at which medicins should be given, {mn quite a uumber of infantile diseases the stomach is very capricious, and to keep it quiet is one of our greatost troubles, This difficulty isoften caused by the attendant not understanding the ditference between hunger and thirst. The sick child is fretful, and crics aud pulls at its mother’s breast; and she, willing to do anything that soothes it, permits it to nurse. Tt sucks, and in a few moments rejects the milk; hut cries again, and the mother again yields it the hreast only to have the stomach agaiu reject its contents, and thus the fight gocs on until the infant is exhausted. The doctor gives medicine to quiet the irritable stomach, and the mother counteracts its effect by over feeding. What I wish to express is the fact that the child is not hungry; it does not want the breast; but is thirsty and wants drink. In health the breast is food and drink,but in disease the craving is that of thirst, net of hunger, and the stomach which rejects the milk because it is uuahle to digest it would be calmed by a cool beverago. In other words, were water given to the child in the place of the breast, the stomach would be relieved, and in many cases the child saved. This difference betweeu thirst and hunger in the infant is a point well worth noting. Medicine should be given to infants. in small but often-repeated doses. The interval should he only half as long as that forthe adult. The reason for this is that the digestive orgaus of the infant act much more rapidly than those of the adult, and a medicine to have its effect kept up must he supplied in accordance with its entrance into and disappearance from the system. Tue Lot or Lonegviry — Ixrormation WANTED FROM CaLIFoRNIA.—Sir Henry Holland, in his interesting ‘‘Recollections of Past Life,” just reprinted, refers to the question whether there is any trustworthy evidence of any human life longer than a century. He himsclfbelieves that there have been well authenticated instances of the kind. In the report of the Irish Registrar-General for the third quarter of 1871, the death of six centenarians are recorded. The Registrar of Cookstown District roports the death of a woman aged 102, and a man 108, and says: ‘I have made careful inquiry respecting these two cases, and have no reasou to think their ages are exagecrated; both are rememhered as ‘old people’ hy individuals long past their climacteric.” In the Dervock District, Ballymoney Union, the Registrar reports ‘*a death at the advanced age of 105 years, authentiented.”’ It is stated in several niedical journals of recent date that ‘‘ Harvey Thacker, who died recently in California, was 128 years old at the time of his death.’’ If there is satisfactory evidence of this extraordinary longevity, it would he interesting to know more about it.— Eastern Exchange. Varyinc Errects or Poisons on DIrFERENT Animaus.—It is a well known fact that what is poison to one animal may be taken by another with entire impunity. In illustration of this proposition, we are informed that strychnine, so fatal to most animals, may be eaten by certain species of monkeys with perfect safety. In the case of an East India monkey, knownas the (Presbytis entellus), one grain was first concealed iu a piece of cucumber, which was eaten by the animal with no apparent effect. Three grains were afterward given, and with the same result. To test the strychnine used, three grains were administered to a dog, which proved almost imAnother Indian monkey, known as the pouch-cheek monkey, has heen found to be more susceptible than the Lungoor, but not 80 much as the dog. It is also stated that pigeons can take opium in large quantities with no injurious consequence; gouts, tobacco; and rabbits, belladonna, stramonium and hyoscyamus, Tue Hoosac Tunnel, according to reccnt official report, has np to Decemher 31st, 1861, required an expenditure of $6,335,332, exclusive of interest. When the present contractors nssumed the management, 9,341 feet had been opened, and on Decemher ist, 1871, the work had been advanced by 7,737 feet, making a total of 17,078 feet, and leaving 7,953 feet to be exeavated. The central shaft has been finished, and the work is now going on at four faces of therock; much more rapid progress in the future is anticipated. The tunnel, it is hoped, will be finished by March 1874. Srac Pirus.—Pills ‘‘ purely vegetable,’’ have beeu a popular nostrum in this country, but in the Celestial Empire those of a thoroughly animal character appear to be in demand. A Chinese druggist at Ningpo invites the public to swallow ‘' Pils manufactured out of a whole stag, slaughtered with purity of purpose, on a propitions day.’’ The wealthy wholesale druggists are in the habit of purchasing large and handsome stags, which they expose in a pen at the door of the shop until ‘‘a propitious day ” is selected for the animal's conversion into pills, when he is deliherately pounded cntire into pulp, from which pills are made.

