What "Sozodont" is Composed of.—Potassium carbonate, 1/2 ounce; honey, 4 ounces; alcohol, 2 ounces; water, 10 ounces; oil of wintergreen and oil of rose, to flavor, sufficient.
What is Used to Measure Cold below 35 Degrees Fahrenheit?—Metallic thermometers are used to measure lowest temperatures, alcohol being quite irregular.
Is the Top Surface of Ice on a Pond, the Amount of Water let in and out being the Same Day by Day, on a Level with the Water Surface or above it?—Ice is slightly elastic, and when fast to the shore the central portion rises and falls with slight variations in water level, the proportion above and below water level being as is the weight of ice to the weight of water it displaces.
Of the Two Waters, Hard and Soft, Which Freezes the Quicker; and in ice Which Saves the Best in Like Packing?—Soft water freezes the quickest and keeps the best.
Does Water in Freezing Purify Itself?—It clears itself from chemicals; does not clear itself from mechanical mixtures as mud and clay.
A Receipt to Remove Freckles from the Face without Injury to the Skin.—A commonly used preparation for this purpose is: Sulpho-carbolate of zinc, 2 parts; distilled glycerine, 25 parts; rose water, 25 parts; scented alcohol, 5 parts. To be applied twice daily for from half an hour to an hour, and then washed off with cold water.
What will Remove Warts Painlessly?—Touch the wart with a little nitrate of silver, or with nitric acid, or with aromatic vinegar. The silver salt will produce a black, and the nitric acid a yellow stain, either of which will wear off in a short while. The vinegar scarcely discolors the skin. A Good Receipt to Prevent Hair Coming Out.—Scald black tea, 2 ounces, with I gallon of boiling water, strain and add 3 ounces glycerine, tincture cantharides 1/2 ounce, bay rum 1 quart. Mix well and perfume. This is a good preparation for frequent use in its effect both on the scalp and hair, but neither will be kept in good condition without care and attention to general health.
Deaths from Diphtheria per 100,000 Inhabitants in the Chief Cities of the World.—Amsterdam, 265; Berlin, 245; Madrid, 225; Dresden, 184; Warsaw, 167; Philadelphia, 163; Chicago, 146; Turin, 127; St. Petersburg, 121; Bucharest, 118; Berne, 115; Munich, 111; Stockholm, 107; Malines, 105; Antwerp, 104; New York, 91; Paris, 85; Hamburg, 76; Naples, 74; Lisbon, 74; Stuttgart, 61; Rome, 56; Edinburgh, 50; Buda-Pesth, 50; The Hague, 45; Vienna, 44; London, 44; Christiania, 43; Copenhagen, 42; Suburbs of Brussels, 36; City of Brussels, 35.
A Receipt for Marshmallows, as Made by Confectioners.—Dissolve one-half pound of gum arabic in one pint of water, strain, and add one-half pound of fine sugar, and place over the fire, stirring constantly until the syrup is dissolved, and all of the consistency of honey. Add gradually the whites of four eggs well beaten. Stir the mixture until it becomes somewhat thin and does not adhere to the finger. Flavor to taste, and pour into a tin slightly dusted with powdered starch, and when cool divide into small squares.
A Receipt for Making Compressed Yeast.—This yeast is obtained by straining the common yeast in breweries and distilleries until a moist mass is obtained, which is then placed in hair bags, and the rest of the water pressed out until the mass is nearly dry. It is then sewed up in strong linen bags for transportation.
How to Tell the Age of Eggs.—We recommend the following process (which has been known for some time, but has been forgotten) for finding out the age of eggs, and distinguishing those that are fresh from those that are not. This method is based upon the decrease in the density of eggs as they grow old. Dissolve two ounces of kitchen salt in a pint of water. When a fresh-laid egg is placed in this solution it will descend to the bottom of the vessel, while one that has been laid on the day previous will not quite reach the bottom. If the egg be three days old it will swim in the liquid, and if it is more than three days old it will float on the surface, and project above the latter more and more in proportion as it is older.
A Recipe for Making Court Plaster.—Isinglass 125 grains, alcohol 1-3/4 fluid ounces, glycerine 12 minims, water and tincture of benzoin each sufficient quantity. Dissolve the isinglass in enough water to make the solution weigh four fluid ounces. Spread half of the latter with a brush upon successive layers of taffeta, waiting after each application until the layer is dry. Mix the second half of the isinglass solution with the alcohol and glycerine, and apply in the same manner. Then reverse the taffeta, coat it on the back with tincture of benzoin, and allow it to become perfectly dry. There are many other formulas, but this is official. The above quantities are sufficient to make a piece of court plaster fifteen inches square.
One of the Very Best Scouring Pastes Consists of—Oxalic acid, 1 part; Iron peroxide, 15 parts; Powdered rottenstone, 20 parts; Palm oil, 60 parts; Petrolatum, 4 parts. Pulverize the oxalic acid and add rouge and rottenstone, mixing thoroughly, and sift to remove all grit; then add gradually the palm oil and petrolatum, incorporating thoroughly. Add oil of myrbane, or oil of lavender to suit. By substituting your red ashes from stove coal, an inferior representative of the foregoing paste will be produced.
