Scientific.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2149, 17 April 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Scientific.

—The Meldometer.— The ineldoraeter is the name given by Profcs-or Jollj to an apparatus that connists of an adjunct to the minerulogical microscope, whereby the melting points of minerals may he compared or approximately determined and their beharour watched at high temperatures, cither alone or in the presence of reagents. It consist* of a narrow ribbon of platinum, 2 mm. wide, arranged to traverae the field of the microscope. The ribbon clamped no as to be readily renewable, pauses bridgewiso over a littlo ! Ncooped-out hollow in a dink of ebony. The clamps also take wires from a battery, and an adjustable resistance being placed in circuit, the strip can be thus rained in temperature up to the melting point of plantinum. Tin 1 disk being placed on the stage of the micro.•>cope, thepUntinum Btnp it brought into tho field of aone-inoh objective, protected by a glass slip from the radiant heat. The observer is sheltered from the intense light at high temperatures by a wedge of tinted glass, which further cm be used in photometrically estimating the temperaturn by using it to obtaiu extinction of the field. —Influence of the Moon on a Magnetized Needle.—N.G. Ligner has made a remarkable communication to the Meteorological Society of Austria. He has ascertained, after a number of careful experiments, that tho moon has an in* fluence on a magnetized needle varying with its phases and its declination. The phenomenon is said to be more promiaenently noticeable when oar satellite is near the earth, and to be very marked when she is passing from the full to her first or second quarter. Tho disturbances are at their maximum when the moon is in the plane of the equator, and greater daring the southern than the northern declination. — Wire Belts for Stone-Cutting.— The principle of continuous motion used in the belt saw for wood, has been applied, says Engineering, to stone- cutting. Instead of a flat metal band, three steel wires, twisted together and run at a very high speed, form the cutting-surface. Water and sand are applied in the usual manner with tho ordinary flat saws for stone. It is claimed that such saws advance in marble at from 10 inches to 24 inches an hour, according to the hardness of the stone. It is also used for quarrying purposes, in dividing up masses of stone projecting between recesses in the quarry. — A Nkw Ointment.— The purified fat of aheep's wool, which has been introduced into the drug market under the name of lanolin, is said to possess remarkable susceptibility to absorption by the skin. When one thousand parts of it are mixed with one part of a soluble metallic tubstance and applied to the scalp, a metallic taste is noticed in the mouth within a few minutes. It is thought the substance will be of great value for ointments. —Russian Manganese Mines.— The manganese mines of the Charapou district, 26 miles from the nearest railroad station, at Kwirila, Southern Russia, are growing in importance. Iv 1884, the output was 12,050 tons, and it is expected that during 1835 it will increase to 27,330 tons, of which 16,400 tons will be shipped from Batoum, and 11,100 tons from Poti. The bulk of the ore goes to England. — Manufacture of Rttssian SheetIron.— The following method of manufacturing Russian sheet-iron is given in Calvert's Almanac. Selected iron is hammered into slabs of the right size, and to make a. finished sheet the slab is passed through rolls, making 75 or 80 revolutions, three or four times, after which it is hammered again. Several sheets are then heated to a full red heat, covered with charcoal shaken on to them from a bag made of coarse linen, and are then piled with covering sheets of heavier iron top and bottom. The pile is then worked down under a heavy hammer until nearly of the finished size. .When cool, the hammering ceases, the plates are separated, reheated and piled again with cold plates interposed, the hot and cold sheets alternating in the pile. The hammering is then repeated uutil they are cool, after which they are cut to size

Try a cloth wruug out from cold water pat about the neck at night for sore throat. Those people who complain of hard times in New Zealand have a very slight conception of how comfortable their lot in reality ia compared with that of European communities. In Berlin, for instance, luxurious living cannot be carried on to any great excess. University students there are ted by charity. Out of a total population of 1,200,000, nearly 200,000 are altogether exempt from municipal taxation as having incomes of less than £21 it-year. The incomes of nearly 270,000 range between £21 and £33, so that, however cheap nausage, cabbage and beer may be, there is clearly no great margin for business. When we come to the other cad of the scale we find incomes proportionately modest. Incomes between £5000 and £10,000 are credited to 108 individuals; eighteen persons have incomes up to £1.5,000, five up to £20,000, nine up to £27,000, and only four persons exceed this sum. Tub world is full of rogues and fools, and the fools predominate, otherwise the rogues could not exist. We are led into making this remark by the discovery of a new and ingeniously devised swindle not altogether devoid of humour. The perpetrator of the swindle was a resident of Otaki (Wellington), and the modus operandi i« made apparent by the following advertisement addressed to the mothers and daughters :—": — " Having come to an arrangement with au American firm, we are enabled to sell their firstclass sewing machines at the above priori ; and, having sent a consignment to Christohurch, we guarantee to forward, upon receipt of 2s 6d in stamps, to any address, carriage paid, a tinelypolished, well-made, and complete sewing machine. Half-dozen spare machine needles, 6d extra. Sole agents for New Zealand, Lawrance and Co., Otaki, Wellington." On this advertisement appearing the manager of the Lyttelton Times became suspicions, and consulted Inspec tor Pender. The sequel to the whole matter was that Lawrance was arrested by the Otaki police, and the discovery was made that the "sewing machines " which were being sold for 2a 6d were common needles. It is said that a number of residents in Christchurch were caught by the attractive advertisement, and had the affair not been exposed so speedily the swindler would no doubt have made a good haul. That there should be people simple enough to believe that • sewing machine could be obtained for 2s 6d, shows that any swindler can find abundant fools to operate npon, no matter what the nature of his swindle tnaybs. — Exchange. The New York Mercury considers that the scene presented in the British House of Commons when Charles Bradlaugh took the usual oath prescribed for members, was at once peculiar and disgusting. With a mob at his heels, the atheist has before presented himself at the bar of the Commons and been denied admissiou as a member from Northampton. Re-elected, he came forward on the meeting of Parliament, and with an air of vulgar defiance kissed the Bible after the speaker had administered the words of an oath, and then swaggered out of the House, cheered by his waiting atheistic admirers. Mr Bradlaucii had said that he would not take the usual oatb, but at last succumbed to the inevitable. The Speaker, Mr Arthur Peal, decided that the Northampton member might swear as a Christain and take the responsibility of perjury if there was any. In his reported unctuous kissing of the Bible; Mr Bradlaugh committed perjury, at least in a moral sense, for it is no excuse to say that he attached no importance to the Book. If atheism leads to deception, lying or perjury in any sense, it is a belief which gentlemen will repudiate,