Scientific and Useful

Bruce Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 2180, 4 July 1890, Page 5

Scientific and Useful

WOOD PLASTER

Wood pulp is now being used 09 the basis of a plastic compound to serve as a substitute for lime mortar in covering and finishing walls. It is designed to possess, in addition to all the desirable qualities of ordinary mortar, tho characteristics of being harder, and, w^en applied to woodwork in a thin coat, rendering it both fire and w l iter-proo f . AGEING FOR ALCOHOL BY ELECTRICITY. The action of ozono upon alcohol has long been known, but it bus as yet been very H* tie employed for industrial purposes, owing to the diffioulty Jof preparation. Two Frenchmen (MM. Broyet and Petit) have, however, just brought out a process by which they claim to bavo overcome this difficulty. Tho plant comprises a boiler, steam engine, dynamo, two ozone apparatus, an oxygen gasometer, six alcobol vaVs, an oxyjen pump, and an alcohol pump. rHOTOGBAPHING- UATTTBAL COLOURS. There is again an announcement of a much longed-for discovery in photography having been made. Dr Elder Professor of <he Photographic Institute of Vienna, has announced that a photographer named Vereecz, living in Klausenburg, Transylvania, has succeeded, in solving the problem of photographing in natural colours. Up to tbo present only the shades between deep red orange can be retaiaed ; and oven these, if exposed to the light, fade in from two to throe days, but the experiments are being continued with good prospects of complete success. BRIDGING THE BOSPHOROUS. There has been comb talk lately about a scheme for the construction of a bridge across the Bospborus. The Turkish newspaper Hakikat gives some particulars of the project a propos of an offer ef a French syndicate to build a bridge of 800 meres in length and 70 metres high between Eoumeli and Anatoli Hissar. The bridge would consist of one span, and this would exceed in length by one-half the longest spnn of the Forth Bridge. The Anatolian Railway, it is thought, wi'l make the construction of such a bridge a necessary and feasible undertaking before many years. WEATHER ADVERTISEMENTS. The Meteorological Office hss adopted a new way of spreading information as to the condition of the weather on our coasrs. On Monday it began to exhibit, at 53 Victoria Street, Westminster, outside the building a series of boards, showing the state of the wind, weather, and sea afc Yarmouth, Dover, the Needles, Scily, Valentia (Ireland), and Holyhead. The information given is for eight o'clock in the morning and two o'clock in tbeafternoon, and the notices are posted up at about 9.30 A.M. and 3 P.M. respectively. The words are printed in clear type and can be read by those having ordinarily, good sight from the pavement or roadway. — Nature. POWER PROM THE TIDE. Patents have been issued recently in France, Germany, England, Canada, and the United States, to H. B Rankin on a method of generating power from the tide. The inventor uses the displacement of tide-water by means of a large float held in position by cables, which, on the rising and falling tideß, accumulates immense power. This method will give 16 working hours out of the 24. The power thus generated can be stored fcr uee, by means of storage batteries of compreesed air. An eminent engineer estimates that in Boston harbour, where the tide rises 9ft. to 10ft., a displacement of 15,000 c. ft. of water will give 140 H.P. for 24 hours. The power obtained would be converted into electricity for lighting and for running motors of all mechanical purposes. JJNGLNEEEING ACCURACY. The accurate methods of alignments in the construction of long tunnels hare been one of the wonders of the century. As I stood (says a recent lecturer) at the Swiss terminus of the great St Gothard Tunnel my mind'B eye carried me through its 49,000 feet of solid rock excavation, executed by the hand of man, guided and directed by men of brains, alignment and measured and carried along from Btep to step until the diaphragm became thinner and thinner, and 'at last Italy and Switzerland Bhook bands over this triumph of modern engineering skill. The alignment proved to be true to ten oentimetorß for level and twenty centimf tera for the lateral Yme. PAINTING WITHOUT ASMS. Miss Aimee Rapin is a' young Swiss artist who had the misfortune to be born without arms. From her earliest childhood she showed astonishing dexterity in using her feet in the plaoe of hands, an accomplishment whioh improved with her years, and therefore the child's foot coverings were carefully arranged so that the toes should not be covered and confined by the stockings. One day when Aimee'B mother was walking in the garden with her little girl, she was surprised to see her suddenly throw off her shoes and pluck a flower with her left foot and then pull the petals off one after the other with the toes of her right foot. After her attention had thus been drawn to the suppleness and dexterity of her child, the mother took pains to cultivate it, and she succeeded beyond her expectations. She showed a talent for drawing and was sent to a school of art where she distinguished herself. Miss Rapin now lives in Poriß, where she is known, not as a curiosity for the public, but an artist of the first rank. The ease and security with which she holds the brush between the great and second tors of her right foot and guidrs it over the paper borders on the miraculous ; and as she is very quick and clever in discovering resemblances, she hos chosen portrait paintine for her specialty. — Illustrirte Zoitung. THE NEBUL2E. When we search the heavens with n telescope of small magnify ing power but a large field, we come upon object which give light similar to that of the Milky Way, and are called nebulas. They are of various forms and sizes, ranging from one degree to a few seconds in size, and from round, circlutir, or elliptical to great irregularity in form. Sometimes little stars are seen in such nebulas, or there is a visible thickening of the nebulous matter toward the centre. What appear in taleecopes of email power light clouds separate into stars when viewed through a stronger glass, forming star clusters ; in other nebulas no separate stars can be discerned, but an impression is received that they consist of many stars crowded close together. There are, besides these, a great many nebula? which cannot be resolved into stars at all. The distinction between tho real nebula) and the star clusters waß first discovered by tho help of spectrum analysis. Tho spectrum of tho star clusters is a continuous one, while that of the nebulas consists of one or more (generally three) bright lines ; the light of tho clusters of stars seems to come from bodies in a glowing liquid or solid state, and that of nebulse from glowing gases. According to the investigation of Huggins and H. Yogel (of Potsdam), the nebulso consist principally of nitrogen and hydrogen.