THE RADIAPHONE.

M. Mercadier has devised a radiaphone of a very simple kind. It is in fact simply a microphone with the supports of the carbons fixed to a thin diaphragm or plate of varnished pine. The microphone is connected to a magneto receiver with or without induction coil and in circuit with a battery. In exposing the diaphragm to the action of intense radiation, rendered intermittent by a revolving wheel or screen pierced with holes, the telephone gives out a note corresponding to the oscillations of the radiant energy. Further, a telephone transmitter with its iron diaphragm to the radiation gives out a corresponding note in the receiver. The effects are increased by smoking the diaphragm, or using a powerful source of light, such as the oxyhydrogen or arc light.

THE EFFECT OF HEAT ON METAL. Everybody, observes one of our contemporaries, who has used the Brooklyn Bridge, must have noticed the overlapping slides at the middle of each span, that allow the structure to grow short or long, as the weather grows cold or hot, and the marks thereon that indicate a distance of several feet between the extremes of contraction and expansion. Yet few suspect that the bridge contracts or expands sideways from the heat of the sun, though the degree is so small as to be almost imperceptible, and not nearly so great as if the bridge ran north and south The same phenomenon has been noticed of late in structures of stone and iron. The Washington Monument leans to the east in the morning and to the west in the afternoon. A plummet line suspended in the interior of the dome of the capitol at Washington was found by actual measurement to swing over a space of 44 inches, making a total dip from the perpendicular of 81⁄2 inches. This Water does not boil until the tension or movement involves the entire dome. A outward pressure of the vapor formed by learned monk, some years ago, suspend-heating it is greater than the atmosphere's ed a plummet in this way from the top of the dome of St. Peter's, at Rome, and was astonished to find this mysterious movement. He attributed it to a third and undiscovered motion of the earth, but it was afterward explained as the effect of the action of the sun on the metal of the dome.

THE TONGUE IN DISEASE.

One of our medical contemporaries states that different complaints are indicated by the condition of the tongue, as follows:

WHEN WATER BOILS.

pressure. At the sea level, where the pressure of the atmosphere is about 15 pounds per square inch, the water must be heated to 212 deg. before its vapor has sufficient tension to overcome this pressure. At Argenta, Montana, where it is so much above the sea, having a much less depth of atmosphere, the pressure is not so many pounds, and the boiling point is correspondingly lower. Water Black it boils at about 107 deg.; and in a boils at about 200 deg. there. On Mount vacuum at about 98 deg., according as the vacuum is more or less perfect.

A white-coated tongue indicates febrile disturbance; a brown, moist tongue Coffee acts upon the brain as a stimuindicates disordered digestion or over-lant, inciting it to increased activity and loaded primæ viæ; a brown, dry tongue producing sleeplessness; hence, it is of indicates depressed vitality, as in typhoid great value as an antidote to narcotic conditions and blood poisoning; a red, poisons. It is also supposed to prevent moist tongue indicates debility, as from too rapid waste in the tissues of the body, exhausting discharges; a red, dry tongue and in that way enables it to support life indicates pyrexia, or any inflammatory fe- on less food. These effects are due to ver; a strawberry" tongue, with prom-the volatile oil and also to a peculiar inent papillæ, indicates scarlet fever or rotheln; a red, glazed tongue indicates debility, with want of assimilative power of digestion; a tremulous, flabby tongue indicates delirium tremens; hesitancy in protruding the tongue indicates concussion of the brain; protrusion at one side indicates paralysis of the muscles of that side.

crystallizable nitrogenous principle, termed caffeine. The leaves of the plant likewise contain the same principle, and the inhabitants of the island of Sumatra prefer an infusion of the leaves to that of the berries. Its essential qualities are also greatly changed, the heat causing the development of the volatile oil and peculiar acid which gives aroma and flavor.

erally the disease is brought to an end in from one to two weeks, according to its severity and the time the treatment was commenced. When commenced at the onset of the attack, and before more than one joint was affected, the others were usually spared altogether.-The Lancet.

VENOM OF A BEE.

HOW RAIN IS PRODUCED. Did it ever. occur to the reader that there is just as much water in the air above him on a clear, bright day as on a cloudy or rainy one? Rain does not come from somewhere else, or if it is wafted over you by the wind from elsewhere, the water that was over you is simply wafted on to some other place. What is said above explains this. Water is absorbed in the air above us, at a certain The venom of a bee being acid, its temperature, and it becomes insensible. effects may be neutralized by the applicaCool that air by a wind draft of cooler tion of an alkali, such as a very small atmosphere, or by electrical or chemical quantity of liquor potassæ, applied with influences, and the moment the air be- a camel's hair brush. A remedy which comes cooler it gives up some of the wa- is generally at hand will be found in finetery particles that were insensible or in-ly cut smoking tobacco. A pinch of this visible at the higher temperature. These small particles thus given out unite, and when enough of them coalesce, obstruct the light and show as clouds. When enough of them unite to be too heavy to float in the air, they begin to descend; pair after pair of them come together until a raindrop is formed. One of these minute raindrops is made up of millions of infinitely small watery partícles.

