THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
119 
salt, 15 parts of rye meal, and 30 parts of burnt 
cow hoofs, all ground together and mixed with 
a sufficient quantity of water to make a pasty 
mass, with which the flies are covered. When 
dry, they are placed in a fire. If, during the 
heating, the coating should drop off at certain 
places, the flies are promptly withdrawn and 
the place exposed is wvered with dry hoof 
powder. It is returned to the fire, where it is 
left until a temperature is reached which best 
suits the steel of which it is made. Then the 
file is plunged vertically into the bath, care be- 
ing taken not to move them to the right or left, 
as that would cause warping. The bath is made 
in the following manner : 28 parts of salt are 
dissolved in about 5 parts of water, to which a 
handful of iron scale is added. The tangs are 
softened by being plunged into red-hot lead. 

A Puzzle for Young Latin Pupils. 
A few years ago Dr. H. D. Paine, of this city, 
sent the following card to the members of the 
New York Medical Club : 
"SCEENS, SOCIALITE, SOBREETE." 
Doctores— Ducum nex mundi nitu Panes; 
tritucum at ait. Expecto meta fumen tu te & 
eta beta pi. Super atento, uno. Dux, hamor 
clam pati, sum parates, homine, ices, jam, etc. 
Sideror hoc. Anser. 
"festo eesonan floas sole." 
Our young readers will find some amusement 
in the endeavor to translate the above. 
Practical i^ints. 
Wild Cherry Wood.— The wild cherry, Ce- 
rasus serotina, is said by Robert Douglas, of Illin- 
ois, to be one of the most rapid growers of all 
our valuable Northern hard-wood forest trees, 
making lumber almost equal in value to the 
blaek walnut. It grows freely on any dry land, 
even if too poor for agricultural purposes. It is 
healthy everywhere, of upright growth, and is 
very easily transplanted. 
To Kill Knots before painting, make a mix- 
ture of glue size and red lead ; or shellac dis- 
solved in alcohol and mixed with red lead ; or 
gutta percha dissolved in ether, will, either of 
them, make a good coating for knots, but will 
not stand the sunshine, which will draw the pitch 
through the paint. The best method is to cover 
the knot with oil size and lay a leaf of silver 
over it. 
Sharks.— The skins of certain sharks are used 
in jewelry for sleeve buttons and the like, and 
when dried and cured take a polish almost equal 
to that of stone, and greatly resemble the fossil 
coral porites. The vertebras of the shark are 
always in demand for cane.«. The opening filled 
^vith marrow during life is now fitted with a steel 
or iron rod. The side openings are filled with 
mother-of-pearl, and when polished the cane is 
very ornamental. 
Removing- Stains of Nitrate of Silver.— 
Cyanide of potassium is the substance generally 
used, but its employment is fraught with danger, 
as it may be absorbed through abrasions of the 
skin. A much safer way, and equally expeditious, 
is to soak the stains, whether on the hands or on 
dresses, with a strong fresh solution of iodine, 
and after a few minutes to treat them with a con- 
centrated solution of sodium hyposulphite. The 
iodine converts the silver into iodide, which is 
afterwards dissolved off by the hyposulphite. 
Poisonous Wall-Papers.— The full extent of 
the peril attending the use of arsenical wall- 
papers is not yet, it would seem, realized. It is 
startling to find that surprise has been excited by 
the statement that not only green but other 
brightly-colored papers contain arsenic. As a 
matter of fact, we believe that mineral substances 
form an integral part of many coloring matters 
extensively employed, and, while needless or at 
least avoidable, their presence is to be suspected 
in most papers which have not been prepared 
with a special view to health ; hence the need of 
unusual precautions.— iondow Lancet. 
A Largre Monolith.— At a granite quarry in 
Westerly, Rhode Island, there was recently de- 
tached a monolith 150 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 
8 feet thick, weighing over 1,000 tons. These di- 
mensions greatly exceed those of the Obelisk of 
Semiramis, the largest of the Egyptian monoliths. 
The stone was loosened by one oblong blast-hole 
in such a simple and perfect manner that the 
theories and conjectures advanced by many as to 
the methods of the Egyptians appear absurd. It 
contains over 12,000 cubic feet of granite which, 
cut into smaller blocks, will fetch about $30,000. 
Mr. French, the engineer in charge, is quite posi- 
tive that it could be taken to New York City, fin- 
ished as an obelisk, and erected for about $150,000. 
How to Keep Bouquets —There are various 
receipts for keeping bouquets fresh. Some peo- 
ple stick them in moist sand ; some salt the water 
in the vases, and others warm it; others, again, 
use a few drops of ammonia. My rule is, to cool 
the flowers thoroughly at night. When the long 
day of furnace heat has made the roses droop 
aad their stems limp and lifeless, I clip them a 
little, and set them to float in a marble basin full 
of very cold water. In the morning they come 
out made over into crisp beauty, as fresh and 
blooming as if just gathered. All flowers, how- 
ever, will not stand this water-cure. Heliotrope 
blackens and falls to pieces under it; azaleas 
drop from their stems; and mignonette soaks 
away its fragrance. For these I use dry cold air. 
I wrap them in cotton wool, and set them on a 
shelf in the ice-chest. I can almost hear you 
laugh, but really I am not joking. Flowers thus 
treated keep perfectly for a week with me, and 
often longer.— Si. Nicholas. 
