THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
51 
poi nt and the steel at a bright red heat ; and 
secondly, the steel should be fairly surrounded 
by the water. These conditions being fulfilled, 
the steel remains red-hot under water for some 
time. It is evidently surrounded by a film of 
vapor and is not in actual contact with the 
water, which assumes the so-called "sphe- 
roidal state," continuing in this condition until 
the metal has cooled considerably. I suspect 
that the toughening is due to the uniformity of 
cooling thus effected. I commend this method 
of annealing or toughening to the attention of 
manufacturers engaged in the production of all 
kinds of steel that is to be used for purposes 
where tenacity rather than hardness is de- 
manded. " 

How to Extract a Fish-Hook. 
The season for fishing is at hand, and while 
this is one of the sports in which but few ac- 
cidents occur, it occasionally happens that by 
an unlucky movement, a hook gets buried in 
the flesh of the young angler, or of his com- 
panions instead of in thc^ fish. In such cases, it 
is well to know how to get it out, for if allowed 
to remain, or if awkwardly handled, such a 
wound may prove an ugly thing. In proof of 
this, we cut the following account from the 
columns of a local journal : " Some eight years 
ago, a lad of thirteen, the son of a prominent 
citizen, while fishing from one of the wharves, 
caught a fish-hook in the fore-finger of the right 
hand, near the roots of the nail, drawing it into 
the bend of the liook. His father saw at once 
that the only thing to be done was to open the 
finger on a line with the hook and take it out, 
but preferred to call in their family physician 
to do it. After looking at it for a moment, the 
doctor, by a sudden twist, wrenched the hook 
from the finger, minus the bard and point. The 
parents were justly indignant at such treat- 
ment, and insisted that the hook was not all re- 
moved, while the boy came near fainting from 
extreme anguish. The doctor, however, insisted 
that no inconvenience would result, and dressed 
the finger in some simple and safe manner, and 
in due time the wound healed. But the finger 
and arm troubled him for a long time. After a 
year or two the lad's health had so far failed as 
to become a subject of serious alarm to his 
friends, he being subject to frequent and alarm- 
ing famting fits, and other spasmodic affections 
or symptoms. The state of affairs continued 
for years, with more or less intensity, until a 
year or two ago, when the boy's health became 
nearly or quite restore(f. The other day the 
young man, while dressing himself, tore a pim- 
ple from his left shoulder, and on examining it, 
he drew from the flesh the point of the hook 
which seven years before was imbedded in a 
a finger on the opposite side of his body." 
The danger with most fish-hooks is that the 
surface and barb are smeared with putrid animal 
matter, either from the bait, or from the fish 
that have been caught. "When, therefore, an. 
old hook has been imbedded in the fiesh, it 
ought to be cut out with a clean cut, made with 
a sharp knife so that the wound may be thor- 
oughly washed out. If the hook should be new 
and used with artificial fiy or spoon, take a 
sharp knife and cut off the thread, etc., with 
which the hook is attached to the line, and if 
necessary break oft' any eye or enlargement 
that may exist. Clean the shank of the hook 
thoroughly, and then run the point tliroughthe 
flesh and out. 
_ o-^O^ 
Curious Experiment on Lig-ht and Heat. 
If a piece of wood bo placed in a decanter of 
water, and the focus of a large burning glass be 
thrown upon it, the wood will be completely 
charred, though the sides of the decanter 
through which the rays pass will not be 
cracked, nor in any way affected, nor the water 
perceptibly warmed. If the wood be taken out, 
and the rays be thrown on the water, neither the 
vessel nor its contents will be in the least af- 
fected ; but if a piece of metal be put into the 
water, it soon becomes too hot to be touched, 
and the water will presently boil. Though pure 
water alone, contained in a transparent vessel, 
cannot be heated, yet, if by a little ink it be 
made of a dark color, or the vessel itself be 
blackened, the effect speedily takes place. 
f tactical liittte. 
Straig-htening- Hardened Steel.— In harden- 
ing and tempering tools they sometimes spring, 
to the great annoyance of the workmen, and not 
seldom the tool is reheated and rehardened. In 
most cases this may be avoided To straighten a 
piece of steel already heated and tempered, heat 
it lightly not enough to draw the temper, and it 
may be straightened by blows from a hammer, if 
the character of the tool will admit of such treat- 
ment, or, as in case of a tap, it may be straight- 
ened by a heavy mallet on a hard wood block. Al- 
though the steel when cold would break like glass 
with this treatment, when slightly warmed it will 
yield to moderately heavy blows uninjured. 
When Trout May be Caught. -The Sea World, 
a sprightly little paper devoted to the fish interests, 
published at New Haven, Conn., gives the follow- 
ing information regarding the laws of different 
States in respect to trout fishing. 
California, April 1 to November 1. 
Connecticut, April 1 to July 1. 
