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SCIENTIFIC.
SCIENTIFIC.
-A new series of explosives, under the general name of panclastite, discovered by Mr. Eugene Turpin, have attracted much attention lately. They consist of mixtures of peroxide of nitrogen, with such substances as sulphide of carbon, benzole, petroleum and tolnee. They are remarkable for their great explosive force, which is four or five times as great as that of nitroglycerine and its compounds.
—A working model of the proposed "Eades Ship Railway" is being made to illustrate in detail the devices needed for raising and lowering ships, and for distributing the strain upon a vessel while being transported across the isthmus. The ship will be 7 feet long and the cradle 76 inches. According to the latest surveys, the heaviest gradient on the Atlantic side will be only 42 feet per mile, while on the Pacific side it will be only 52 feet in 8 miles. The road will have a length of 134 miles. It will be remembered that Eades received a very liberal concession from the Mexican government in December, 1881. He receives a grant of 1,000,000 acres of public lands in aid of the construction of a suitable harbor on the Pacific, together with a strip one-half mile wide along the railway. In connection with the ship railway he is allowed to operate a telegraph line, and a passenger and freight railway.
—M. Pasteur and his collaborators have announced to the French Academy of Science the fact that by inoculation they can render dogs proof against the effects of rabies in whatever way or quantity the virus may be administered. M. Pasteur has been experimenting upon this subject for several years past. If Pasteur's method proves
applicable to man, and if it is adopted in this country,the "mad-stone" farce will be ended; for it is extremely doubtful that "mad-stones" are of any benefit.
It seems to be the general opinion that France has more than her hands full in the construction of the Panama canal. The reputation of De Lesseps figured largely in securing the necessary means for carrying out his project before the magnitude of the undertaking was clearly defined. The indications are that the estimated cost of construction, $600,000,000, will have to be more than doubled, the cost of excavation being at present five times as great as estimated. The great cut through Culebra Hill is well under way, but the soil of the hill, which is over one hundred feet deep at the summit, will probably be subject to very heavy land-slides, rendering it necessary to build the cut considerably wider than at first projected. It is the intention to make the Panama a sea level canal, but it is doubtful whether this intention will be carried out. The climate remains loyal to the reputation which it earned so well during the construction of the Panama railroad.
A new application of science has lately been put into operation at the Madison Square Theater, New York. It consists of a huge framework which can be easily raised or lowered, and in which is built two complete stages one above the other, so that while the play is proceeding before the audience, another stage may be arranged, and at the required time raised or lowered into place. The framework is suspended by four wire cables and counterpoised so that four men are sufficient to shift the whole.