How to Manufacture Worcestershire Sauce.—A. Mix together 1-1/2 gallons white wine vinegar, 1 gallon walnut catsup, 1 gallon mushroom catsup, 1/2 gallon Madeira wine, 1/2 gallon Canton soy, 2-1/2 pounds moist sugar, 19 ounces salt, 3 ounces powdered capsicum, 1-1/2 ounces each of pimento and coriander, 1-1/2 ounces chutney, 3/4 ounce each of cloves, mace and cinnamon, and 6-1/2 drachms assafoetida dissolved in pint brandy 20 above proof. Boil 2 pounds hog's liver for twelve hours in 1 gallon of water, adding water as required to keep up the quantity, then mix the boiled liver thoroughly with the water, strain it through a coarse sieve. Add this to the sauce.
A Good Receipt for Making Honey, Without Using Honey as One of the Ingredients,—5 lbs. white sugar, 2 lbs. water, gradually bring to a boil, and skim well. When cool add 1 lb. bees' honey, and 4 drops peppermint. To make of better quality add less water and more real honey.
What the Chemical Composition of Honey is.—Principally of saccharine matter and water, about as follows: Levulose 33-1/2 to 40 per cent., dextrose 31-3/4 to 39 per cent., water 20 to 30 per cent., besides ash and other minor constituents.
How to Clean Carpets on the Floor to Make Them Look Bright.—To a pailful of water add three pints of oxgall, wash the carpet with this until a lather is produced, which is washed off with clean water.
How to Take Out Varnish Spots from Cloth.—Use chloroform or benzine, and as a last resource spirits of turpentine, followed after drying by benzine.
Flour Paste for all Purposes.—Mix 1 pound rye flour in lukewarm water, to which has been added one teaspoonful of pulverized alum; stir until free of lumps. Boil in the regular way, or slowly pour on boiling water, stirring all the time until the paste becomes stiff. When cold add a full quarter pound of common strained honey, mix well (regular bee honey, no patent mixture).
How to Make Liquid Glue.—Take a wide mouthed bottle, and dissolve in it 8 ounces beet glue in 1/2 pint water, by setting it in a vessel of water, and heating until dissolved. Then add slowly 2-1/2 ounces strong nitric acid 36 deg. Baume, stirring all the while. Effervescence takes place, with generation of fumes. When all the acid has been added, the liquid is allowed to cool. Keep it well corked, and it will be ready for use at any time.
How the World is Weighed and Its Density and Mass Computed.—The density, mass, or weight of the earth was found by the observed force of attraction of a known mass of lead or iron for another mass; or of a mountain by the deflection of a torsion thread or plumb line. In this manner the mean density of the earth has been found to be from 4.71 to 6.56 times the weight of water, 5.66 being accredited as the most reliable. The weight of a cubic foot of water being known, and the contents of the earth being computed in cubic feet, we have but to multiply the number of cubic feet by 5.66 times the weight of 1 cubic foot of water to obtain the weight of the earth in pounds, or units of gravity at its surface, which is the unit usually used. Another method of determining the mean density of the earth is founded on the change of the intensity of gravity in descending deep mines.
A Theory as to the Origin of Petroleum.—Professor Mendelejef has recently advanced the theory that petroleum is of purely mineral origin and that the formation of it is going on every day. He has, moreover, succeeded in producing artificial petroleum by a reaction that he describes, and he states that it is impossible to detect any difference between the natural product and the manufactured article. His theory is as follows:Infiltrationof water, reaching a certain depth, come into contact with incandescent masses of carburets of metals, chiefly of iron, and are at once decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen unites with the iron, while the hydrogen seizes on the carbon and rises to an upper level, where the vapors are condensed in part into mineral oil, and the rest remains in a state of natural gas. The petroleum strata are generally met with in the vicinity of mountains, and it may be granted that geological upheavals have dislocated the ground in such a way as to permit of theadmissionof water to great depths. If the center of the earth contains great masses of metallic carburets, we may, in case this theory is verified, count upon an almost inexhaustible source of fuel for the day when our coal deposits shall fail us.
How Vaseline is Purified.—The residuum from which vaseline is made is placed in settling tanks heated by steam, in order to keep their contents in a liquid state. After the complete separation of the fine coke it is withdrawn from these tanks and passed through the bone black cylinders, during which process the color is nearly all removed, as well as its empyreumatic odor.
The Latest and Best Process Employed by Cutters and Others in Etching Names and Designs on Steel.—Take copper sulphate, sulphate of alum and sodium chloride, of each 2 drachms, and strong acetic acid 1-1/2 ounces, mixed together. Smear the metal with yellow soap and write with a quill pen without a split.