Air passing over the cold tops of mountains is cooled down so that it gives up a good deal of the concealed watery vapor, and hence little rain falls in the region along the lee side of such mountains. This is why so little rain falls in Colorado and in other places north and south of that State. The prevailing winds blow from the west, and the cool tops of the Rocky Mountains lower their temperature and thus take out the moisture that would otherwise fall in rain.

TREATMENT OF ACUTE RHEUMATISM.

should be laid in the hollow of the hand and then moistened; it should then be worked with the thumb and forefinger of the other hand till the juice excluded is quite dark colored. This should then be applied to the part affected, using the moist tobacco as though it were a sponge, between the thumb and finger. As soon as the tobacco gets dry a little more moisture should be added, and the juice pressed upon the inflamed spot for five or ten minutes, and if this application is resorted to immediately, it is a certain cure. Road mud, wet, is also good

Dr. Fothergill, a greatly respected English authority on dyspepsia, speaks strongly in favor of milk puddings and stewed fruits for the dyspeptic, the bilious and the gouty. He says: Sugar is undoubtedly objectionable to many, but it is by no means necessary to add sugar to stewed fruit. If the acidity be neutralized by a little bicarbonate of soda the natural sweetness of the fruit will be The last number of the Russkaya Med-brought out and the dish be made more itsina contains a communication from Dr. agreeable than though artificially made L. Grinevitski, of Rostoff-on-the-Don, sugar were added." who writes that for more than twenty years he has treated acute articular rheumatism with nitrate of potash, two The Boston Cultivator declares it to be drachms being given daily in raspberry a matter of fact rather than of fancy that sirup, and a dose administered every two there is more nutriment in a dark than a hours. Together with this internal med-white-shelled egg. The white of a whiteication he prescribes an ointment for use morning and evening of the following composition: Olei hyosc., 1 oz.; ung. hydrarg. cinerei, 2 dr.; ext. acon., 1 dr. He has tried all ordinary remedies, and finds that on the whole this plan of treat ment is more satisfactory than any other, being especially valuable in those cases where salicylates fail to give relief.

shelled egg is like milk or lime-water, while that of dark eggs has substance, is gelatinous in appearance, and will hold together if lifted a few inches, and it is claimed, is one-third more valuable for any culinary purpose. All this may or may not be true, but it is certain that the dark-shelled eggs sell for one-fourth more Gen-in the markets than the white-shelled ones.

Road.

AMERICA'S FIRST LOCOMOTIVE.

over the swaying trestle, setting in motion the first locomotive that ever turned a wheel in the western hemisphere. The track was of strap iron, spiked next the Mr. J W. Burdick, the General Pas-on cross ties. At the time of the trial inner edge to large hemlock sleepers laid senger Agent of the Delaware & Hudson trip the timbers and ties, though securely Canal Company's Railroad, in a little connected, had become warped, and in pamphlet just issued, has been at some some places raised from the ground by pains to present what he deems trustworthy facts about the first locomotive the Lackawaxen river over a frail hemexposure to the sun. The road crossed that ever ran upon an American railroad. lock trestle 100 feet in height, and as the According to him the first of these engines locomotive was found to weigh seven was the Stourbridge Lion, so called be- tons instead of four, as the contract had cause it bore a lion's head on the front of stipulated, it was feared by everybody its boiler, and was made by Foster, Bos-that the trestle would not bear its weight. wick & Company, in Stourbridge, England. Horatio Allen, a young civil engineer, had been sent to England by the canal company to buy strap iron for the rails, chains for the inclined planes, and three locomotives for the levels of the projected railroad. He returned in 1828, and the first of the locomotives reached New York in May, 1829. It was set up at the West Point Foundry at the foot of Beach street in this city, and in the summer was shipped by boat to Honesdale, where it was put upon the iron strapped wooden rails of the new road. It was of the pattern afterward known by the name of "grasshoppers," because of the walking beams that elbowed up and down over the boiler, like the leg joints of those insects. It weighed seven tons, or less than one of our elevated railroad locomotives, but it had no such pulling power as they possess.

It was big and clumsy, with four wooden wheels, spoked and with iron tires. It had no cab, and the cylinders were upright. The first trip was made on Aug. 8, 1829, in the presence of a crowd collected from forty miles around.

weight pressed everything underneath As the Lion passed over the road the firmly down to its place on the road-bed, with no little creaking and groaning. The locomotive proved to be all that the engineer had expected. After running at a fair rate of speed as far as Seelyville the Lion was reversed, and returned to the dock at Honesdale amid the shouts of the people and the booming of the cannon, having met with no accident and encountered no difficulty. The trial trip was thus completed, and the locomotive was pronounced a success. Mr. Allen remained in Honesdale three weeks after this experimental trip, during which time he made some improvements in the locomotive. After his departure, however, the company not being rich enough to purchase iron rails, and the wooden ones proving too frail for the engine, it was where it lay for years, a prey to rust and housed in a shanty on the canal dock, decay. The boiler was afterward used in a foundry at Carbondale; the pump was used for several years by an employee of the company, and the rest of the old hulk was partly hacked to pieces by relic hunters and partly sold for old iron."

