Volume 26 (1873) (431 pages)

March 1, 1873.] MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 135 Usefue Information. The Primary Colors, If we look steadily for a considerablo time npoa a spot of any given color, placed on a white or black gronnd, it will appear surronndsd bya border of anothercolor, And this color will uniformly bo found to be that which makes ap the harmonic triad of red, yellow aud blae; for if tho spot bo red, tho border will be green, which is composed of blue and yellow; if blne; the border will he orango, oomposed of yellow aad red; and if yellow, tho border will bo purple, making in all cases a trinaity of the three primary colors. With a view to throw each a light npon the sahj-ct as my limited opportnnities would permit, I tried over tho experiments by which Sir Isao Newton cume to tho conclusiou that there were seven primury elemouts in the solar spectrum, aad the same resalts occurred; I could not ssparate any one of the colors of which it seemed composed, intotwo. The imperceptihie manner in which ths colors were bleuded together upon the spectrum, however, and the circumstance of the colors which practical people called compound, being elways found hetween the two of which thoy nndsratood it to be composed, together with my previous conviction indaced me to continue my experimeuts; and ulthongh I conld not, by analysis, prove that there were only three colors, I succeeded in proving to my own satisfaction, synthotically, in the following manner: After having tried every color in sucoession, and finding that noue of them conld he separated into two, I next iaadea hole in the rst scroen, in the ceoter of tho hine of the spectram, and anotherin that of red. I had thereby a spot of eaoh of these colors npon a second sereea. I then, by means of another prism directed the hlne spot to the sume part of ths seeand screen on whieh the red appeared, where they united end produced a violet 6s pure and intense x8 that upon the spectrum. I did the same with ths blue and yellow, and produeed the prismatic green; as also with the red and yellow, and orange was the result. I tried, in the samo msnner, to mix a simple with what I thonght a compound color, but they did not noite; for no sooner was the red spot throwu npon the green than it disappeared.—Hay’s Interior Decorator. A Vexociprpe Race.—A fifty mile race on bicycle velocipedes recently took place at Wolverhampton, Eng., between two exporisneed riders, Moore aad Johnson. Moore, the smaller mau of the two, agreed to allow his opponent an advantage of two miles in the fifty. The first fonrteou miles were runin 59 minutes aud 23 seconds, the advantage being in favor of Moore. At the end of the twentieth mile the race seemed to be over, as Johnson was evidently suff-riug from heving repeatedly to force his high wheel with short erank up hill aguinst the wind. Moore, on the other hand, with small wheel and long crank, had no difficultyin making the ascent. On the twenty-seventh mile Moore passed Johnsou for the sixth time, who could searcely now move his vehicle up the short hill, and, on the twenty-eight mile, Johnson gave up the race Moore finished the remainder alone, making the fifty miles in three hours 56 minutes and 40 seconds, and ruuning the last mile quite as quickly as the first. The ubove practical trial appears to show an advantage in the small wheel and long crank over a lurge wheel and short crank in velocipede driving. Foamimc iy Bomwerrs.—The Scientific American, in reply to the qneriee of a correspondent, “What causes foaming in an engine hoiler? Is it dungerous or apt to cause an explosion of boiler? Doss steam ever descend under the water in a boiler aud force the water up aud then take its place?” answere as follows:— “Foaming is caused by the generatiou of steam more rapidly thanit can discharge itself from the mase of water within which it is formed. It may give riee to inconvenience, and even danger, either by carrying water ont of the boiler more rapidly than the feed pump cen replace it, or hy eutering the steam cylinder of the engine and creuting a liahitity to accident, when the piston etrikes upon it, at the end of its stroke, by breaking crank pin, connecting rod or cylinder head. Steam does uot get under the weter but is sometimee so rapidly disengaged, at pointe on the heating surface under water, as to almost or quite displace the water. For Luprrcatinc.—lIt is stated that a preparation, consisting of one part sulphur to twenty parts of refiued colza oil, after undergoing a heat of from 130 to 140 deg. for an hour, fnrnishes an excellent lubricating matetial for machiaery. The sulphur, being a poor condnctor of heat, is thought to assist to a considerable degree in preventing heat from friction. To Remove Nitaic Acin Fomes.