Popular Science

Mu. QBsneb, of an Francisco, claims to have discovered a cliemiPal wllichj with any existing maehinery, freezes water with oue-flfteenth the pressure necessary when ether or ammonia is nsed. A Chicago rnechanic has invenied a simple device for cutting the wire bands of sheaves, wbich at the same time holds one end so that the w.;re may be pulled away, tlius preveutiD'' it rom going through tlie machine, oeing torn to bits, and aken into the stomachs of stock feeding on the straw. A white in the London Lancet states that it is a mistako to suppose that there is no danger in the bite or scratch of a cat. Thero have been abundant and melanoholy proofs of the peril of contractingjthehydrophobiafrom cate; and the danser is scarcely less than that which attends an injury inflicted by a dog. Mr. 0. O. Lundbero, of Chicago, has discovered and perfected a procesa by whieh durable colors can be applied to inarble in such a way as to '■o ineffaceable. The discovery renders it practicable to have portraits of friends imbeded in the marble of our centertables, on the slabs that mark their resting-places in the eemetery, and indeed anywhore and every where that taste and affection may suggest or diotate. The discovery is considered a very important one, and a number of artists in that city are arranging to utilize it in their atudios. Theue is a marked similarity between the whitefish of our Western lakes and the ordiuary heriint. One oí each was recently procured o. a fisb dea'er at Detroit, and brought before a meeting of the Jish Commissioners of Michigan. The most of tho gentlemen present declined to give an opinión on the matter, but two of them finally made an investigation with a micro6cope and pronounced their decisión. They picked out the herring and declared it was the whitefish. The chief distinction is said to be in the shape of the jaws, tho fishes having different methoda of feeding. A coloreo man at Rosedale, Miss., bas lately secured a patent for a steam engine which he has invented, and which, if the judgment of many experienced and scientific men to whom he has shown his modol is correct, is calculated to revolutionize the prosent application of steam. The engine is rotary, having the steam applied at the circumference of a wheel, giving this treble tho force of ordiuary engines, with no diminishing of power at the vorious stages of the revolution of the wheel. This invention dispenses with all the machinery except the one wheel, which answers at once the purpose of cylinder and drivingwheel, and two steam boxes through which the steam is applied. The Chicago ínter Ooean tells how to make a telephone : On the pole or poles of any form of electro-magnet, of which the core consists of a bar, or U-shaped permanent magnet, lay a small disk or sheet of very thin iron or common tin. Inclose the whole in a caidboard cone, the fsmall end of which is open, and is placed in the ear so as to act as a speaking trumpet, to convey he vibrations of the thin sheet of iron or tin, whiah faces it, to the drum of the ear. This completes one telephone, for one end of the the line, and the other telephone, for the other end of the line, should be made just like it; and the wire which forms the electro-magnet should be of the same diameter and lensth in one instrument as it is in the other. 2. It is better to have supports of glass. It is now generally believed by astronomers that shooting stars or meteorites are fragmentary masses, revolving, liko planets, around the sun as a center, which, in their course, approach the earth, and, drawn by its attraction into our atmosphere, are ignited by the heat generaled through the resistance offered by the atmosphere. About the lOth of August and the 14th of November in each year the earth plunges into a stream of these bodies, causing the showers of shooting stars which have for many years been noticed. The August meteorites seem to radiate from the constellation Persens, and those of the November group from Leo. This is owing to the faot that our earth at these times of the year is moving exactly toward the regions of the sky from which tho shooting stars seem to daiö from every direction. The Iufluencc of the 'loon on Crops. A correspondent of a New York paper was planting potatoes on the iucrease of the moon, or in the light of the moon; several of his neighbors were present and a discussion arose as to the effect the moon had on different crops. Answering its correspondente inquiry, the paper says: There lias been always a powerful superstitiou that the moon exerted a great influence upon the affairs of mankind, but this idea has prevailed chiefly among those who did not understand the utter impossibility that the moon could exert any such influences. Fornierly the dtars were fupposed to assist the moon in theso interferences with mankind and their labors, and to be able to " read the stars" was equivalent to the possession of prophetie powers. Now the stars have lost this reputation, and the moon is in a fair way to lose what little is left to it. Formerly crazy people were "moon-struck," but now, when we seo a lunatic (derived from Luna, the moon, and really meaning moon-struck), we do cot blame the moon for it. The moon lias now fallen so low as to be supp&sed by some to influence only the twining of beans on the poles, the planting of seeds, the wasting of fat pork in the pan, unless it was killed uuder a growing moon, and the making of soft soap. To a reasonable person this seems a small business for tlie mooa to be engaged in, or a very unlikely tbing that tho moon can exert any such influences. If the test is made it w;'l be found that thero is not the least difference in the growth of crops, the spending of fat pork, the successful making of soft soap, or any other of our common labors from the moon influeuco. If any difference occurs it will be from other causes, such as soil, weather, etc. Last ly, it is absolutely certain that the moon's influence on our atmosphere is so very small that it cannot even affect ihe weather in the least. A $7,500 Dress. Seventy-flve hundred dollars seems a good deal lo pay for a wedding dress, but that was the actual sum paid by the Countess of liosebery to the London dress-making establishment that made the marvelous costumo. For tho edification of lady readors of the Bazar we give a technioal dosoription of it. Tho dress, then, was of antiquo white satin, with deep flounces of the very ünest point d'Alencon and fringes of fleurs d'oranges, and guirlandes of the latter beautif ully arranged on the head, from wliich descended, to meet tho flounces, a veil of the richest point a l'aiguille, artiatieally manufactured, of the same dcBigu as tlie point d'Alencon. The ensemble waR perfect, The traveling costume was compösed of ft circss of blue sapphirc velvet, trimmcd with bluo fox fur, with pardesaus and mulï and bonnet to match. The cost of tho veil alone was 2,500. - Harper's Bazar. Of the $100,000 teqiïued to savi tho Old South Ohurch, Boston, {he gum o( 8158,000 ib Btül to bo nuRcd,