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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1879)
March, 1879. THE WEST SHORE. rwaranco of tha shooting-stars which niohtlv furrow the celestial vault, my be correlated with the principle of transformation of energy; and all the luminous, thermic and detonating phenomena attending the fall of auch bodies in our atmosphere, seem to be fully accounted for by the enormous amount of heat thus generated by their passage through the air. Acoording to this view, the shooting stars are nothing more than small meteoric atones which are volatil ized and utterly dissipated in the upper regions of the atmosphere long before reaching the sur face of the earth; only the larger masses ever come down, as such, to terra Hrma. The origin of the luminous train seems to be ilue to the intense heat developed on the ante rior surface of the moving mass, melting this portion of the same, and the fused matter being wiped off by the resisting air, streams back, forming the train of the meteor. NUMBKHH or IU.NK.OUS MKTK0H8. It has been estimated that the number of meteors that enter our atmosphere per day can not be leas than 10,000,000. "If we include those smaller meteors which are seen only in the telescope, that number may bo multiplied 'JO or 40 fold." Those who were fortunate enough to witness the famous star-shower of the 13th of November, 1833, can well appre ciate the vaatness of numbers which entered our atmosphere in the course of a single minute of time. A single glance of the eye to the celestial vault, on that occasion, revealed thou sands of these meteors traversing the heavens in various quarters. Hence it is evident that the atmosphere which envelops our planet playa an important art in shielding its denizens from the destruc tive effects of these extra-terrestrial projectiles. But for the action of the air in arresting and destroying these meteors, we should be intol erably bombarded with them. The absence of an atmosphere about our planetary companion, the moon, must render her liable to be fearfully elted with these minute oeleatial visitors. I SPONTANEOUS PrtMRi'STToy pv 7,:c soMDinKC HYDSOOKS BY HYLlUoW. Couikini. Mkt.u.v A foreign paper gives the following: Metals may be rapidly colored by covering their aurface with a thin layer of sulphuric acid. According to the thickness of the layer and the duration of iU action there may be obtained tints of gold, copper, carmine, chestnut brown, dear aniline blue, and reddish white. These tints are all brilliant, and if care be taken to scour the metaliio objects before treating them with the acid, tha coloring will suffer nothing from the polishing. On making a solution of 640 grains of lead acetate in 3.4AO crams of water and warming the mixture toKH or 90, it decomposes and gives a precipitate of sulphnret of lead in black Bakes. If a metallic object be immersed in the bath, the precipitate is deposited upon it, and the color prod need will depend on the thickness of the deposit. Care must be taken to warm the objects to be treated gradually, so that the coloration may be uni form. Iron treated in this way has the aspeet of bluish steel; sine, on the contrary, becomes brown. On using an equal quantity of sulphuric acid instead of lead acetate, and wanning a little more than in the first case, common bronse may In colored of a magnificent red or green, which is very durable. Vary beautiful imitations of marble may be obtained by covering tha brooes objecta warmed up to 100, with a solution of lead thickened with gum tragacanth, and after wards submitting them to the action of the pre cipitate spoken of above. "8auck for the goose issauoe for tha gander," is now rendered i " The culinary adornments which suffice for the female of the race Auser, may be relished also with the masculine adult o! the same species." A Hvaacuaa man announces that be has discovered a substitute for eggs. But the Detroit frui Prtm advises poultry raisers not to sat their hens at any other than their usual business just yet. Dr. Hoffman has called attention to tome curious cases of spontaneous ignition of hydro gen in air. The phenomenon has been notioed in factories where quantities of sine were being dissolved in hydrochloride acid for the prepara tion of xino chloride. Violent explosions took place when no flame was near; and it waa eventually ascertained that the gas took fire spontaneously. It appears to lie caused by frag ments of very porous tine, which, when lifted above the surface of the liquid during the violent evolution of the gas, and so brought in coutact with hydrogen and air, act just sa spongy plati num would do uuder the circumstances. Tha author reuominumls the porformsnuu of such operations in the opeu air. The iguition can be shown by treating a few kilogrammes ot llllely livided xinc with acid. The "nine dust" may oven ignite by contact with water. A recent issue of the luttirunee Hmml culls attention to the dangerous character of siuo dust, which appears to be imported into this country in considerable quantities for use in certain brunches ot industry. The material presents the appearance of a gray powder, in an extremely fine state of divi sion, in which condition it is largely used in the manufacture of paiuta. Chemioally, it contains as much as 40 of metallic xinc dust, tha remainder being oxide and oarlnnato. Another variety of the same commodity, knowu oom manually as slate-colored zinc oxide, contains really very little or no oxide at all, being almost wholly a metaliio dust, which, in the process of manufacturing line-white, haa escacd combus tion, and is deuueited in the flues of the enndens- ing apparatus. These product", the mummy Rrcori points out, are extremely apt to origi nate mysterious fires, if precautions are not taken to keep them from oontact with moisture; for. nwinir to its verv fine state of divi sion, this metallic dust, in the presence of water moisture, will eagerly nxidixe, and as this oxidation will lie attended with a very consider able rise in temperature, the hydrogen gai evolved in the process may lie inflamed, and, directly or indirectly, inflammable materials in the neighborhood may be ignited, and in this way the building or ship in which it happens t 1m stored may be destroyed, whilo the osuse of the disaster mav never lie silsla-cled. I ne Hrmnl iminta its moral bv citing tha es tha firs in the steamship' Aon ", in the year I87, and which at the time attracted ".... .Mention. The facta in this case were about as follows A number of casks of no dn.t were nlaced ill the hold of the vassal, without any notice of the dangerous character of the material having been given to the uwnera ..