The History of the Discovery of Circulation of the Blood recapitulated, divides itself naturally into a series of epoch-making periods: 1. The structure and functions of the valves of the heart, Erasistratus, B.C. 304. 2. The arteries carry blood during life, not air, Galen, A.D. 165. 3. The pulmonary circulation, Servetus, 1553. 4. The systemic circulation, Cæsalpinus, 1593. 5. The pulmonic and systemic circulations, Harvey, 1628. 6. The capillaries, Malpighi, 1661.
How to Make Hand Fire Grenades.—Make your hand grenades. Fill ordinary quart wine bottles with a saturated solution of common salt, and place them where they will do the most good in case of need. They will be found nearly as serviceable as the expensive hand grenades you buy. Should a fire break out, throw them with force sufficient to break them into the center of the fire. The salt will form a coating on whatever object the water touches, and make it nearly incombustible, and it will prove effectual in many cases, where a fire is just starting, when the delay in procuring water might be fatal.
How the Kind of White Metal is Made That is Used in the Manufacture of Cheap Table Ware.—How same can be hardened and still retain its color? The following are formulas for white metal. Melt together: (a) Tin 82, lead 18, antimony 5, zinc 1, copper 4 parts. (b) Brass 32, lead 2, tin 2, zinc 1 part. For a hard metal, not so white, melt together bismuth 6 parts, zinc 3 parts, lead 13 parts. Or use type metal—lead 3 to 7 parts, antimony 1 part.
What Metal Expands Most, for the Same Change in Temperature?—For one degree Centigrade the following are coefficients of linear expansion: aluminum, 0.0000222; silver, 0.0000191 to 0.0000212; nickel. 0.0000128; copper, 0.0000167 to 0.0000178; zinc, 0.0000220 to 0.0000292; brass, 0.0000178 to 0.0000193; platinum, 0.0000088.
Heavy Timbers.—There are sixteen species of trees in America, whose perfectly dry wood will sink in water. The heaviest of these is the black iron wood (confalia feriea) of Southern Florida, which is more than 30 per cent. heavier than water. Of the others, the best known are lignum vitæ (gualacum sanctum) and mangrove (chizphora mangle). Another is a small oak (quercus gsisea) found in the mountains of Texas, Southern New Mexico and Arizona, and westward to the Colorado desert, at an elevation of 5,000 to 10,000 feet. All the species in which the wood is heavier than water belong to semi-tropical Florida or the arid interior Pacific region.
Highest Point Reached by Man was by balloon 27,000 feet. Travelers have rarely exceeded 20,000 feet, at which point the air from its rarity is very debilitating.
Has a Rate of Speed Equal to Ninety Miles an Hour, ever Been Attained by Railroad Locomotive?—It is extremely doubtful if any locomotive ever made so high a speed. A mile in 48 seconds is the shortest time we have heard of. A rate of 70 to 75 miles per hour has been made on a spurt, on good straight track. The Grant Locomotive Works could make such an engine. Sixty miles an hour for a train is considered a very high rate of speed, and is seldom attained in practice for more than a short run.
The Fastest Boat in the World.—Messrs. Thornycroft & Co., of Chiswick, in making preliminary trials of a torpedo boat built by them for the Spanish navy, have obtained a speed which is worthy of special record. The boat is twin-screw, and the principal dimensions are: Length 147 ft. 6 in., beam 14 ft. 6 in., by 4 ft. 9 in. draught. On a trial at Lower Hope, on April 27, the remarkable mean speed of 26.11 knots was attained, being equal to a speed of 30.06 miles an hour, which is the highest speed yet attained by any vessel afloat.
Staining and Polishing Mahogany.—Your best plan will be to scrape off all the old polish, and well glass paper; then oil with linseed oil both old and new parts. To stain the new pieces, get half an ounce of bichromate of potash, and pour a pint of boiling water over it; when cold bottle it. This, used with care, will stain the new or light parts as dark as you please, if done as follows:—wipe off the oil clean, and apply the solution with a piece of rag, held firmly in the hand, and just moistened with the stain. Great care is required to prevent the stain running overthe old part, for any place touched with it will show the mark through the polish when finished. You can vary the color by giving two or more coats if required. Then repolish your job altogether in the usual way. Should you wish to brighten up the old mahogany, use polish dyed with Bismarck brown as follows:—Get three pennyworth of Bismarck brown, and put it into a bottle with enough naphtha or methylated spirits to dissolve it. Pour a few drops of this into your polish, and you will find that it gives a nice rich red color to the work, but don't dye the polish too much, just tint it.