—Whenever nitric acid pollutee the air hy ite vapore, as in sundry branchee of iudustry, all injurious conseqnences may be obviuted hy the free nse of ammonia. The vapor of the latter, combining with that of the nitric acid, forms a compound which is inodoroue and innocuous.e Change the Law of Process, Reader, did you evor reffect that all you can do in the physical, mental or moral world is simply to direct pre-existing forces to accomplish change ? To illnstrate this proposition, let us follow tho history of any article of common nse, say the shoes on your foct. Long ago, in the pre-historic ages, the manufacture of those shoes was hegun, and only throngh ages of progress and intuite change havo they heen wronght. In tho time wheu "tho carth was without form and void,"’ volcanic forces were at work npheaviug, degrading, plowing milos deep to prepure a soil for the growth of nutritious plunts to support animal life. Then, throngh slow sucvessive stages, animals and men appeared. Then followed that cnrious round of intrioato and, as yet, very dimly cemprehended processes, whereby crnde inert matter is couverted first into coarse organio forms of life, and through those iuto such finely organized, complieated structures as the skin of a mammal. The tanner takes such a skin, and, hy directing chemical affinity in bis vats and other physica] forecs in suhsequent operations, transforms itinto lsather. Thsn the shoemaksr follows, directing, by his skill, muscular power and the operatiouof machines. At last appears the finished fabric, to suhserve the comfort of man. Iu this simple illustration is obtained a glimpse of the vastness of all cycles of chango, only through which can their be any progress, eveu iu little things. How much more, then, ye impatient for the time to come, must msntal and moral progress be slow; sometimes so slow that the onward march seems stopped, or, perhaps, to retrograde? Butthisis only the view of cursory ohseivars. When the foundations of society are shaken hy war, by the abandonment of longestablished usage, when almost anarchy prevails, people are often wont to become pessimists, and to exolaim that the world is getting worse instead of hetter. But all these disturbances are hut the settling of the moral crust of society. By and hy the disruptive forces will have expeuded themselves, and the sides of the chasme shall be trausformed into gentle slopes hlossoming with verdure, and ths mountain peaks shull stand never moro to he shaken, only we must wait.—4American Artisan. Newsparers.— More copies of newspapers are printed in a year in the United Stutes tnan in all the rest of the world together. England and France come next, and thetwo together have balf as many asthe Yankee Nation. Asia, Africa and European Turkey, according to ‘Hudson's New History of the Newspaper Press," together do not publish so many newspapers end periodicals as San Francisco alone. We imagine, however, that his information about Asia must he incorrect, for there is considerable intellectnal activity among the Hindoos, It cannot bs denied that in this great branch of progress, the Americans have taken the lead in a most remarkable manner. How to Inserr Screws In Puaster WaLis.— It often becomes desirehle to insert screws in plaster walls, without attaching them to any woodwork; bnt when we turn them in the plaster gives way and our effortis vain. And yet a screw may be inserted in plestcr so as to hold light pictnres, etc., very firmly. The best plan is to enlarge the hole to about twice the diameter of the screw, fill it with plaster of Paris, snuck, as is used for fastening the tops of lamps, ete., and bed thescrewin the soft plaster. When the plaster hes set, the serew will be held very strongly. Serrina Trres.—A mechanic gives the following method of so putting tires on wagon wheels, that they will not get loose and require resetting. Usealong cast iron pan or dish made for the purpose; linceed oil is brought to a boiling heat, the wheele is placed ona stick over the dish, soas to hang iu the oil, each felloo an hour. The timber should be dry, ae green timber will not take the oil. Cement ror Leatuer.—Ton parte of carbon bieulphide and one part of oil of turpentine are mixed, and ae much gntta percha added as will readily dissolve. The snrface of leather muet be freed, with a hot iron, from fat, and the parts once joined shonld he well preseed until they are firmly united. Luyszen O1u.—A patent hae been taken out by a party iu England for treating linseed and other seed and vegetable oils e0 as to give to them all the advantages derived from hoiling without having recourse to that process, and to retain other properties unimpaired which hoiling dcetroye. Zinc WuiTewasH.—Mix oxide of zine with common size and apply it with a brush, like lime whitewash, to the ceiling of a room. After this apply in the same manner a wash of the chloride of zinc, which will combiue with the oxide, and form a smooth cement with a shining snrface. By Ram rrom Mexico.