THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
Ill 
every part of the tar. After they have become 
perfectly dry, I give them another coat of tar, 
completely covering the sanded part. Then, 
after being thoroughly dried, they will last for 
years. Some of them I have painted three times 
with lead and oil paints on the upper part, and 
they are ready for the fourth, while the lower 
portion is still sound and good. To treat a lot of 
stakes in this manner costs but little and paj^s 
well, as it saves a great deal of future labor and 
annoyance. H. 
He'll Never Set the Thames on Fire. 
Yery few know the origin of this common 
phrase. Many years ago, before machinery was 
introduced into the flour mills for the purpose 
of sifting flour, it was the custom of the miller 
to send it home unsifted. The process of sift- 
ing was done thus, but principally in Yorkshire : 
The temse, or sieve, which was provided with a 
rim which projected from the bottom of it, was 
worked over the mouth of the barrel into which 
the flour or meal was sifted. An active fellow, 
who worked hard, not unfrequently set the rim 
of the temse on fire by the force of friction 
against the rim of the flour barrel, so that in 
fact, this part of domestic employment became 
the standard by which to test a man's will or 
capacity to hard work; and thus of a lazy 
fellow, or one deficient in strength, it was said, 
"He will not set the temse on fire." The long 
disuse of the word " temse" for sieve, as well as 
superseding of hand labor by machinery in this 
particular species of work, may possibly have 
tended to the substitution of sound for sense, in 
such phrases as "He will never set the Thames 
on lire," the North Eiver on fire, or any other 
river. 
Coloring Ivory and Bone. 
To Color ivory or bone red, take 4= grms. of 
picric acid, and dissolve in 250 grms. of boiling 
water; add, after cooling, 8 grms. of liquid am- 
monia. Dissolve also 2 grms. of crystallized 
fuchsine (magenta) in 45 grms. of alcohol, dilute 
with 373 grms. of hot water, and next add 50 
grms. of ammonia. As soon as the red color of 
the magenta solution has disappeared, the two 
solutions are mixed together, making a bulk of 
liquid amounting to about one-half litre, which 
Is a sufficient quantity for dying from four to 
six sheep's skins. Ivory and bone should be 
placed in very weak nitric or hydrochloric acid 
first, before immersion in the ammoniacal 
liquid; wood can not be dyed by this liquid 
unless it has been previously painted over with 
paste made from flour. When to the ammo- 
niacal liquid some gelatine solution is added, 
it may serve as a red ink, which does not attack 
steel pens. By varying the proportion of ma- 
genta and picric acid the tints obtained may be 
varied from a blueish red to a bright orange 
red. The desired colors do not appear until the 
ammonia is evaporated. This solution may be 
used for either ivory, bone, or horn. 
xutiaX Pittte. 
Artficial India Rubber.— It is said that a 
cheap and useful substitute for India rubber is 
prepared by mixing a thick solution of glue with 
tungstate of soda and hydrochloric acid. A com- 
pound of tungstic acid and glue is precipitated, 
which at a temperature of 86° to 104° Fahrenheit, 
is sufficiently elastic to admit of being drawn out 
into very thin sheets, which, on cooling, become 
solid and brittle, but on being heated again, soft 
and plastic. It can be used for many of the pur- 
poses to which rubber is adapted. 
A Forgrotten Color.— The simple decoction of 
onion-peel is said to produce upon glove-leather 
an orange-yellow superior in lustre to any other. 
It is also said to be suitable for mixing with light 
bark shades, especially willow bark, and as a yel- 
low for modulating browns. The onion-dye is 
said to fix itself readily, eVen upon leathers which 
resist colors, and covers them well and even. Dr. 
Eeimann seems, however, almost as sceptical of 
the tinctorial power of onions as of truffles.— 
Chemical News. 
G-lass Cement.— A cement to stop cracks in 
glass vessels, to resist moisture and heat, is made 
by dissolving casein in a cold saturated solution 
of borax. With this solution paste strips of hog's 
or bullock's bladder, softened in water, on the 
cracks in the glass, and dry at a gentle heat. If 
the vessel is to be heated, coat the bladder on the 
outside, just before it has become quite dry, with 
a paste of a rather concentrated solution cf soda 
and CLuicklime, or plaster-of-Paris. 
To Harden Plaster-of-Paris.— By adding 3 
to 4 per cent, of powdered marshmallow root to 
plaster-of-Paris, the resultant mass, in aljout an 
hour after setting, will be found to have acquired 
such a degree of hardness that it may be sawed, 
turned, etc. Prepared in this way. the plaster 
is found to afford an excellent substitute for 
bone or ivory in the manufacture of buttons, 
dominoes, dice, etc. If the amount of marshmal- 
low is increased to 8 per cent., the mass acquires 
such hardness that it may be rolled out into thin 
plates, which may be painted, polished, and var- 
nished. 
Tool Chest.— The chest should be long enough 
to take a ripper-saw inside the saw-till, say 29 
inch clear. A good plan is to rip the boards down 
and glue and tongue them, heart-edge and sap- 
edge together. The tills may be made of yellow 
