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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1879)
April, 1879. THE WEST SHORE. hi FUNNY FRAGMENTS. Wages that have not Comb Down. A clergyman recently aroused hii sleepy audienoe by asserting, in the most punitive manner, that, notwithstanding the hard times, the wages of Bin have not been out down one iota. The village is flooded with spurious silver coins. We asked a witty Irishman if he had uny idea where they came from. "Yes, sir, they come from some fellow's base-mint, and the buyer passes them to the seller again." "Captain, please give me a light," said a volunteer the other day. "Certainly; but if we were regulars such a liberty would not be allowable." "Is that so?" said the private; but if we were regulars, you wouldn't be oaptain, perhaps." Husband: "If I were to lose you I would nover be such a fool as to marry again." Wife: "If I were to lose you I would marry again di rectly." Husband: "Then my death would lie regretted by at least one person." Wife: "By whom?" Husband: "My successor!" Example and Precept. (Mrs. Drinkwater'e lady friends had oome up to the vicarage to take a cup of tea and to talk over the subject of si iciaf reform. Mrs. D. was speaking fluently about the drinking habits of the villagers, when auntie directed Mrs. D.'s attention to the front garden, where Master 0., aged nine, was turn ing summersaults in the snow). Mrs. I)., rush ing excitedly to the window: "Nurse girl! what is that dear boy doing out there in the snow without his shoes and stockings?" Nurso: "I'lease, ma'am, he says he wants to catch a proper cold and oough ; then he'll lie like auntie, and have a jolly 'ot glass of whisky before ho goes to bed, ma'am. Fun. The Hon. Samuel Houston, when a Senator from Texas, onoe in a speech in the Senate, re lated an anecdote of a Washington justice who, having hoard the plaintiffs statement of a case referred to him for adjustment, prooeeded at oace to give judgment. "Stop, squire," said the defendant, "you have not heard my sido yet. Hear me More you deoide!" "That is net necessary," said the austere judge; "in fact I find it positively improper to do so. You see 1 have been in this fix Wore," he went on, "and I don't like it. When I hear one side I am certain how I ought to decide; but when I hear both sides I am puxzled," and he decided Accordingly for the plaintiff. Artificial Marble Produced by Steam Meat and Pressure. A prooeas has been in vented by Miss Hosmer, the sculptress, for making artificial marble which differs from pre vious processes in the fact that limestone in the solid state is employed as the base instead of a mixture of plaster and cement. The limestone is worked by any suitable means to the desired form, and is then placed in a boiler furnished with a safety-valve and manometer, so that the pressure therein may I noted anil controlled as may be required. The boiler is filled with En re water at tbe ordinary temperature, care ting taken that there is no mineral deposit in troduced with the water, and that the water cum pletely covers the objeoU placed within the boiler. The boiler is then hermetically sealed, and lire applied, and the water allowed to boil until the manometer indicates 7ft pounds of at mospheric pressors if the objects are small, and 90 or 100 pounds of pressure if the objects are large. When tbe beat reaches tbe above mentioned point tbe water is allowed to 000I until the pressure indicated by the maooinnUr returns to sro. Tbe water it then taken out of the boiler either by means of a pump or a syphon, and tbe object art removed from the boiler preparatory to being pieced in the alum or colored bath, various nape bsmjt given (or different colors. FRESH AND STALE BRRAD. The oelebrated Frenoh chemist, M. Roussin gault, has recently investigated tbe nature of the change which bread undergoes when it becomes stale. Up to the present time this hss not been well understood. A circular loaf, 12 inches in diameter and six inches thick, was taken from an oven heated to 240 Keaumer, and a thermometer immediately forced three inches into it. The thermometer indicated 78" 11. (207.5 P.) The loaf was then taken to a room at a temperature of Iff It. (till F. ), and was found to weigh seven and a half pounds. In 12 hours the temperature of the loaf sank to 10" It. (73 P.), in 24 hours to Ift (' fX and in3(i hours to 14" (U.1.o' P.). In the first 48 hours it lost only two ounces in weight After six days the loaf was again put iu the oven, ami when tho thermometer indicat ed that its temperature had risen to ftft'K. (IBb" P.), it was out, and was found to be as fresh, and to possess the same qualities, as if it had been taken out of the oven for the llrat time; but it had now lost 12 ounces in weight. Ex-' perimonts were also made on slices of the loaf with similar results, proving hat new bread differs from old, not by containing. a larger pro portion of water, but by a peculiar molecular condition. This oommencoa and continue, to change during oooling, but by again heating the bread to a certain temperature it is restored to its original state. It is this mechanical state which makes new bread less digestible than old. The former is so soft, elastic, and glut inous in all its iarta that ordinary mastication fails to reduce it to a sulllcieutly divided condi tion. It forms itself into hard balls, wbich are almost unaffected by tho gastric juioe. These halls often remaiu in the stomach, and, like foreign bodioa, irritate and diacommndu it, induciug all aorta of unpleasant feelings. Somkthinci Curious about Explosive. A remarkable aooident happened not long ago to M. Zode at the Normal sohonl in Paris. He was studying the