—A correspondent of the Germantown Telegraph remarks that before the Centennial celebration can take place we ehal] have trains running straight through from the city of Mexico to Philadelphia. Paver money which cannot be counterfeited is said to have been invented by a Berlin lithographer. Goon Heath. Process of Digestion. Digestion is the process by which food is prepared for conversion into living blood. This conversiou of dead matter into living snbstance isthe greatest and most mysterious power of Naturo; yet itis effectad hy agencies so very delicate that onr nicest chemistry fails to detect cven so many active elements as it finds in a Homeopathic pellet of aconite or belladoana, The gastric juico, which produces this miraele of trausformation, is almost tasteless, and it has nO pungency whatever. It certeinly affords an example of how very small a doso of the appropriate element is oapable of moking the most fatal changes in the living procass of the hnmen hody. tee not balk nor mechanical consistency that dotermines the digestibility of food; nor can the law for one stomaeh he treated as the law for all. The gastric juice is, no doubt, prepered in every stomach of such variety as to take up the food elements required by tho existiug conditions of the bodily organs, and to reject such eloments as are not wanted. Hence, ‘(what is one man’s meatis another's poison.” General directions as to what should be eaten are liko the usual conglomorate pill of the quack, designated for all cases, and uscful in none. Generation is a congressional act, in which every organ of the borly is reprssented. Hance, parent peculiarities are transmissible, and delicate stomachs, torpid livers, and the like, pass from generation to geueration. No doubt digestion is also a congressional act, the gastrio juice heing a contribution representing the wauts of each organ in the body. It is not, then, the bulk one eats, but the kind of food, which, according as it responds to those wants, sits easily on the stomach and gives good digestion. Dyspepsia is the error of injudicious supplies. Theory avails nothing, and general dietic rules are mockery. Every man must, by experiment, determine for himself. Some change of food is imperative. Tea, coffee, cahhage, hot bread, the wheaten loef, pan-cooked pork, salt meat, pastry, ete., may be retired intnurn. Rum end tobacco must not go unchallenged; and all private indulgences may be moderated inthe experiment. Three meals a day inflict twelve hours’ lebor on the stomach. Dyspepsia is, perhaps, its mode of striking for eight hours’ work, or two meals a day; and its promise may be honest that it will digest as much nourishment for you in eight hours as in twelve, and doit to the greatest profit of the whole body corporate. Don't refuse it a hearing, but give ita fair trial, with reasonahle hopes of the restoration of health avd harmony. Listen to no man who proolaims this wholesome, and that not, unless the counsel come from e physician who can give reasons for his advice. Distrust him who tells you to avoid hard and to eet soft-boiled eggs, becanse the one is hard to digest and the other easy, and to nbhor cheese as indigestible altogether. Dr, Lenbe, of Erlangen, has thoronghly tested the gastric juice of many stomechs, and he finds ripe cheese more digestible thau eggs iu uny form, and well-boiled eggs are bstter than soft ones, We would prescribe good nature 6s an es3ential element in the cure of dyspepsia. But we know that, with snch sickness (ne Burns says): Tis hard}y in a Body's power To keep at times frae feeling dour.” Labor, then, to right the hody, and the body willright the mind. By a process analogons tothe conversion of dead matter into living tiseue, it seems as though the living hody finds the elements for its mental manifestatione; for good nature is the product of a healthful balance among the co-working organe of the hody. It is also a peculiar function of Homeopathic medicines to adjust, with the least disturbance, the delicate balance upon which heng theis-nes of health inthe body and sanity of the mind, Ex. A New Inza m Batus.—A correspondent of one of the English medical jonrnals has taken a sand-bath, and thisis his description of the process: The patient is introduced into a warm, comfortable room, in which is a bath, fenced round with curtains, filled with eand heated to about 100° to 120°, In thie a longitudinal groove (I will not say grave) ie ecooped to receive the patient, whois wrapped in a sheet, and so protected from contact with thesand, There is a comfortehle pillow for the head. Then the hath operator gradually covers un feet, legs, arms and trunk withthe warm sand. A bucket of hotter and one of coolersand are at hand, eo that the temperature can be adjusted with the greatest nicety. Tho feeling of warmth io very agreeable, and the weight of the sand ie ju:t enough to cause a pleasantsense of compression aidsupport. After an hour's delightful repose, the patieut riees, is refreshed by a sluicing of hot water, aud goecaway refreshed, Theo effect ie very different from that of hot water, and still more from that of hot air or steam. There was absolutely nocommotion of the heart, nor any of the gritling effect on the windpipe which I have experienced in other haths. Altogether, it seeme agood thing when we want to produce measured perspiration and . lation. relieve @gagection of the internal organs. A New Fenrirvor.