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Show -The light which falls upon the earth from the satellites of Mars is about equivalent to what a man's hand on which the sun shone at Washington would reflect to Boston. -A valuable fiber called pita or bromelle grows wild in Honduras. It is said to be the strongest floor known, and can be used, half and half, with silk or wool. Machinery has been made to prepare it for manufacturing purpose, and it is said to be worth, when ready for market, $1,000 a ton. -Prof. Carlo Pavesi, an Italian, has produced a disinfectant which the medical papers of the Old World heartily commend. It is composed of chloride of lime, camphor and glycerine. The mixture can be used in all cases where phenic acid is now employed, and is less disagreeable, less irritating and less toxic than that acid. -Diving for black pearls employs a large number of men and boats off the coast of Lower California. Traders supply the vessels and diving apparatus upon the stipulation that the pearls that are found are to be sold to them at specified rates. These jewels are of much beauty and highly prized. A year's production is worth on an average from $500,000 to $1,000,000. -Straw has long been used for the manufacture of paper, and it is now made into lumber of any desired length and width. It holds nails as well as wood, and is susceptible of a higher finish and polish. Like papier-mache, it is waterproof, and can, therefore, he used for external as well as internal purposes. Samples resemble hardwood, nearly as dark as oak, but more dense in texture, and with a specific gravity one-fith more than that of black walnut. It is cheaper than wood, and will in the future largely take its place in budding.-Chicago Journal. -The following is a cheap and simple non-conducting covering for steam pipes. Four parts of coal ashes, sifted through a riddle of four meshes to the inch, one part calcined plaster, one part flour, one part fine fire clay. Mix the ashes and fire clay together to the thickness of thin mortar, in a mortar trough; mix the calcined plaster and flour together dry, and add to it the ashes and clay as you want to use it; put it on the pipes in two coats, according to the size of the pipes. For a six-inch pipe, put the first coat about 1 1/4 inch thick; the second coat should be about 1 ½ inch thick. Afterward, finish with hard finish, same as applied to plastering in a room. It takes the above about two hours and a half to set on a hot pipe.-Germantown Telegraph. -An engine giving off a total of sixty horse power was found by the indicator diagrams to be using twenty-five horse power to get rid of the exhaust steam from the cylinders, and had been working in this condition for years, the loss of so much power never having been even suspected till the indicator diagrams revealed it. Many engines are running in this country, close beside streams of water, and exhausting the steam into the air, when by the addition of a condensing apparatus, a large increase of power could be obtained, or a saving of fuel effected. In an engine taking steam at sixty pounds pressure, and cutting off at half a stroke, the gain of power by condensing would be about 82 ½ per cent., of which 2 ½ per cent. would be required to drive the air pumps. |