Value of Eggs for Food and Other Purposes.—Every element that is necessary to the support of man is contained within the limits of an egg shell, in the best proportions and in the most palatable form. Plain boiled, they are wholesome. It is easy to dress them in more than 500 different ways, each method not only economical, but salutary in the highest degree. No honest appetite ever yet rejected an egg in some guise. It is nutriment in the most portable form, and in the most concentrated shape. Whole nations of mankind rarely touch any other animal food. Kings eat them plain as readily as do the humble tradesmen. After the victory of Muhldorf, when the Kaiser Ludwig sat at a meal with his burggrafs and great captains, he determined on a piece of luxury—"one egg to every man, and two to the excellently valiant Schwepperman." Far more than fish—for it is watery diet—eggs are the scholar's fare. They contain phosphorus, which is brain food, and sulphur, which performs a variety of functions in the economy. And they are the best of nutriment for children, for, in a compact form, they contain everything that is necessary for the growth of the youthful frame. Eggs are, however, not only food—they are medicine also. The white is the most efficacious of remedies for burns, and the oil extractable from the yolk is regarded by the Russians as an almost miraculous salve for cuts, bruises and scratches. A raw egg, if swallowed in time, will effectually detach a fish bone fastened in the throat, and the white of two eggs will render the deadly corrosive sublimate as harmless as a dose of calomel. They strengthen the consumptive, invigorate the feeble, and render the most susceptible all but proof against jaundice in its more malignant phase. They can also be drunk in the shape of that "egg flip" which sustains the oratorical efforts of modern statesmen. The merits of eggs do not even end here. In France alone the wine clarifiers use more than 80,000,000 a year, and the Alsatians consume fully 38,000,000 in calico printing and for dressing the leather used in making the finest of French kid gloves. Finally, not to mention various other employments for eggs in the arts, they may, of course, almost without trouble on the farmer's part, be converted in fowls, which, in any shape, are profitable to the seller and welcome to the buyer. Even egg shells are valuable, for aliopath and homeopath alike agree in regarding them as the purest of carbonate of lime.
History of Big Ships.—In the history of mankind several vessels of extraordinary magnitude have been constructed, all distinctively styled great, and all unfortunately disastrous, with the honorable exception of Noah's Ark. Setting aside this antediluvian craft, concerning the authenticity of whose dimensions authorities differ, and which, if Biblical measures are correct, was inferior in size to the vessel of most importance to modern shipowners, the great galley, constructed by the great engineer Archimedes for the great King Hiero II., of Syracuse, is the first illustration. This ship without a name (for history does not record one) transcended all wonders of ancient maritime construction. It abounded statues and painting, marble and mosaic work. It contained a gymnasium, baths, a garden, and arbored walks. Its artillery discharged stones of 3 cwt., and arrows 18 ft. in length. An Athenian advertising poet, who wrote a six-line puff of its glories, received the royal reward of six thousand bushels of corn. Literary merit was at a higher premium in the year 240 B.C., than it is to-day. The great ship of antiquity was found to be too large for the accommodation of the Syracusan port, and famine reigning in Egypt, Hiero, the charitably disposed, embarked a cargo of ten thousand huge jars of salted fish, two million pounds of salted meat, twenty thousand bundles of different clothes, filled the hold with corn, and consigned her to the seven mouths of the Nile, and since she weighed anchor nothing more has been heard of her fate. The next great ship worthy of mention is the mythical Saracen encountered in the Mediterranean Sea by the crusading fleet of Richard Coeur de Lion, Duke of Guienne and King of England, which, after much slaughter and damage incident to its infidel habit of vomiting Greek fire upon its adversaries, was captured and sunk. Next in rotation appears the Great Harry, built by Henry VIII., of England, and which careened in harbor during the reign of his successor, under similar circumstances to those attending the Royal George in 1782—a dispensation that mysteriously appears to overhang a majority of the ocean-braving constructions which, in defiance of every religious sailor's superstition that the lumber he treads is naturally female, are christened by a masculine or neutral title. In the year 1769, Mark Isambard Brunel, the Edison of his age, as his son was the Ericsson of that following, permitted himself to be born at Hacqueville; near Rouen, France, went to school, to sea, and into politics; compromised himself in the latter profession, and went to America in 1794, where he surveyed the canal now connecting Lake Champlain with the Hudson River at Albany, N.Y. There he turned architect, then returned to Europe, settled, married, and was knighted in England. He occupied eighteen years of his life in building an unproductive tunnel beneath the river Thames at London; invented a method of shuffling cards without using the hands, and several of her devices for dispensing with labor, which, upon completion, were abandoned from economical motives. On his decease, his son and heir, I.K. Brunel, whose practical experience in the Thames Tunnel job, where his biographers assert he had occasion more than once to save his life by swimming, qualified him to tread in his father's shoes, took up his trade. Brunel, Jr., having demonstrated by costly experiments, to the successful proof, but thorough exasperation, of his moneyed backers, that his father's theory for employing carbonic acid gas as a motive power was practicable enough, but too expensive for anything but the dissipation of a millionaire's income, settled down to the profession of engineering science, in which he did as well as his advantages of education enabled him. Like all men in advance of their time, when he considered himself the victim of arbitrary capitalists ignoring the bent of his genius, he did his best work in accordance with their stipulations. He designed the Great Western, the first steamship (paddle-wheel) ever built to cross the Atlantic; and the Great Britain, the original ocean screw steamer. Flushed with these successes, Brunei procured pecuniary support from speculative fools, who, dazzled by the glittering statistical array that can be adduced in support of any chimerical venture, the inventor's repute, and their unbaked experience, imagined that the alluring Orient was ready to yield, like over-ripe fruit, to their shadowy grasp; and tainted as he evidently was with hereditary mania, Brunel resolved to seize the illusionary immortality that he fondly imagined to be within his reach.There was not much the matter with the brain of Brunel, Jr., but that little was enough; a competent railroad surveyor, a good bridge builder, he needed to be held within bounds when handling other people's funds; for the man's ambition would have lead him to undertake to bridge the Atlantic. He met with the speculators required in this very instance of the constructors of the Great Eastern. This monstrous ship has been described so often, that it would be a cruelty to our readers to inflict the story upon them again.