—The Constitutional announees the discovery of answ fehrifuge, which has heen found an excellent substitute for quinine, As tho latter is very costly—too mnch eofor tho purses of workmen end peassntry who are 80 frequently the victims of fever—it will be a general hoon if tho new drug, which is said to possess all the properties of qninine, and whioh will cost very little, oan he rought into nse among the public, SI. G. Dorny, an apothecary in Saint-Lo, it seems, remembering the good effects in certain fevers of bitter aromatics, as, for example, camphor, eonceived the idea of trying the aetion of the laurcl, the leayes of whieh are at once bitter and aromatic. The experiments were conclnaive as to its powers, for eccording to statements made to the Academy of Science and tho Aeademy of Medicine, three grammes of powdered laurel leaves snifice to work a cure. All the fevers treated by the new drug have given way (it is said) in a few days, and it has even been successful in an African fever of long standing, against which snlphate of quinine has proved powerIsss. The lanrel is common in France, and produces no had effeots, so that if its use were geueral the French would no longer depend on . the New World for qninine. Intermittent fevers ere very common in France, so that if the medical professiou shonld adopt the new febrifnge after fully testing its properties, it will prove an immenso advantage to the popnThe green leaves of the laurel (Laurus nobilis) are dried hy a gentle heat on the fire in a close vessel, to prevent the loss of the volatile elements, and are afterwards rednced to a fine powder, ono gramme of whieh in a glass of eold weter may he taken as edose. Theeffects of so simple a drug mey at least he easily tested. Fat anp Lran.--Meat eaters and vegeterians show in their persons the effects of the diet. The first has the most hrein force and nervous energy. A mixed food of animal and vegetahle rations developes the highest intellectual powers. A strictly vegetable living ordinarily gives a fair complexion, snd amiability and extieme pugnacity when the vegeturian’a views in regard to that one engrossing thonght ot his life ere discussed. They are ennual-meeting reformers, without ever setting 6 river ou fire. Arabs ere a sober, frugal race, rather slender, not tall, conscientious and contentious on religions subjects. They largely snbsist on rice, pulse, milk and keimac, something similar to whipped cream, throngh avastregion of an arid couutry where they are indigenous. They ere uot destitute of mutton, goats, camels and game; hut they manifest no disposition to feed upon meats, as is necessary iu temperate zones or in high northern latitudes, An intellectual man, one of their kindred, who rises to distinction by the grandeur of his mente] stetus, is extremely rare. The beer end ele drinkers expandaud grow fat, but they ere not much given to profonud researches in science. Dieretio Hints.—Most chronic dissases, and many acute ones, are prodnced at theftable. As arule, no fluid of any kindshould he taken at the table, especielly if the stomach is weak. The stomach should never be overloaded; not more than twoor three articles ehonld be taken at one meal; no stimnlants used before eating; tobacco arrests digestion. Milk is the bestdiet for infants and children. Tomatoes with cream and sugar are healthy and nutritious, Bread and butter is the staff of life, and easily digested. Too much salt irritates the stomach. Colds are frequently produced by drinking hot tea and expesure afterwards. Late suppers induce heart dissase. Pastry and cake constipate the bowels. Boiled potatoes are not so healthy as baked ones. Fruits are to be eaten at breakfast and dinner. Thestomach requires much rest to he healthy; purgative medicines weaken the bowels. Cheerful conversation promotes digestion; end anger prevents it. CoLor-BiinpNEss.—An instrument has heen invented in Germany for testing color-blindness. It cousists of a rotating apparatus, whioh moves a disk whose center is a circle, one half hlack and the other white; outeide of this is a ring of violet and red, then the ontside ring of violet and green. When rapidly rotated, the centre appears to be colored grey, that is white and black mixed. To a greenblind person the middle ring will appear grey, that being the reoult to him of a mixtnre of violetand red. The outer ring will appaer grey te the red-blind patient, and the inner grey to the violet-hlind. By the use of thisinstrument, a large number of patientsmay he simultane‘ouely examined for one or more kinds of colorblindness. Breatuine Foun Arr.—When hreething air that is dirty, ill-smelling, or otherwise impnre, the breath ehould he drawn in slowly through the nostrils—never through the month, Iu this way the dnst and other impurities are mostly lodged in the pessegee of the nostrils, from which it is readily expelled, and kept from the Inngs. People ought always to breathe through the uoetrile. A person's life is, in almost all casas, thereby greatly lengthened Soun Stomacu.—Alkuli is usedin Allopsthy to correct acidity of the stomach; but Homopathy corrects it better by small doses of lemon-juice. ‘I have known many persons,’ saye Dr. Dio Lewis, ‘‘who had long euffered from heart-burn or water-brash, cure themeelves by a few drops of lemon-jnice after a meal.”