An old Queen Anne cannon was brought up from New York to add its voice to On Oct. 6, 1829, less than two months those of the people. Predictions of fail- after the historic ride on the Stourbridge ure were not wanting; the breaking down Lion, the famous competitive test of locoof the track, which was built largely on motives at Liverpool took place. The trestles or piles, was especially appre-result of this was the firm establishment hended, and there was little inclination on the part of those present to trust themselves on the new vehicle. Mr. Allen, declaring that if there was any danger he was ready to meet it, took his position on the locomotive, and after running slowly backward and forward a few times before the assembled multitude, pulled the throttle valve wide open, and, shouting a loud good-by to the crowd, dashed swiftly away around the dangerous curve and

of the steam railroad at the head of all methods of land transportation. There were four engines in competition, and Stephenson's Rocket won the prize. Eleven months after this the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad was established, and the Rocket 1an 15 miles at a speed of 37 miles an hour. Then there were only 33 miles of railroads in this country, and now the number of miles of track exceeds 100,000.

RAILROAD THROUGH ALASKA.

The project of building a railway through Alaska to Behring strait, to connect with a road on the other side of that waterway, is not a new idea, though the reports of the government surveyors have given to it a standing which it has not before possessed. So far as our own territory is concerned, there is no difficulty in the way which modern engineering science could not readily overcome. In winter the temperature is very low, in the valley of the Yukon the spirits in the thermometer often ranging as far down as 60 deg. and 70 deg. below zero; but this is not greatly under the point indicated on the thermometer in the districts through which the Canadian Pacific railroad has been built. Special precautions would have to be taken in winter to insure the comfort and safety of the passengers and employes exposed to the rigors of such a climate; but here again the obstacles are of an allayable character. There is reason for believing that large deposits of coal are to be found at a number of different points in the territory, thus partially meeting objections that might be urged on the score of expense for fuel.

But having said this, about all that can be urged in favor of the plan has been said. Unless some astonishing discoveries of deposits of precious metals were made there would be no local demand for the road, for no civilized man in his senses who could find a meagre living in other and temperate parts of the world would think of settling in the inhospitable interior of Alaska, where a short hot summer of about two months duration is followed by a winter of nearly ten months in length.

Under

winter season, by means of which trains
could be run from shore to shore, when
navigation was suspended. But apart
from the question of expense, such a sug-
gestion could never have emanated from
the brain of a man who had had the least
experience with or knowledge of, the ir-
regular and shifting character of Arctic
ice formation in an open seaway.
existing conditions, the overland route
would have to suspend operations for
eight months out of the year-a suspen-
sion which would be fatal to its profitable
prosecution. For this reason we imagine
that a majority of the members of con-
gress will hardly be likely to lend the aid
of the government to the carrying out of
an undertaking of so precarious a char-
acter.

HOW RAILROAD IRON BREAKS.

Hundreds of existing railroad bridges which carry twenty trains a day with perfect safety, would break down quickly under twenty trains per hour. This fact was forced on my attention nearly twenty years ago, by the fracture of a number of iron girders of ordinary strength, under a five minute train service. Similarly, when in New York last year, I noticed, in the case of some hundreds of girders on the elevated railway, that the alternate thrust and pull on the central diagonals from trains passing every two or three minutes had developed weakness which necessitated the bars being replaced by stronger ones after very short service. Somewhat the same thing had to be done recently with a bridge over the river Trent, but the train service being small the life of the bars was measured by years instead of months. If ships were always As to overland trade, the continued the bottom would be largely increased. among great waves, the number going to prosecution of this would involve the It appears natural enough to every one meeting and overcoming of difficulties that a piece even of the toughest wire which engineering science has not yet should be quickly broken if bent backdemonstrated that it can triumph over. ward and forward to a sharp angle; but Behring strait is some eighty miles in perhaps only to locomotive and marine width, but whalers following the ice engineers does it appear equally natural northward through Behring sea have that the same result would follow in time rarely been able to get into the Arctic if the bending were so small as to be quite ocean through the strait before the first imperceptible to the eye. A locomotive of June, and are compelled to sail south-crank axle bends but 1-84 inch, and a ward in September. Four months out of the year would probably be as long a period as this waterway would be open for ordinary steam ferryage. Some genius has suggested the notion of laying a temporary track across the ice during the

straight driving axle a still smaller amount, under the heaviest bending stresses to which they are subject, and yet their life is limited. During the year 1883 one iron axle in fifty broke in running, and one in fifteen was renewed in

Oh, no, Charles says the Wagner Company won't allow the railroad to haul the sleepers near so fast as the bal-mingly for a while, but sooner or later ance of the cars.