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Show SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Paper made from strong fibers can now be compressed into a substance so hard that nothing but the diamond can scratch it. R. P. Chittenden is inclined to the belief that in the stomach there are two stages of digestion, separate one from the other; a first, in which the action of the saliva can go on without hindrance; and a second, in which pepsin alone is active. Of the sense of taste Professor McKendrick states that the base of the tongue is most sensitive to bitters and the tip of sweets. a substance must be soluble in the fluid of the mouth to create taste, but no definite relation has been found between the chemical condition of bodies and their taste. Numerous cases of fire from the spontaneous ignition of coal have been recorded. After considerable experimenting, Mr. W. W. Williams has concluded that spontaneous combustion takes place in some degree in all cases where coal is exposed to the atmosphere, although the combustion may proceed so slowly that the ?? of temperature will amount to only a few degrees. A Rochester man has invented an electrical ballot-box for use in societies. The machine contains three knobs. the member who wishes to vote in favor of a certain candidate touches a white knob; if opposed, he touches a black knob, if indifferent, a knob between the two. At each touch a bell rings, thus making more than one vote impossible without detection. The machine registers the result of the balloting in plain figures. According to the London Engineer, soluble glass is capable of far more extended application in the arts than has yet been attempted. A compact, marble-like stone is formed when it is mixed with chalk and dried, similar stones being also formed by mixing the water glass with bone ash, zinc white and magnesia. With clay, lime, sand, cement, etc., soluble glass enters largely into the composition of many artificial stones, tiles, slates, etc., and also of the common snaps, the detergent qualities of the glass making it an excellent scouring material. Plans have been drawn up for an electrical railway connecting the eastern and western ends of Berlin with each other. The road will be placed above the street on high columns, like the New York elevated roads, and stations will be erected at ?? square, Madgeburg square, Potsdam station, and Dunhof square. A curious point in the plans is an arrangement for lowering the trains to the street level at stations, thus allowing people to get our or in before the trains are raised again to the level of the track. Power supplied by electricity will do the work of raising and lowering the trains. |