March 1, 1873.] MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 135 Usefue Information. The Primary Colors, If we look steadily for a considerablo time npoa a spot of any given color, placed on a white or black gronnd, it will appear surronndsd bya border of anothercolor, And this color will uniformly bo found to be that which makes ap the harmonic triad of red, yellow aud blae; for if tho spot bo red, tho border will be green, which is composed of blue and yellow; if blne; the border will he orango, oomposed of yellow aad red; and if yellow, tho border will bo purple, making in all cases a trinaity of the three primary colors. With a view to throw each a light npon the sahj-ct as my limited opportnnities would permit, I tried over tho experiments by which Sir Isao Newton cume to tho conclusiou that there were seven primury elemouts in the solar spectrum, aad the same resalts occurred; I could not ssparate any one of the colors of which it seemed composed, intotwo. The imperceptihie manner in which ths colors were bleuded together upon the spectrum, however, and the circumstance of the colors which practical people called compound, being elways found hetween the two of which thoy nndsratood it to be composed, together with my previous conviction indaced me to continue my experimeuts; and ulthongh I conld not, by analysis, prove that there were only three colors, I succeeded in proving to my own satisfaction, synthotically, in the following manner: After having tried every color in sucoession, and finding that noue of them conld he separated into two, I next iaadea hole in the rst scroen, in the ceoter of tho hine of the spectram, and anotherin that of red. I had thereby a spot of eaoh of these colors npon a second sereea. I then, by means of another prism directed the hlne spot to the sume part of ths seeand screen on whieh the red appeared, where they united end produced a violet 6s pure and intense x8 that upon the spectrum. I did the same with ths blue and yellow, and produeed the prismatic green; as also with the red and yellow, and orange was the result. I tried, in the samo msnner, to mix a simple with what I thonght a compound color, but they did not noite; for no sooner was the red spot throwu npon the green than it disappeared.—Hay’s Interior Decorator. A Vexociprpe Race.—A fifty mile race on bicycle velocipedes recently took place at Wolverhampton, Eng., between two exporisneed riders, Moore aad Johnson. Moore, the smaller mau of the two, agreed to allow his opponent an advantage of two miles in the fifty. The first fonrteou miles were runin 59 minutes aud 23 seconds, the advantage being in favor of Moore. At the end of the twentieth mile the race seemed to be over, as Johnson was evidently suff-riug from heving repeatedly to force his high wheel with short erank up hill aguinst the wind. Moore, on the other hand, with small wheel and long crank, had no difficultyin making the ascent. On the twenty-seventh mile Moore passed Johnsou for the sixth time, who could searcely now move his vehicle up the short hill, and, on the twenty-eight mile, Johnson gave up the race Moore finished the remainder alone, making the fifty miles in three hours 56 minutes and 40 seconds, and ruuning the last mile quite as quickly as the first. The ubove practical trial appears to show an advantage in the small wheel and long crank over a lurge wheel and short crank in velocipede driving. Foamimc iy Bomwerrs.—The Scientific American, in reply to the qneriee of a correspondent, “What causes foaming in an engine hoiler? Is it dungerous or apt to cause an explosion of boiler? Doss steam ever descend under the water in a boiler aud force the water up aud then take its place?” answere as follows:— “Foaming is caused by the generatiou of steam more rapidly thanit can discharge itself from the mase of water within which it is formed. It may give riee to inconvenience, and even danger, either by carrying water ont of the boiler more rapidly than the feed pump cen replace it, or hy eutering the steam cylinder of the engine and creuting a liahitity to accident, when the piston etrikes upon it, at the end of its stroke, by breaking crank pin, connecting rod or cylinder head. Steam does uot get under the weter but is sometimee so rapidly disengaged, at pointe on the heating surface under water, as to almost or quite displace the water. For Luprrcatinc.—lIt is stated that a preparation, consisting of one part sulphur to twenty parts of refiued colza oil, after undergoing a heat of from 130 to 140 deg. for an hour, fnrnishes an excellent lubricating matetial for machiaery. The sulphur, being a poor condnctor of heat, is thought to assist to a considerable degree in preventing heat from friction. To Remove Nitaic Acin Fomes.