NOTES. 



639 



sulphide. The artificial carbonate of baryta, 

 produced by passing carbonic acid through 

 a sulphide of barium, is much used in 

 Europe in the manufacture of achromatic 

 glass. 



Subterranean Fish. — For the purpose of 

 supplying water to a new wharf at Point 

 Hueneme, southeast of San Buenaventura, 

 Cal., an artesian well was sunk not five feet 

 from high-water mark. At the depth of 

 143 feet a strong flow of water was ob- 

 tained, which spouted 30 feet high. A 

 goose-neck was fitted on the bore so as to 

 reverse the flow. One day while the agent 

 was absent, the men noticed fish in the 

 waste-water. On his return attention was 

 given to the fact, and the well was found to 

 be filled with young trout, thousands of 

 them being thrown out at every jet. These 

 trout were all the same size (about two 

 inches long), and perfectly developed. They 

 had perfect eyes. There is no stream nearer 

 than the Santa Clara River, several miles 

 distant. There are no trout in the lower 

 portions of the river. The temperature of 

 the water is the same as that of the wells 

 of this country (64° Fahr.), too warm, of 

 course, for trout to live long in. — American 

 Journal of Science. 



New Refrigerating Machine* — A refriger- 

 ating apparatus, invented by Captain Fred- 

 erick Warren, British Navy, is described as 

 follows : It consists of a small steam-engine, 

 to which is attached a second cylinder for 

 condensing ether -vapor. The cold pro- 

 duced by the expansion of this condensed 

 ether is utilized by being communicated to 

 brine contained in pipes, around which the 

 ether circulates. The brine thus cooled is 

 used in its turn either to freeze water or to 

 cool air, the water being contained in reser- 

 voirs immersed in a vessel of cold brine, 

 and the air being conveyed in pipes which 

 wind backward and forward in the brine. 

 The ether employed, being contained entire- 

 ly in closed apparatus, is scarcely at all 

 wasted, and little more than its first cost 

 need be taken into account. 



In the experiments made with the ma- 

 chine, the moisture on the outside of the 

 pipes leading to the refrigerator was rap- 

 idly frozen, and the air of the room, after 

 being withdrawn at a temperature of 62° 



Fahr., was almost immediately returned to 

 it at 45°. As this process continued, the 

 temperature of the room was rapidly re- 

 duced, and might easily have been brought 

 to the freezing-point and so maintained. 

 Captain Warren claims that the tempera- 

 ture of any limited space can be thus kept 

 down to almost any required degree, and 

 he proposes to apply the method to the 

 construction of cold chambers on board 

 ships, to be used for storing fresh provi- 

 sions, or, in the case of merchant-ships, for 

 the conveyance of perishable freight. He 

 does not, however, think it possible to 

 freeze a whole cargo of meat, so as to re- 

 sist putrefaction in a long voyage, as from 

 Australia to England. He proposes to cool 

 railway-carriages, to provide cool vases for 

 the conveyance of meat and other provi- 

 sions in India, to cool the air admitted into 

 hospital wards, and to provide an unlimited 

 supply of pure ice at almost nominal cost. 



NOTES. 



The latest application of the sand-blast 

 is for cleaning the fronts of buildings, by 

 removing the soot, dust, and other sub- 

 stances therefrom. The impact of the 

 sand on the surface removes the dirt from 

 all the crevices and indentations, without 

 perceptibly affecting the sharpness of the 

 architectural ornamentation. 



In the course of a lecture on mercury 

 recently delivered at Vienna, the leg-bone 

 of a man was exhibited, whose death had 

 undoubtedly been hastened by mercury. 

 On striking the bone heavily on the table, 

 out fell thousands of little glittering glob- 

 ules, which rolled about on the black sur- 

 face before the lecturer, collecting here and 

 there into drops. This mercury had been 

 absorbed during life, and proved the death 

 of the absorbent. 



In 1871 the census of Ceylon was taken, 

 it being the first attempt of the kind in that 

 island. When this measure was first talked 

 of, a belief prevailed in the minds of the 

 Cinghalese that it was but a preparation for 

 the levying of a new tax. In many districts 

 the natives said that the object was to dis- 

 cover the number of unmarried youths, 

 with a view to their being deported to Eu- 

 rope, whose male population, they said, had 

 been destroyed by a great war. This led . 

 to an unusual number of marriages being 

 celebrated. The population of the islands 

 is 2,500,000. Their religion is looked after 

 by 5,345 Buddhist priests, 1,078 Sivite 