( . I... .hi,, Tha casks, or some of tin iii, by some means got wet, and within 12 hours after they had leti put on HM uie vessel waa found to be on lire. When the soums of tha Mm Hisnnvered. the contents of one of tha nuks were found to le red -hot. As another contribution to the causation of what, fm want of a Utter term, are called spontaneous ores, the facto abote detailed are worthy of special attention. A "aw system n( exhaust valvea (or steam engines has recently bean iutreduoed in Oar many, which has loan protmuncod by lunylrr 'oe Jotrmil to smliody an idea which may prove of great consequence The admission valves alone are actuated fnm without by flat slide valvea, moved by feared segments while the exhaust is .fleeted by two valves placed at iha two cylinder covers, which are so omiimkImI with a double armed lever placed la tha at ' --' that when the oas valve is clissed .h. other is owned. K, therefore, sshaost valve is closed" by the steam pressure, the other is opened to the exhaust steam, until the sUssm enters on the other side of the put. bi. h causes lbs latter valve to close immediately while the other la opsssad full. The success which has been obtained in lique. fying the gases thus far supposed to he perms nent, it appears certain that not only liquefac tion hut also solidification haa been achieved. I'i tot, iii a very recent experiment with hy drogen compressed at IIMI atmospheres, found, on opening the stop cock, that the gas issued with a noise like that of a hot iron bar under water, and it had a steel-blue color. The jet suddenly became intermittent, and then there billowed a sort of hail of the solid particles of hydrogen, which fell with violence on the ground and produced a crackling uoier. After ward the stop-cock waa closed, and there waa evidence that a crystallisation of hydrogen took place within the tube; but when the tempera ture was again raised, the gas issued aa a liquid. M. Dumas, the I resident "I the rreneh Acad emy of Sciences, accepts these facts aa full of confirmation of the theory, long ago advanced. that hvdrogen la a gaseous metal. Aa water !a an oxide of hydrogen, it follows from this that i jr..i.- - i s i wnen a person urines s glass or wiur, ne no lubes a metallic oxide. A'n'urv, in mentioning these performances, .copied with them another, which it regards as yet mora remarkable from a scientific point of view. M. riotet has been able ta measure, with a very closa approach to accuracy, the volume sctipled by a given weight of oxygen in the liquid stale, tnia waa b und to agree with the volume calculated for the solid or liquid gee, on tbeoretlo oooaldera lions, by M. Dumas. Hy means of two Niool prisms, M. I'lotol observed the 1st of liquid oiy gen in polarised light, and fount! strong evidence of 1 be presence of solid particles. s in me cnemieai nomenclature trie niiai ending "urn" haa been adopted for all metals, It is propsr to call this metallic hydrogen, "ity drium,' a name which haa already been used by the lateat authors of (ierman tail-hooka of chemistry, even before hydrogen had beau llqne. tied or solidified. PWaONOI'S Corona. -According hi the CAeas- i! of R ' . en. rgi tic Stops are being taken ,0 Switzerland against the uaa of poisonous colors. The Ooverning Council of Zurich haa prohibited the use of all ..hiring matters prepared from the compounds of the metals lead, arsenic, cop per, chrome, siuo, antimony, bismuth and mar. eury, for decorating articles of oiisiiinplmn or of clothing, or their materials , also paar for wrapping up chocolate, oorTee, tan, ehicoory, tolssooo ami eatables Is general . toys, covers and cushions of children's carnages, oariwto. curtains and window blinds, lamp screens, wafers, and tilde services. Poisonous or gam. matters, such aa gemlgu, picric acid, tha ani line colors, especially magenta, are not to be u.e.l for coloring articles of food or drink, such aa coofectionery, jama, syrups, wines, etc. The aame rule applies to the phenol colors. I in ported arlo les containing such poisons may not its sold. I'aai arrma or HsatTV. - I am nsvsr mora olivine! of th.. progress of mankind than of the olio,. i,i developed is us by our intercourse with nature, ami also (though this is generally admitted, with our scientific knuwlealgs. no learn from age to ass lbs beauty of the world, or what c..ma to the same thing, this beautiful oreation of the sentiment of beauty is develop ing Itself la us. Ooly reflect whel region., lovely aa Pared las, there are over all Asia ami Kurops, and in .very quarter of Iha globe, walling to reoatve their fitting whalnUoU their counterparts in lbs eoatMutu creators I h men who are sow living there do not sse the Kdew that surrounds I hem They lack the moral awl intellectual vision It t not too bold a thing to say that, Iha mind of man esses cultivated, be will saa around him the Hsradise he lerasato bo has lest. For Oast "Paradise lset" be will stag almmsajvl thai hs has gained Wn. HmUK, TlmrmiaU.