—Whenever nitric acid pollutee the air hy ite vapore, as in sundry branchee of iudustry, all injurious conseqnences may be obviuted hy the free nse of ammonia. The vapor of the latter, combining with that of the nitric acid, forms a compound which is inodoroue and innocuous.e Change the Law of Process, Reader, did you evor reffect that all you can do in the physical, mental or moral world is simply to direct pre-existing forces to accomplish change ? To illnstrate this proposition, let us follow tho history of any article of common nse, say the shoes on your foct. Long ago, in the pre-historic ages, the manufacture of those shoes was hegun, and only throngh ages of progress and intuite change havo they heen wronght. In tho time wheu "tho carth was without form and void,"’ volcanic forces were at work npheaviug, degrading, plowing milos deep to prepure a soil for the growth of nutritious plunts to support animal life. Then, throngh slow sucvessive stages, animals and men appeared. Then followed that cnrious round of intrioato and, as yet, very dimly cemprehended processes, whereby crnde inert matter is couverted first into coarse organio forms of life, and through those iuto such finely organized, complieated structures as the skin of a mammal. The tanner takes such a skin, and, hy directing chemical affinity in bis vats and other physica] forecs in suhsequent operations, transforms itinto lsather. Thsn the shoemaksr follows, directing, by his skill, muscular power and the operatiouof machines. At last appears the finished fabric, to suhserve the comfort of man. Iu this simple illustration is obtained a glimpse of the vastness of all cycles of chango, only through which can their be any progress, eveu iu little things. How much more, then, ye impatient for the time to come, must msntal and moral progress be slow; sometimes so slow that the onward march seems stopped, or, perhaps, to retrograde? Butthisis only the view of cursory ohseivars. When the foundations of society are shaken hy war, by the abandonment of longestablished usage, when almost anarchy prevails, people are often wont to become pessimists, and to exolaim that the world is getting worse instead of hetter. But all these disturbances are hut the settling of the moral crust of society. By and hy the disruptive forces will have expeuded themselves, and the sides of the chasme shall be trausformed into gentle slopes hlossoming with verdure, and ths mountain peaks shull stand never moro to he shaken, only we must wait.—4American Artisan. Newsparers.— More copies of newspapers are printed in a year in the United Stutes tnan in all the rest of the world together. England and France come next, and thetwo together have balf as many asthe Yankee Nation. Asia, Africa and European Turkey, according to ‘Hudson's New History of the Newspaper Press," together do not publish so many newspapers end periodicals as San Francisco alone. We imagine, however, that his information about Asia must he incorrect, for there is considerable intellectnal activity among the Hindoos, It cannot bs denied that in this great branch of progress, the Americans have taken the lead in a most remarkable manner. How to Inserr Screws In Puaster WaLis.— It often becomes desirehle to insert screws in plaster walls, without attaching them to any woodwork; bnt when we turn them in the plaster gives way and our effortis vain. And yet a screw may be inserted in plestcr so as to hold light pictnres, etc., very firmly. The best plan is to enlarge the hole to about twice the diameter of the screw, fill it with plaster of Paris, snuck, as is used for fastening the tops of lamps, ete., and bed thescrewin the soft plaster. When the plaster hes set, the serew will be held very strongly. Serrina Trres.—A mechanic gives the following method of so putting tires on wagon wheels, that they will not get loose and require resetting. Usealong cast iron pan or dish made for the purpose; linceed oil is brought to a boiling heat, the wheele is placed ona stick over the dish, soas to hang iu the oil, each felloo an hour. The timber should be dry, ae green timber will not take the oil. Cement ror Leatuer.—Ton parte of carbon bieulphide and one part of oil of turpentine are mixed, and ae much gntta percha added as will readily dissolve. The snrface of leather muet be freed, with a hot iron, from fat, and the parts once joined shonld he well preseed until they are firmly united. Luyszen O1u.—A patent hae been taken out by a party iu England for treating linseed and other seed and vegetable oils e0 as to give to them all the advantages derived from hoiling without having recourse to that process, and to retain other properties unimpaired which hoiling dcetroye. Zinc WuiTewasH.—Mix oxide of zine with common size and apply it with a brush, like lime whitewash, to the ceiling of a room. After this apply in the same manner a wash of the chloride of zinc, which will combiue with the oxide, and form a smooth cement with a shining snrface. By Ram rrom Mexico.—A correspondent of the Germantown Telegraph remarks that before the Centennial celebration can take place we ehal] have trains running straight through from the city of Mexico to Philadelphia. Paver money which cannot be counterfeited is said to have been invented by a Berlin lithographer. Goon Heath. Process of Digestion. Digestion is the process by which food is prepared for conversion into living blood. This conversiou of dead matter into living snbstance isthe greatest and most mysterious power of Naturo; yet itis effectad hy agencies so very delicate that onr nicest chemistry fails to detect cven so many active elements as it finds in a Homeopathic pellet of aconite or belladoana, The gastric juico, which produces this miraele