May 18, 1872.} SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 311 Usefut INfpoRMATion. Good and Poor Varnish. Good varnish is difficult to get; ono trick of ths trads is to uss but little gum, and putting into the linseed oil, white vitriol and sngar of lead, renderiug the oil nearly thick enough for varnish before any gnm is added. Another cheat is to make cheap, sticky, worthless stnff by using raw oil without dryers; because, if a black, stiff, worthless article dries qnickly (and cracks and scales quickly also), a light colored, limpid, slow drying article must be good. ‘Twenty years ago we mechanics up here in Verinont made our own varnish and japan; it was the only way by which we could get anything reliable. In the meantime, Mr. Abbott, of New Hampshire, got Moses Bigelow to go up to Concord aud make varish for the carriage shops; and then we commenced buying of Mr. Abbott. Since that time, we have had dealings with all the manufacturers iu Boston New York, aud Newark, and, until the recent war, generally got good varnish; but during the war adulteration found its way into every manufactory, and eveu to-day a good article of varnish is perhaps, stored in one cask ont of a hundred, and there are two ways to get it. One is to make it, and the other is to eschew dealers and specniators; buy of the maker, pay just what he asks, and, if your custom is worth anything, yon will get a good articlo. Otherwise, doubtful. The best copal varnish is made as follows, Take three pounds of tho best Zanzibar copal gum to every gallon required, pulverize the gum in an iron mortar, and theu pnt it into a copper pot which will hold double the quantity required; fit a cover to the pot with a small hole in the cover, through which to insert an iron rodto stir the gam when melting; heat over a slow fire nntil thoroughly melted, stirring it constantly during the process. In the meantime, put into another pot and over another fire 114 pints of raw liuseed oil to every pound of gum in the first pot, boiling as nsual for ordinary purposes, keeping it hot until the gum is thoroughly melted. Then remove from the fire to a distance of twenty or thirty feet, pour the oil in gardually, stirring at the same time; and while still hot, add sufficient turpentine to rednce the gum to a proper consistency, which ean be tested by dropping a little from the end of the rod on a piece of glass to cool in the air, The gas arising from a hot pot of varnish is yery inflammable; and if the steam, . by floating around, reaches the fire, it will flash ag qnick as gunpowder, and tho face and hands of the workman will be burned and the varnish set on fire; thereforo remove to a distance before adding the turpentine, also have a wet cloth ready to throw over the fire in case of accident. Wheu all is mixed, strain, while quite hot, through and a funuel partly filled with clean flax, through which not a speck of unmelted gnm, dirt, or settlings will pass. If flowing varnish is required, add a trifle more oil, with no dryers except a Httle red lead. If hard or scraping varnish is required, use but half a pint of oil to each pound of gum, and boil hard will plenty of dryers.—Cor. Sci, Am. DIFFERENCE IN THE VALUE or Diamonps.— While many can approximate the value of a diamond, few can appreciate its exact worth. All know it to be the most expensive of all substances (excepting rubies of rare color and size), from its beauty, rarity, and indestructibility. The diamond which first decked some fabulous Indian god would blaze to-day with all its fire if adorning some fair American woman. Not a single aparkle has been dimmed, nor an atom of its weight lost. Whero the real difficulty exists is to make the public understand the comparative merits of various gems. In the jeweler’s tray niany stones may be exhibited. They may be all of good quality, but there is n decided choice. -This one may have size and purity of color, yet marred by asingle flaw; that one, limpidity, without a flaw, yet defective in shape; while a third, even smaller than the other two, may unite every desirable quality, be in fact almost faultless. Combining, then, every excellence within itself, its value is largely enhanced. The comparison between the price paid for a horse and a dianiond is not an tmapt one. An animal possessing beauty, health, speed, and docility, commands a price far above another having all these. qualities save one. It is precisely the same case with a diamond. A stone approaching perfection possesses a value infinitely above one with a single depreciating quality. ProsrHate Canpy.