Natural Gas the Fuel of the Future.—The house of the near future will have no fireplace, steam pipes, chimneys, or flues. Wood, coal oil, and other forms of fuel are about to disappear altogether in places having factories. Gas has become so cheap that already it is supplanting fuels. A single jet fairly heats a small room in cold weather. It is a well known fact that gas throws off no smoke, soot, or dirt. In a brazier filled with chunks of colored glass, and several jets placed beneath, the glass soon became heated sufficiently to thoroughly warm a room 10x30 feet in size. This design does away with the necessity for chimneys, since there is no smoke; the ventilation may be had at the window. The heat may be raised or lowered by simply regulating the flow of gas. The colored glass gives all the appearance of fire; there are black pieces to represent coal, red chunks for flames, yellowish white glass for white heat, blue glass for blue flames, and hues for all the remaining colors of spectrum. Invention already is displacing the present fuels for furnaces and cooking ranges and glass, doing away with delay and such disagreeable objects as ashes, kindling wood, etc. It has only been within the past few years that natural gas has been utilized to any extent, in either Pennsylvania, New York or Ohio. Yet its existence has been known since the early part of the century. As far back as 1821, gas was struck in Fredonia, Chautauqua county, N.Y., and was used to illuminate the village inn when Lafayette passed through the place some three years later. Not a single oil well of the many that have been sunk in Pennsylvania has been entirely devoid of gas, but even this frequent contact with what now seems destined to be the fuel of the future bore no fruit of any importance until within the past few years. It had been used in comparatively small quantities previous to the fall of 1884, but it was not until that time that the fuel gave any indication of the important role it was afterward to fill. At first ignored, then experimented with, natural gas has been finally so widely adopted that to-day, in the single city of Pittsburgh, it displaces daily 10,000 tons of coal, and has resulted in building cities in Ohio and the removal thereto of the glass making industries of the United States. The change from the solid to the gaseous fuel has been made so rapidly, and has effected such marked results in both the processes of manufacture and the product, that it is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the entire industrial world are turned with envious admiration upon the cities and neighborhoods blessed with so unique and valuable a fuel. The regions in which natural gas is found are for the most part coincident with the formations producing petroleum. This, however, is not always the case; and it is worthy of notice that some districts which were but indifferent oil-producers are now famous in gas records. The gas driller, therefore, usually confines himself to the regions known to have produced oil, but the selection of the particular location for a well within these limits appears to be eminently fanciful. The more scientific generally select a spot either on the anticlinal or synclinal axis of the formation, giving preference to the former position. Almost all rock formations have some inclination to the horizon, and the constant change of this inclination produces a series of waves, the crests of which are known as anticlines, and the troughs as synclines. Many drillers suppose that the gas seeks the anticlines and the oil the synclines, but others, equally long-headed, discard entirely all theory of this kind, and drill wherever it may be most convenient or where other operators have already demonstrated the existence of gas. It will surprise many of our readers to know that the divining rod, that superstitious relic of the middle ages, is still frequently called upon to relieve the operator of the trouble of a rational decision. The site having been selected, the ordinary oil-drilling outfit is employed to sink a hole of about six inches in diameter until the gas is reached. In the neighborhood of Pittsburgh, this is usually found at a depth of 1,300 to 1,500 feet, in what is known as the Third Oil Sand, a sandstone of the Devonian period. Where the gas comes from originally is an open question. When the driller strikes gas, he is not left in any doubt of the event, for if the well be one of any strength, the gas manifests itself by sending the drill and its attachments into the air, often to a height of a hundred feet or more. The most prolific wells are appropriately called "roarers." During the progress of the drilling, the well is lined with iron piping. Occasionally this is also blown out, but as a rule the gas satisfies itself with ejecting the drill. When the first rush of gas has thrown everything movable out of its way, the workmen can approach, and chain the giant to his work. The plant at the well is much simpler than one would suppose. An elbow joint connects the projecting end of the well piping with a pipe leading to a strong sheet-iron tank. This collects the salt water brought up with the gas. Ordinarily, about half a barrel accumulates in twenty four hours. A safety valve, a pressure indicator, and a blow-off complete the outfit. When the pressure exceeds a prescribed limit, the valve opens, and the gas escapes into the blow-off. This is usually 30 feet high or more, and the gas issuing from the top is either ignited or permitted to escape into the atmosphere. The pipe line leading from the tank to the city is of course placed underground. Beyond a little wooden house, the blow-off, and a derrick, the gas farms differ little in appearance from those producing less valuable crops. The pressure of the gas at the wells varies considerably. It is generally between 100 and 325 pounds. As much as 750 pounds per square inch has been measured, and in many cases the actual pressure is even greater than this, but, as a rule, it is not permitted to much exceed 20 atmospheres in any receiver or pipe. The best investment for parties of small means that we know of is in town lots in North Baltimore, Ohio. It is on the main line of the B. & O. Railroad and the center of the oil and natural gas discoveries in Ohio. Property is bound to double in value. For further information, address, W.A. Rhodes, North Baltimore, Ohio.
