THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
65 
brothers and sisters of a large family, and in one 
instance I saw a lady's cloak with a fur lining, 
the skins of which had been prepared by the 
brother of the lady to whom the cloak belonged.— 
Amateur. 
13. To "Victor."— In making choice of woods 
for inlaying, several things have to be taken into 
"consideration, nainely: the purpose for which 
the work is intended, the limit of expense de- 
cided upon, and the character of the work itself. 
To the first of these considera,tions it may be said 
that if the inlayed work is intended for a cabinet, 
work-box. jewel case, stand-top, or similar work, 
then the woods should harmonize in color and tex- 
ture with the main body of the work. For instance, 
if a cabinet be made of mahogany, then the iiday 
in the door, drawers or side panels may be of teak, 
rosewood, or even lignum vitae. Sometimes 
-ebony is used for inlaying mahogany, but this, 
we think, is bad taste, as mahogany color is quiet 
3ind unobtrusive, and a black inlay makes too 
strong a contrast. To the second considera- 
tion we may say that if expense is no object, 
■(^bony and satin-wood make a very chaste com- 
bination, and look exceedingly rich, if the design 
appropriate and the work done well. Do not 
use holly with ebony; the holly soon becomes 
weather stained and creamy looking if not pro- 
tected by glass or other covering. Of course, for 
the finest of work, ivory and ebony combined, if 
too much of the former is not used, make a pleas- 
ing contrast, but to be effective the work must be 
well done. With regard to the third considera- 
tion, if the work is very fine and the design intri- 
<^iite, the woods must be chosen with a view to 
their strength of fibre as well as to their harmony 
<^f color; if, on the other hand, the design is 
large and simple, then the cross-grained woods 
will answer very well. Ash and walnut, oak and 
walnut, walnut and cherry, waJnut and rock 
niaple, mahogany and rock maple, or amaranth 
and rock maple, will make very handsome com- 
binations when properly handled. Oak and wal- 
nut, the former being tii'^ inlay, has a very quiet 
and pleasing effect.— F. T. H. 
14. To bleach skeletonized lea.ves "Ncllio" 
should proceed as follows: Having first taken 
the pulp all from the lea,ves, take four ounces of 
. <'hloride of lime, and a pint and a half of cold 
water, mixed. When settled, pour off the clear 
liquor and cork up closely in a bottle. Procure a 
wi(le-m uthed jar, and put a teaspoonful of this 
bleaching liquid to ha,lf a pint of water, and in 
tliis immerse the leaves until they become white. 
Tliey should then be washed carefully in cold 
water and dried on wiiite blotting paper, then 
gently pressed flat, and placed away and la- 
beled.-S. N. 
15. The following is offered to R, T., on the 
coloring of leaves in Autumn. It is taken from 
anew work on "Forest Tree Culture": "The 
coloring of autumnal leaves a|)pears to be due to 
The formation of organic acids from the a])sorp- 
tion of oxygen, and caused by a ripening process, 
similar to tha.t which colors ripening fruits. It is 
not the effect of frost, as ma-ny people believe, 
but may be hastened by the cool nights alterna- 
ting with warm days, tliat often occur in autumn. 
The autumnal coloring of European forests is 
sometimes bright, but never as brilliant as in our 
Northern States and Cana.da. Its prevailing 
colors are yellow, shading off into tints of pale 
orange and reddish brown, while in our Northern 
forests it is often the brightest scarlet and orange, 
a rich golden yellow, or an intense purple, but 
all p losing gradually into a nearly uniform shade 
of brown."— ^S. N. 
16. R. W., Andover, N. Y.— Send to Chas. E 
Little, 59 Fulton St., New York, for his scroll-saw 
catalogue. 
17. J. N.. Philadelphia.— The following engrav- 
ings show a design for a self-acting fountain: 
Fig. 1 shows a finished and decorated design of 
• fountain. ; Fig. 2 shows a basin a, and two cis- 
terns B and c; to start the fountain, water is 
poured into basin, and runs through pipe D, fill- 
ing cistern c, and leaving basin half full, the tap 
in pipe e is then turned, shutting off the only 
escape for the air, leaving only the way in throueh 
Fig. I. 
pipe D, and the wa,y out through pipe f; now 
take the small bent tube h, placing one end in 
pipe D in basin, and blow for half a minute; this 
will drive the water out of cistern c, through 
pipe F into cistern B. While the water is passing 
into cistern B, the air is escaping through pipe f. 
(replacing the water in c) by the tap, which acts 
as a vent as well as a, shut off from cistern. Cis- 
tern c is now empty, and cistern b full, and the 
fountain ready for playing— turn the tap, the 
water will then pass from the basin, through pipe 
D into cistern c, driving the air Mirough e, and 
pressing on the water in b, drives it through the 