—The restoration of the phosphorus to bread, which has been removed in the bran, as so successfully accomplished in the Horsford baking powders, is well known both in this country and Europe. We now hear of a novcl way of turning our national lovo of candy to similar benefit, by employing phosphorus instead of sulphuric acid in sour drops. Mr. Charles Allen, of the School of Mines of Columbia College, has invented a phosphated eandy, which he prepares by combining one or more of the acids or salts of phosphorus with sugar, thus ingeniously presentiug as acceptablo form of assimilable phosphorus to those who need some repair of the norvous and brain forces. It is aplesent way of taking phosphorus asa niedicine, and has been deemed worthy of a patent. A Method of Observing Vibrating Flames. A cotemporary givesa description of a simple apparatus for observing the phenomena of vibrating or sonnding flames. A disk of white card board is constracted with eblong apertures in a radial direction; this is set npon a spindle so as to admit of rotation at the requisit speed. To exainins tho flame of a gus hght, for inStunce (ths flames heing protected by a gluss tube froin the disturbing uficets of air currents), placs the disk in front of the light, so that the eye can see the light thruugh each slit as it comes to tho vertical position. Ifnow the speed of the disks’ rotation is snch that the interval of time between two slits passing the cye is just equal to the period of a vibration of the flames, the flaine appears to he motiouloss; but if this velocity of rotation be reduced, the flames will he observed to pass slowly through its changes of form. If the interval is one-half, or one-third of the period of the vibration of the flame, the illusion of a disk having wwo or threo times tbe number of real slits will be produced. Itis only when the periods of flame-vibration and of tho over lapping of two successive slits coincide in time, that the flame and disk appear motionless; when this is otherwise, the disk revolves in one direction or the other, This plan affords a ready means of couuting the number of vibratious of a tlame, and by substituting a wire for the vibrating flame, the spiral course of the undulations produced in it may likewise be observed. Mr. Charles Watson, who has described the experiment, has made some very accurate ohservations upon the times of vibrations of flames within tubes of different dimensions.—Jour. Franidin Inslilute, ExaMEL ror Copper Cooxine Utensins.—A preparation for coating copper vesscls used in cooking, especially for cooking acid fruits which attack the copper, forming so-called verdigris, may be made as follows: 12 parts white fluor-. spar, 12 parts unburnt gypsum, 1 part powdered borax’ all intimately mixed and fused in a crucible. The fnsed mass is thon poured out, and after cooling triturated with water to a doughy paint. The copper vessel is painted inside and put in a warm place, so thatthe mass dries uniformly throughout. Wheu thoroughly dried the vessels are baked, if small, in a muffel' if large, in an oven, until the mass is fused. On cooling it forms a white, opaque enamel, which adheres very strongly to the copper, and is not removed by ordinary blows or percussion, and protects the vessel from the action of vegetable acids. Vessels thus coated may be used for preparing pickles, sauer-kraut, etc., withont danger of copper poison. Use or Sonvsie Grass Iv Parntine.—Our exchanges still continue to suggest new application of water glass in the arts; but especially in paintiug where it appears to furnish a means of applying certain colors to fresh wood or clean iron in a niost efficient manner, and at a very slight cost compared with oil. It can also be used advantageously for painting houses, hasket ware, decorations for theaters, etc., and is especially suitable in the latter case, as it renders wood incombustible to a certain extent, instead of increasing the danger from fire, as with oil paint. Care must, of course, be taken to use only such mineral colors as are not decomposed. by the glass, such as ultramarine, chrome-green. uremberg-green, yellow and red earth, ochre, ‘green-earth, terra de Sienna, etc. In ;coating paper with this paint, a little glycerine may be added to prevent its breaking. Corralline, bonceau, and Vesuvine have also been used to advantage in connection with soluble glass.— Harper’s Magazine. To Coat Zino Witn Iron.—The objects of zine are dipped ina warm solution of 150 grammes sulphate of iron, 90 perms, salammoniac and 21% kilograms of boiling water. The sulphate of iron mnst be free from copper. They are boiled fron: one to 15 minutes, taken out and the iron deposited removed with water anda brush. This first operation has for its sole object a thorough cleaning of the zinc. They are again placed ina warm sulphuric bath and afterward heated. They are thus covered with a fresh black coating. Without being washed they are put on a brasier of glowing coals and heated as long as sal-ammonia fumes are given off, which requires but a short time. Turse Metuops oF PREPARING PLASTER Casts. First, varnish them over with shellac, and the plaster, when poured in, will not adhere to the sides. Second, let the plaster cast absorb some hot bees’ wax, which can be applied by means of a paint brush. Third, oil them with sweet oil till they will not absorb, and let them dry thoroughly before using. Or brush them over with melted white wax, and keep moulds hot, so that all wax is absorbed. Ren or Bure Stamping Inx.—An excellent red or blue stamping ink can be prepared by making a saturated solution of fuchsin or sublime blue with pure glycerine, and adding afterwards forthe red color madder cake, and ultramarine for the blue, thickening with enough dextrine to give the desired consistency. This color possesses all the peculiarities which are required for good stamping ink. Mate ayn Femave Voices.—Glashier, an aeronaut, says that the voice of 2 woman can