Hints on House Building.—Gas pipes should be run with a continuous fall towards the meter, and no low places. The gas meter should be set in a cool place, to keep it from registering against you; but if a "water meter," it should be protected from freezing. Cupboards, wardrobes, bookcases, etc., generally afford receptacles for dust on their tops. This may be avoided by carrying them clear up to the ceiling. When this is not done, their tops should be sheeted over flush with the highest line of their cornices, so that there may be no sunken lodging-place for dust. Furring spaces between the furring and the outer walls should be stopped off at each floor line with brick and mortar "fire stops;" and the same with hollow interior partition walls. Soil pipes should never haveTbranches; always curves, orYbranches. Water pipes should be run in a continuous grade, and have a stop and waste cock at the lowest point, so as to be entirely emptied when desired.Furnaces should have as few joints as possible, and the iron fire-pot is better lined with fire-brick. There should be no damper in the smoke pipe; but the ash-door should shut air-tight when desired. There should be provision for the evaporation of water in the hot-air pipe. "Air boxes" should never be of wood. All air boxes should be accessible from one end to the other, to clean them of dust, cobwebs, insects, etc. Horizontal hot-air flues should not be over 15 feet long. Parapets should be provided with impervious coping-stones to keep water from descending through the walls. Sewer pipes should not be so large as to be difficult to flush. The oval sections (point down) are the best. Soil-pipes should have a connection with the upper air, of the full diameter of the pipe to be ventilated. Stationary wash-tubs of wood are apt to get soaked up with organic matter and filth. Stationary washstands in bedrooms should have small traps; underneath each should be a leaden tray to protect ceilings in case of leakage, breakage or accidental overflow. This tray should have an overflow, and this overflow should be trapped, if connected with the foul-pipe system (which it shouldnotbe if possible to arrange it otherwise). Flues should have a smooth parging or lining, or they will be apt to draw with difficulty. Gas pipes of insufficient diameter cause the flames to burn with unsteady, dim light. Made ground is seldom fit for immediate building; and never for other than isolated structures. Ashes, street-sweepings, garbage, rotten vegetation, and house refuse are unfit filling for low ground on which it is intended to build. Cobble pavements are admirably adapted to soaking-up and afterwards emitting unwholesome matters. Asphalt has none of this fault. Wood is pernicious in this respect. "Gullies" in cellar floors should be properly trapped; and this doesnotmean that they shall have bell-traps nor siphon-traps with shallow water-seal. Cellar windows should be movable to let in air, and should have painted wire-screens to keep out cats, rats, etc. New walls are always damp. Window sills should project well out beyond the walls, and should be grooved underneath so as to throw the water clear of the walls. Cracks in floors, between the boards, help the accumulation of dirt and dust, and may harbor vermin. Narrow boards of course have narrower interstitial cracks than wide boards do. "Secret nailing" is best where it can be afforded. Hot-air flues should never be carried close to unprotected woodwork. Electric bells, when properly put up and cared for, are a great convenience in a house; but when they don't work, they are about as aggravating as the law allows. Cheap pushbuttons cause a great deal of annoyance. Silver-plated faucets and trimmings blacken with illuminating and sewer gases. Nickel-plating is perhaps a less pleasing white, but is cheaper and does not discolor readily. Windows are in most respects a great blessing; but there may be too much of a good thing. It is unreasonable to expect that one grate or stove or furnace can heat a whole county. Don't attempt it. If you have too many windows on the "cold side" of a house, give them double sashes (notdouble panes), and "weather-strip" them. Unpainted trimmings should be of hardwood. Yellow pine finishes up well. Butternut is brighter than walnut. Cherry makes a room cheerful. Walnut is dull and dismal.
The Forests of the World.—The rapid exhaustion of the forests of the world, and more particularly of the once great reserves of timber in the United States and Canada, renders it inevitable that, in a very few years indeed, iron must supersede wood for a variety of uses. The drain upon the world's resources in timber is prodigious. Every year 92,000,000 railway sleepers are used in America alone, while to supply firewood for the whole of the States, fourteen times the quantity of wood consumed by the railways is annually required. At the computation of the most recent statistics there were 441,000,000 of acres of woodland in the United States; but since over 50,000,000 of acres are cut down yearly, this great area of timber will be non-existent in less than twenty years, unless replanting upon a very extensive scale be at once undertaken. Already efforts are being made in this direction, and not long since some 4,000,000 of saplings were planted in a single day in Kansas and the neighboring States. But since the daily consumption is even greater than this, it is obvious that the work of replanting must be undertaken systematically if it is to keep pace, even approximately, with the destruction. In France and Germany, where the forests are national property, forestry has been elevated to the status of an exact science; but the timber lands of those countries are small indeed compared with those in the United States.