of trausformation, is almost tasteless, and it has nO pungency whatever. It certeinly affords an example of how very small a doso of the appropriate element is oapable of moking the most fatal changes in the living procass of the hnmen hody. tee not balk nor mechanical consistency that dotermines the digestibility of food; nor can the law for one stomaeh he treated as the law for all. The gastric juice is, no doubt, prepered in every stomach of such variety as to take up the food elements required by tho existiug conditions of the bodily organs, and to reject such eloments as are not wanted. Hence, ‘(what is one man’s meatis another's poison.” General directions as to what should be eaten are liko the usual conglomorate pill of the quack, designated for all cases, and uscful in none. Generation is a congressional act, in which every organ of the borly is reprssented. Hance, parent peculiarities are transmissible, and delicate stomachs, torpid livers, and the like, pass from generation to geueration. No doubt digestion is also a congressional act, the gastrio juice heing a contribution representing the wauts of each organ in the body. It is not, then, the bulk one eats, but the kind of food, which, according as it responds to those wants, sits easily on the stomach and gives good digestion. Dyspepsia is the error of injudicious supplies. Theory avails nothing, and general dietic rules are mockery. Every man must, by experiment, determine for himself. Some change of food is imperative. Tea, coffee, cahhage, hot bread, the wheaten loef, pan-cooked pork, salt meat, pastry, ete., may be retired intnurn. Rum end tobacco must not go unchallenged; and all private indulgences may be moderated inthe experiment. Three meals a day inflict twelve hours’ lebor on the stomach. Dyspepsia is, perhaps, its mode of striking for eight hours’ work, or two meals a day; and its promise may be honest that it will digest as much nourishment for you in eight hours as in twelve, and doit to the greatest profit of the whole body corporate. Don't refuse it a hearing, but give ita fair trial, with reasonahle hopes of the restoration of health avd harmony. Listen to no man who proolaims this wholesome, and that not, unless the counsel come from e physician who can give reasons for his advice. Distrust him who tells you to avoid hard and to eet soft-boiled eggs, becanse the one is hard to digest and the other easy, and to nbhor cheese as indigestible altogether. Dr, Lenbe, of Erlangen, has thoronghly tested the gastric juice of many stomechs, and he finds ripe cheese more digestible thau eggs iu uny form, and well-boiled eggs are bstter than soft ones, We would prescribe good nature 6s an es3ential element in the cure of dyspepsia. But we know that, with snch sickness (ne Burns says): Tis hard}y in a Body's power To keep at times frae feeling dour.” Labor, then, to right the hody, and the body willright the mind. By a process analogons tothe conversion of dead matter into living tiseue, it seems as though the living hody finds the elements for its mental manifestatione; for good nature is the product of a healthful balance among the co-working organe of the hody. It is also a peculiar function of Homeopathic medicines to adjust, with the least disturbance, the delicate balance upon which heng theis-nes of health inthe body and sanity of the mind, Ex. A New Inza m Batus.—A correspondent of one of the English medical jonrnals has taken a sand-bath, and thisis his description of the process: The patient is introduced into a warm, comfortable room, in which is a bath, fenced round with curtains, filled with eand heated to about 100° to 120°, In thie a longitudinal groove (I will not say grave) ie ecooped to receive the patient, whois wrapped in a sheet, and so protected from contact with thesand, There is a comfortehle pillow for the head. Then the hath operator gradually covers un feet, legs, arms and trunk withthe warm sand. A bucket of hotter and one of coolersand are at hand, eo that the temperature can be adjusted with the greatest nicety. Tho feeling of warmth io very agreeable, and the weight of the sand ie ju:t enough to cause a pleasantsense of compression aidsupport. After an hour's delightful repose, the patieut riees, is refreshed by a sluicing of hot water, aud goecaway refreshed, Theo effect ie very different from that of hot water, and still more from that of hot air or steam. There was absolutely nocommotion of the heart, nor any of the gritling effect on the windpipe which I have experienced in other haths. Altogether, it seeme agood thing when we want to produce measured perspiration and . lation. relieve @gagection of the internal organs. A New Fenrirvor.