be heard in a balloon when at the hight of two mniles, while that of aman cannot be heard when higher than a mile. Goon HeartH. Heat as a Polson. Oue of ths French journals gives an account of soms curious expsriments by M. Clauds Bernard on the effects of heat npon animals. It appears from these that heat, when it attains too high a degres, acts like a poison, and destroys feeling and motion. It scems to act directly on the musculur element; and the loss of muscular power necessarially producss death by arrestiug the action of the heart and circulation. The degrec of heat which must not be exceeded for cold-blooded animals is from 115° to 120° F., for mammalia 128° to 131°, for hirds 140° to 145°, In each case the maximum differs by a few degress only from the animal's normal temperature. There is, then, an inward medium, the temperature of which is kept np by that of the blood—a certain atmosphere of heat, so to speak, which shonld remain nnalterahlo. ‘Tho artificial increase of this heat leads to the most serious consequences as soon as it exceeds a very few degrees. To what particular poisous, then, can heat be assimilated? Those must be sought which have a direct action upou the contractile muscular element, such as theantiar (the milky sap of tho Upas antiar), the vas, and the corwal, American vegetable poisons. These substances, prohably, have the same chemical action upon the blood as heat. The precise action of heat upon the blood is thus stated by M. Bernard: The blood of an animal killed by heat becomes black, the oxygen it contains is rapidly transformed into carhonic acid, and finally disappears. This is not a true toxical action, but rather an excitement of the vital and normal properties of the red particles. The black blood of the rabbit killed by heat is still liviug; it absorbs oxygen by contact with the air, and again hecomes ruddy, if the experiment is tried in time. Between 167° and 190° F., however, the blood coagulates, loses its vital properties, and cannot again become red, Heat above a certain degree kills the muscles without killing the hlood. The chemical character of this poisoning of the muselcs by heat is the most obscure part of the subject. It now remains for chemists to analyze the phenomena which accompany the muscular rigidity and cessation of motion produced by heat, and thus to solve the prohlem of the precise action of this poison, as they have done in ,the case of certain others. Sunsrroxe.—Dr. George H. Hope, M.D., in his work, entitled ‘Till the Doctor Comes and How to Help Him,” gives the following directions for the treatment of sunstroke until med ical aid can be obtained: Sunstroke, is a sudden prostration due to long exposure to great heat, especially when one is much fatigued or exhausted. It commoniy happens from nndue exposure to the sun’s rays in summer, but I have seen the same effects produced in a baker from the great heat of the bake-room. It begins with pain in the head or dizziness, quickly followed by loss of consciousness and complete prostration. Sometimes, however, the attack is as sudden as astroke of apoplexy. The head is often burning hot, the face dark and swollen, the breathing labored and snoring, and the extremities cold. Take the patient at once to a cool and shady place, but don’t carry him far toa housa or hospital. Loosen the clothes thoroughly about his neck and waist. Lay him down with the head a little raised. Apply wet cloths to the head, and mustard or turpentine to the calves of the legs and the soles of the feet. Give a little weak whisky and water if he can swallow. Meanwhile let some one go for the doctor. You cannot safely do more than I have said without his advice. BIsuLpHiTEe of Sona iN THRoat Diseases.— Dr. Tyrell, in the Pacifie Medical Journal, commends, as a new remedy in this class of affections, bisulphite of sodx, given in large and continuous doses. Diptheria,inflammation of the tonsils, and quinsy, though local exhibitions, have their source in poisonous fermentations of the blood, the same as scarlet fever and other zymotic diseases. It is held that salt prescrihed enters into the circulation and retards putrefactive fermentation. Dr. T. failed of success when he administered it in small doses and in three hour intervals; but when he gave thirty grain doses every hour, day and night, so as to saturate the system with the salt, he was almost invariably successful in removing all the severe symptoms in twenty-four hours. He asks physicians to give this medicine a trial, that the curative effects may have more extended proofs. Consomption.—The late Dr. Marshall Hall, of England, said: 1f I wero seriously ill of consumption, I would live out doors day and night, except in rainy weather or mid-winter; then I would sleep in an unplastered log house. Physic has no nutriment, gasping for air cannot cure you; monkey capers in a gymnasium cannot cure you, and stimulants cannot cure you. What consumptives want is air, not physic— purcair, not medicated air—plenty of meat and bread. ScaxLet Fever.