A Church Built from a Single Tree.—A redwood tree furnished all the timber for the Baptist church in Santa Rosa, one of the largest church edifices in the country. The interior of the building is finished in wood, there being no plastered walls. Sixty thousand shingles were made from the tree after enough was taken for the church. Another redwood tree, cut near Murphy's Mill, about ten years ago, furnished shingles that required the constant labor of two industrious men for two years before the tree was used up.
Trees That Sink.—Of the more than four hundred species of trees found in the United States there are said to be sixteen species whose perfectly dry wood will sink in water. The heaviest of these is the black ironwood of southern Florida, which is more than thirty per cent. heavier than water. Of the others, the best known are the lignum vitæ and mangrove; another is a small oak found in the mountains of western Texas, southern New Mexico, and Arizona, and westward to Colorado, at an elevation of 5,000 to 10,000 feet.
Artificial Wood.—You can produce an artificial fire and waterproof wood in the following manner. More or less finely divided wood shavings, straw, tan, etc., singly or mixed, are moistened with a weak solution of zinc chloride of about 1.026 sp. gr., and allowed to dry. They are then treated with a basic solution of magnesium chloride of 1.725 to 1.793 sp. gr., and pressed into moulds. The materials remain ten to twelve hours under pressure, during which time they harden while becoming heated. After being dried for several days in a warm, airy place, they are placed for ten or twelve hours into a strong solution of zinc chloride of about 1.205 sp. gr., and finally dried again. The product is stated to be workable like hardwood, and to be capable of taking a fine polish after being tooled. It is fireproof and inpermeable to water, and weak acid or alkaline solutions, and not affected by the humidity of the atmosphere, being well suited to decorative purposes, as it will not warp and fly like wood, but retain its form.
How to Stain Wood.—The following are recipes for staining wood, which are used in large establishments with great success: Light Walnut—Dissolve 3 oz. permanganate of potash in six pints of water, and paint the wood twice with the solution. After the solution has been left on the wood for from five to ten minutes, the wood is rinsed, dried, oiled, and finally polished. Light Mahogany—1 oz. finely cut alkanet root, 2 ozs. powdered aloe, and 2 ozs. powdered dragon's blood are digested with 26 ozs. of strong spirits of wine in a corked bottle, and left in a moderately warm place for four days. The solution is then filtered off, and the clear filtrate is ready for use. The wood which is to be stained is first passed through nitric acid, then dried, painted over with the alcoholic extract, dried,oiled and polished. Dark Walnut.—3 ozs. permanganate of potash are dissolved in six pints of water, and the wood is painted twice with this solution. After five minutes the wood is washed, and grained with acetate of iron (the ordinary iron liquor of the dyer) at 20° Tw. Dry, oil and polish as usual. Gray—1 oz. nitrate of silver is dissolved in 45 ozs. water, and the wood painted twice with the solution; afterwards the wood is submitted to the action of hydrochloric acid, and finally washed with ammonia. It is then dried in a dark place, oiled and polished. This is said to give remarkably good results on beech, pitch pine and poplar. Black—7 ozs. logwood are boiled with three pints of water, filtered, and the filtrate mixed with a solution containing 1 oz. of sulphate of copper (blue copperas). The mixture is left to clear, and the clear liquor decanted while still hot. The wood is placed in this liquor for twenty-four hours; it is then exposed to the air for twenty-four hours, and afterwards passed through a hot bath of nitrate of iron of 6° Tw. If the black, after this treatment, should not be sufficiently developed, the wood has to be passed again through the first logwood bath.
The Highest Chimney in the World.—The highest chimney in the world is said to be that recently completed at the lead mines in Mechernich. It is 134 meters (439 ft. 6 in.) high, was commenced in 1884, and was carried up 23 meters before the frost set in; building was again resumed on the 14th of last April, and it was completed last September. The foundation, which is of dressed stone, is square, measuring 11 meters (33 ft.) on each side, and is 3.50 meters (11 ft. 6 in.) deep; the base is also square, and is carried up 10 meters (33 ft.) above the ground. The chimney-stack is of circular section, 7.50 meters (24 ft. 6 in.) diameter at the bottom, and tapering to 3.50 meters diameter (11 ft. 6 in.) at the top, and is 120.50 meters (395 ft.) high.
How to Measure Round Tanks.—Square the diameter of the tank, and multiply by.7854, which gives the area; then multiply area by depth of tank, and the cubic contents will be found. Allow 6-1/4 gallons for each cubic foot.