—The Constitutional announees the discovery of answ fehrifuge, which has heen found an excellent substitute for quinine, As tho latter is very costly—too mnch eofor tho purses of workmen end peassntry who are 80 frequently the victims of fever—it will be a general hoon if tho new drug, which is said to possess all the properties of qninine, and whioh will cost very little, oan he rought into nse among the public, SI. G. Dorny, an apothecary in Saint-Lo, it seems, remembering the good effects in certain fevers of bitter aromatics, as, for example, camphor, eonceived the idea of trying the aetion of the laurcl, the leayes of whieh are at once bitter and aromatic. The experiments were conclnaive as to its powers, for eccording to statements made to the Academy of Science and tho Aeademy of Medicine, three grammes of powdered laurel leaves snifice to work a cure. All the fevers treated by the new drug have given way (it is said) in a few days, and it has even been successful in an African fever of long standing, against which snlphate of quinine has proved powerIsss. The lanrel is common in France, and produces no had effeots, so that if its use were geueral the French would no longer depend on . the New World for qninine. Intermittent fevers ere very common in France, so that if the medical professiou shonld adopt the new febrifnge after fully testing its properties, it will prove an immenso advantage to the popnThe green leaves of the laurel (Laurus nobilis) are dried hy a gentle heat on the fire in a close vessel, to prevent the loss of the volatile elements, and are afterwards rednced to a fine powder, ono gramme of whieh in a glass of eold weter may he taken as edose. Theeffects of so simple a drug mey at least he easily tested. Fat anp Lran.--Meat eaters and vegeterians show in their persons the effects of the diet. The first has the most hrein force and nervous energy. A mixed food of animal and vegetahle rations developes the highest intellectual powers. A strictly vegetable living ordinarily gives a fair complexion, snd amiability and extieme pugnacity when the vegeturian’a views in regard to that one engrossing thonght ot his life ere discussed. They are ennual-meeting reformers, without ever setting 6 river ou fire. Arabs ere a sober, frugal race, rather slender, not tall, conscientious and contentious on religions subjects. They largely snbsist on rice, pulse, milk and keimac, something similar to whipped cream, throngh avastregion of an arid couutry where they are indigenous. They ere uot destitute of mutton, goats, camels and game; hut they manifest no disposition to feed upon meats, as is necessary iu temperate zones or in high northern latitudes, An intellectual man, one of their kindred, who rises to distinction by the grandeur of his mente] stetus, is extremely rare. The beer end ele drinkers expandaud grow fat, but they ere not much given to profonud researches in science. Dieretio Hints.—Most chronic dissases, and many acute ones, are prodnced at theftable. As arule, no fluid of any kindshould he taken at the table, especielly if the stomach is weak. The stomach should never be overloaded; not more than twoor three articles ehonld be taken at one meal; no stimnlants used before eating; tobacco arrests digestion. Milk is the bestdiet for infants and children. Tomatoes with cream and sugar are healthy and nutritious, Bread and butter is the staff of life, and easily digested. Too much salt irritates the stomach. Colds are frequently produced by drinking hot tea and expesure afterwards. Late suppers induce heart dissase. Pastry and cake constipate the bowels. Boiled potatoes are not so healthy as baked ones. Fruits are to be eaten at breakfast and dinner. Thestomach requires much rest to he healthy; purgative medicines weaken the bowels. Cheerful conversation promotes digestion; end anger prevents it. CoLor-BiinpNEss.—An instrument has heen invented in Germany for testing color-blindness. It cousists of a rotating apparatus, whioh moves a disk whose center is a circle, one half hlack and the other white; outeide of this is a ring of violet and red, then the ontside ring of violet and green. When rapidly rotated, the centre appears to be colored grey, that is white and black mixed. To a greenblind person the middle ring will appear grey, that being the reoult to him of a mixtnre of violetand red. The outer ring will appaer grey te the red-blind patient, and the inner grey to the violet-hlind. By the use of thisinstrument, a large number of patientsmay he simultane‘ouely examined for one or more kinds of colorblindness. Breatuine Foun Arr.—When hreething air that is dirty, ill-smelling, or otherwise impnre, the breath ehould he drawn in slowly through the nostrils—never through the month, Iu this way the dnst and other impurities are mostly lodged in the pessegee of the nostrils, from which it is readily expelled, and kept from the Inngs. People ought always to breathe through the uoetrile. A person's life is, in almost all casas, thereby greatly lengthened Soun Stomacu.—Alkuli is usedin Allopsthy to correct acidity of the stomach; but Homopathy corrects it better by small doses of lemon-juice. ‘I have known many persons,’ saye Dr. Dio Lewis, ‘‘who had long euffered from heart-burn or water-brash, cure themeelves by a few drops of lemon-jnice after a meal.”