-A Brooklyn physician considers Turkey figs, boiled in water, so as to make a sort of tea, and mixed with a little fresh brewer’s yeast, a specific remedy for scarlet fever. He recommends that thissimple preparation be used as food, drink and medicine. ‘Try it. [mediately fatal. Prescribing for Infauts. The following sensible hints on this subject are from a lecture by Prof. J. O'Reilly, pnblished in the Arnerican Practitioner for April 1872: There ars two points in ths general medication of children to which I wish especially to call your attention. Ons is the subject of thirst, the other is the intervals at which medicins should be given, {mn quite a uumber of infantile diseases the stomach is very capricious, and to keep it quiet is one of our greatost troubles, This difficulty isoften caused by the attendant not understanding the ditference between hunger and thirst. The sick child is fretful, and crics aud pulls at its mother’s breast; and she, willing to do anything that soothes it, permits it to nurse. Tt sucks, and in a few moments rejects the milk; hut cries again, and the mother again yields it the hreast only to have the stomach agaiu reject its contents, and thus the fight gocs on until the infant is exhausted. The doctor gives medicine to quiet the irritable stomach, and the mother counteracts its effect by over feeding. What I wish to express is the fact that the child is not hungry; it does not want the breast; but is thirsty and wants drink. In health the breast is food and drink,but in disease the craving is that of thirst, net of hunger, and the stomach which rejects the milk because it is uuahle to digest it would be calmed by a cool beverago. In other words, were water given to the child in the place of the breast, the stomach would be relieved, and in many cases the child saved. This difference betweeu thirst and hunger in the infant is a point well worth noting. Medicine should be given to infants. in small but often-repeated doses. The interval should he only half as long as that forthe adult. The reason for this is that the digestive orgaus of the infant act much more rapidly than those of the adult, and a medicine to have its effect kept up must he supplied in accordance with its entrance into and disappearance from the system. Tue Lot or Lonegviry — Ixrormation WANTED FROM CaLIFoRNIA.—Sir Henry Holland, in his interesting ‘‘Recollections of Past Life,” just reprinted, refers to the question whether there is any trustworthy evidence of any human life longer than a century. He himsclfbelieves that there have been well authenticated instances of the kind. In the report of the Irish Registrar-General for the third quarter of 1871, the death of six centenarians are recorded. The Registrar of Cookstown District roports the death of a woman aged 102, and a man 108, and says: ‘I have made careful inquiry respecting these two cases, and have no reasou to think their ages are exagecrated; both are rememhered as ‘old people’ hy individuals long past their climacteric.” In the Dervock District, Ballymoney Union, the Registrar reports ‘*a death at the advanced age of 105 years, authentiented.”’ It is stated in several niedical journals of recent date that ‘‘ Harvey Thacker, who died recently in California, was 128 years old at the time of his death.’’ If there is satisfactory evidence of this extraordinary longevity, it would he interesting to know more about it.— Eastern Exchange. Varyinc Errects or Poisons on DIrFERENT Animaus.—It is a well known fact that what is poison to one animal may be taken by another with entire impunity. In illustration of this proposition, we are informed that strychnine, so fatal to most animals, may be eaten by certain species of monkeys with perfect safety. In the case of an East India monkey, knownas the (Presbytis entellus), one grain was first concealed iu a piece of cucumber, which was eaten by the animal with no apparent effect. Three grains were afterward given, and with the same result. To test the strychnine used, three grains were administered to a dog, which proved almost imAnother Indian monkey, known as the pouch-cheek monkey, has heen found to be more susceptible than the Lungoor, but not 80 much as the dog. It is also stated that pigeons can take opium in large quantities with no injurious consequence; gouts, tobacco; and rabbits, belladonna, stramonium and hyoscyamus, Tue Hoosac Tunnel, according to reccnt official report, has np to Decemher 31st, 1861, required an expenditure of $6,335,332, exclusive of interest. When the present contractors nssumed the management, 9,341 feet had been opened, and on Decemher ist, 1871, the work had been advanced by 7,737 feet, making a total of 17,078 feet, and leaving 7,953 feet to be exeavated. The central shaft has been finished, and the work is now going on at four faces of therock; much more rapid progress in the future is anticipated. The tunnel, it is hoped, will be finished by March 1874. Srac Pirus.—Pills ‘‘ purely vegetable,’’ have beeu a popular nostrum in this country, but in the Celestial Empire those of a thoroughly animal character appear to be in demand. A Chinese druggist at Ningpo invites the public to swallow ‘' Pils manufactured out of a whole stag, slaughtered with purity of purpose, on a propitions day.’’ The wealthy wholesale druggists are in the habit of purchasing large and handsome stags, which they expose in a pen at the door of the shop until ‘‘a propitious day ” is selected for the animal's conversion into pills, when he is deliherately pounded cntire into pulp, from which pills are made.