The Largest Buildings in the World.—Where is the largest building in the world situated? The answer to this question must depend upon what the term "building" is held to represent. The Great Wall of China, 1,280 miles in length, wide enough to allow six horsemen to ride abreast along it, and with an average height of 20 ft., may fairly be called a building; so, too, may be called the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The question, however, was not meant to include such works as these. Some have supposed that the Vatican at Rome, with its eight grand staircases, 200 smaller staircases, 20 courts, and 11,000 apartments, is the largest building in the world; but surely this is a collection of palaces rather than a single building. The same objection applies to the famous monastery of the Escurial in the province of Madrid, with its seven towers, fifteen gateways, and 12,000 windows and doors, and to many other vast piles. For the largest single building extant, we must look to St. Peter's at Rome, within which our great cathedral, St. Paul's, could easily stand. St. Peter's occupies a space of 240,000 sq. ft., its front is 400 ft. broad, rising to a height of 180 ft.; the length of the interior is 600 ft., its breadth 442 ft. It is capable of holding 54,000 people, while its piazza, in its widest limits, holds 624,000. It is only by degrees that one is able to realize its vast size. St. Peter's holds 54,000 persons; Milan Cathedral, 37,000; St. Paul's, Rome, 32,000; St. Paul's, London, 25,600; St. Petronio, Bologna, 24,400; Florence Cathedral, 24,300; Antwerp Cathedral, 24,000; St. Sophia, Constantinople, 23,000; Notre Dame, Paris, 21,000; Pisa Cathedral, 13,000; St. Stephen's, Vienna, 12,400; Auditorium, Chicago, 12,000; St. Mark's, Venice, 7,000.
The Biggest Bell in the World.—There is a bell in the Temple of Clars, at Kinto, Japan, which is larger than the great bell of Moscow, or any other. It is covered with Chinese and Sanskrit characters which Japanese scholars have not yet succeeded in translating. There is no record of its casting. Its height is 24 ft., and at the rim it has a thickness of 16 in. It has no clapper, but is struck on the outside by a kind of wooden battering-ram. We are unable to obtain any more exact particulars as to the dimensions of this bell in order to determine whether or no it really does excel the "Monarch" of Moscow, which weighs about 193 tons, is 19 ft. 3 in. in height, 60 ft. 9 in. in circumference, and 2 ft. thick. There is another huge bell at Moscow, and those at Amazapoora, in Burmah, and at Pekin are far bigger than any we have in this country. Our biggest bell is "Great Paul," which was cast at Loughborough in 1881, and which weighs 17-1/2 tons. Taking purity, volume, and correctness of note into account, it is probably the finest bell in Europe.
The Oldest Cities in the World.—They are the following:—Argos, Athens and Thebes, in Greece; Crotona and Rome, in Italy; Cadiz and Saguntum, in Spain; Constantinople, in Turkey, and Marseilles, in France, which was founded by a colony of Greeks 580 B.C. The age of these cities varies from twenty-four to twenty-seven centuries.
How to Manufacture Oil of Apple, or Essence of Apple.—The essence of apple is composed of aldehyde 2 parts; chloroform, acetic ether and nitrous ether and oxalic acid each 1 part; glycerin 4 parts;amyl valerianic ether 10 parts.
A Formula for the Manufacture of Artificial Cider.—Imitation cider consists of 25 gallons soft water, 25 pounds New Orleans sugar; 1 pint yeast; two pounds tartaric acid. Put all the ingredients into a clean cask, and stir them up well after standing twenty-four hours with the bung out. Then bung the cask up tight, add 3 gallons spirits, and let it stand forty-eight hours, after which time it will be ready for use. Champagne cider can be prepared by taking 10 gallons of cider, old and clear. Put this in a strong, iron-bound cask pitched inside (like beer casks); add 2-1/2 pints clarified white plain syrup; then dissolve in it 5 ounces tartaric acid; keep the bung ready in hand, then add 7-1/2 ounces of potassium bicarbonate; bung it as quickly and as well as possible.
Recipe for Making Instantaneous Ink and Stain Extractor.—Take of chloride of lime 1 pound, thoroughly pulverized, and 4 quarts soft water. The foregoing must be thoroughly shaken when first put together. It is required to stand twenty-four hours to dissolve the chloride of lime; then strain through a cotton cloth, after which add a teaspoonful of acetic acid to every ounce of the chloride of lime water.
Wood, which is a more unyielding material, acts with tremendous force when wetted, and advantage has been taken of this fact in splitting blocks of granite. This process is largely adopted in Dartmoor. After a mass of granite has been rent from the mountain by blasting, it is measured in every direction to see how best to divide it into smaller blocks. These are traced out by straight lines on the surface, and a series of holes are drilled at short intervals along this line. Wedges of dry wood are then tightly driven into the holes and wetted, and the combined action of the swelling wood splits the block in the direction required, and without any destructive violence. The same process is then carried out upon the other faces, and the roughly-shapen block finished with the hammer and chisel.