230 SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 
resisting shot is said to be ten to one greater than that of oak. 
It can be easily moulded to any form desired. It is capable of being 
used in mass, without waste, like fusible metal. It is entirely free from 
moisture ; and while any ordinary paper would corrode iron, this can 
be made to adhere to and form a covering impervious to water over it. 
It is said that it must eventually be generally used as a covering for 
boilers, steam tubes, funnels, &c. The raw material, we are informed, is 
much cheaper than any now in use, and its manufacture simple. But 
what strikes us most at the present time — just after a second failure to 
establish telegraphic communication with America — is the confident 
assertion of Colonel Szerelmey's friends well known in several circles, 
that by this zopissa paper alone, of all the materials at present known, 
can a perfect electric cable be formed. We were shown a rope of less 
than an inch in diameter, with an ordinary copper wire projecting at 
each end through its centre. This rope was formed neither of hemp, 
india-rubber, gutta-percha, cork shavings, nor any ordinarily recom- 
mended covering — but simply of zopissa paper. It is almost impossible 
that it can break ; it will not stretch, and thus throw the strain on the 
copper wire, although it is perfectly flexible. Lastly, it has been re- 
ported by some of the most skilled electricians of the day as being 
perfect in insulation and other respects. Now, if anything like what we 
have heard as to the practicability of this discovery and its application 
to so many of the purposes of life, its cheapness, its durability, its com- 
parative safety from fire, and so forth, be feasible — it is high time that 
the public took pains to be thoroughly informed on the subject. Colonel 
Szerelmey has been many years among us, as an Hungarian exile. He 
has earned the right to have the merits of his inventions fairly tested 
— < Times.' 
