Scientific.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2152, 24 April 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Scientific.

Teutonic Pottery.— Throughout the whole of Germany, various kinds of pottery have been discovered, the earlier kind being that of the early native population, and a latter made during the Roman conquest. Urns have been found all over Germany, along with the remains of the Teutonic races. They are assignable to an age antecedent to, and co-ordinate with, the Roman Empire. The paste of which they are composed it of clay and sand, intermixed with particles of white, yellow and brown mica. The colour of the paste varies according to the localities. The ornaments peculiar to Teutonic pottery are hatched lines, bauds of points concentric to the axis of the vasia, zigzags, meanders, checkers network, lines, semi-circles, diagonals. The vases found in Central Germany are more ornamental than those of the north, The principal shapes are enps with or without handles ; pots with beveled mouths ; goblets, of which the most remarkable are the long-uecked double-handed of the Wends. Manila. Rope. — As Manila rope enters very largely into deep-sea grappling, the following may interest some of our readers : To detect the presence of adulterations, such as sisal fibre, in presumably pure Manila rope, untwist a small piece, and prepare the yarn by carefully- separating the fibres, roll into a ball in the palm of the hand, and then burn out on an iron shovel. Pure Manila hemp will give a dull, greyish black ash ; nisal hemp will give a whitish gray ; and sisal and Manila mixture a grizzly white and black ash The different fibres are distinctily visible.— Electrician. To Indicate Fire Damp. —An appartus has been invented by a Mr Carleton, of N. York, for the purpose of indicating fire damp in coal mines It consists briefly of two mercury bulbs, the ends of which are inserted into helices of the same resistance. One bulb is placed in a pure atmosphere of any required temperatnrp, and the other in a current of air flowing from or in the mine. The difference in resistance between the two bulbs is then, from time to time, measured electrically, and the amount of fire damp ascertained. PiNBAPPr.K Poison. — A writer in the British Medical Journal ndvixes people to careful not to (•lice up a pineapple with the same knife they use in peeling it, as the rind contains an acid organic iub•tance which is likely to cause n swollen mouth and sore lips. In Cuba salt is used as an autidote for the pouon of pineapple peel.