proierties of a comMisition fumed of equal parts of gun-cotton anil nitrate of ammonia. This was inflamed in a hrons tube of six millimeters internal diameter, and expanded without detonation. Thirty esperi ments hsd been made, and M. win then re. duood the sixe of the tube to five millimeters. When ho tried the experiment anew under these conditions a frightful explosion occurred. Ths tube was shattered into fid nieces, some of which psssed through the roof of the laboratory and penetrated about four centimeters into a brick wall. The operator hail one of his legs broken. This aooident is engaging the attention of the French Commission ifee l'oudree et Malpetras. M SainW-Claire Deville, in the Aoadsmy, pointed out that the fact belonged to a category including already several others, and he recalled an observation by Prof. Abel. About 0 2 grains of chloride of nitrogen is plaosd in a watch-glass, and exploded with a piece of phosphorus; ths noise is tremendous, but the explosion has little or no shattering effect. Now repeat the same experiment, after bavins; breathed on the .id., nils so as to deposit a thin envelop of moisture, which cannot lie more than a thousandth of a milbmster thick. In this esse lb aipliauoii is less noisy, but tbe effects are quite different. Not only is the glass pulverised, but the Ubl. supporting it is ierforaUd. Wo Jourmil of Vkmidrjf. To Mass Inov Take a Beiiimt Pousm ui Steeu -Puiveriss sad dissolve tb following article, in 00 quart of hot weUr: Bin vitriol, one ounce; born, one ounce; pruasuta a pot ash, on ounce 1 channel, on oonos; salt, on half-pint; then add on gallon bowed oil Mis wsll bring your iron or stsl to th proper hl sad cool 10 tb eolation, it is said tb menu factum of theJadson governor paid IMS) for Ibis recipe, tb object being to cat. hardest iron so that it would taks a farigbt polish Ilk tL TOTButH AMERICA mi.OittM. The following tribute to American explorers is from the pen of Prof. T. C. Archer, Director of the Museum of Scieuoe and Art, Kdlnhurg, and Centennial Commissioner from litest Brit, ain: There is nothing in the history of ths human race more remarkable thau the rapidity with which the wilds of Western America have been explored and added to the domains of civilised man. Mldle-aged men can remember th first great rush to the California!! gold diggings, and th export from this country of irou houses for the shelter of the miners where now a splendid and populous city exists, and Is ths resort of travelers from all iarta of the world 1 whilst 111 a marvelously small space of time the great State of which that city ia the capital, has b. oome one of the most fertile and wealthy in ths great Itennhlio, and ia now connected with the eastern snores uf the continent by 1,000 miles of railway. The spirit of sntcrprise, no doubt, has had much to do with this wonderful pro gress; but the fsrsightod and blieral spirit of the United HteUie Government has mails the task oomiarativly easy. The careful hut en ergetic surveys, Ixtth gmigrsphical and gnologt. est, which have beau working for years past, have mail th beat routes known, and, ia fact, have opened up the heart of the country , and made the must distant and the moat dsaart iarts aooeesible. FortunaUly for th (lovem inent and the country, men of the greatest fit neas for th task wen selected, anil ths great extent of the work they hav done proves their industry, as well as ths nature of It shows their great abilities. TheAtlsaof Colnradoand portions of adjacent territory, Is on of th must mas terly works In chartography which any country has 1 .1 ... bleed , and its onmpaflt arraogsmsat will make it a welcome addition to every library. It consists of 20 double (olio sheet, of which two srn Idled with cleverly outlined anraintii views of the country surveyed, and two others give the sections of ths same geologically col led Twelve are devoted to tn sis divisions into which Colorado is dtvidsd, on; half of them giving the tMigraphlol and th othar half the geological features of the country. Thar is, in addition, s map showing th triangulallon of the country, snothsrshowingthenaturaldralii age, an economic map indicating th agrieul t hi al, iwsluin and forest lands, and th locality of coal-bearing and metalliferous strata. rf t be iiution of these ma it la impossible to spank too highly. Thsy havs bn pmduosd by the talented and Indsfsligsld chief of th sur veys, I'rol V V. Ilayden, and ar a part of a series of ths rexirts slid transactions uf the Survey Department, sum of which w hop to draw attention to from Urns to tun, as tby can generally b consulted la public It bf arts, to which thsCnlUl Stales I lovernmant stand, it liberality. In in Mann M !"" Tb soeallsd magic mirrors, with whleh the Japan metal workers hv hitherto succeeded In puaallag oar mmoi, havs hii generally sppud to ow Lhsir strange prniorty of reflecting image that war quit Inviallil n their brilliantly pol i.l,. d surfaces, to oorresi.mding toeqnalllia la the density of th surfnn, produced by Mm menus during cooling ar by stamping Profs son Ayrton and Patty, who havs 111 y studied ttwlr peeallaritiea, offer another planli Thy affirm that th effect above a itiasrl ar produced by rssaoa of vary slight Irregularities (a eurvatnr at the polished eurf. th b regularities Wing such that Ihe thicker parte, corresponding with the raised pattern oa tb hack, are nailer than lb remaining eoaves aur (no, by which ddfcrene there would b leas dispersion of light from tb thick than from th thin portion of lb eurfaea. An, ant w are (really mistaken, we rsamnlm to bar asm such mirror wttli apparently perfectly pUa surface, lh above siplanatloa wo Id Bp psar to b las satisfactory tana tb titter on.