Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1873-11-08
MISCELLANEOUS.

Turkish officers are prowling round
this country, taking notes of onr i'm
proven nts in firearms.
-Chlorof''rm will remove paint from
woven fabrics when benzole or bisul-
phidn of carbon fails.
-or. Brown-Sequard says that he
mas seen fifteen cases where drawing on
the great toe has had serious effect
upon the brain.
An English female witness promptly
defined court-ship to be Looking at
each other, taking hold of each others
hand, and all that kind of things"
"A gum which has many OF the valu.
able qualities Of rubber, and which
may be vulcanized with sulphur, has
been produced by an experimenting
Canadian from the milk-weed plant, and
fiax and other seeds.
DR.. Gaudin of Paris taxes our
credulity by asserting that in a drop of
wa'er weighing grain and half there
are as many at ms of oxygen and by
drogen rs it takes grains Of sand to
cover the bottom OF the sea.
The Indians of Bad river are not
have raised 5000 bushels of oats, 1000
of corn, 5000 Of potatoes, 1900 of ruta-
hagas, and 800 tons of hay. And they
have gathered l 900 bushels of cranber-
ries and two tons of rice.
"A recent invention is the cheapen-
ing OF the ponderous hy-wheels of
large engines by making them hollow
and filling them with iron ore sand,
which il packed and pressed into the
hollow space of the wheel, making the
weight nearly equal to the saved metal.
Lake MERGED, in California, used as
breeding place for front. contains
$4,000 and the Acclimatizing society
has 200,O in its ponds. Lake Tahoe
contains a great number. the oldest OF
which were Matched less than three
years ago. but some of them are foot
and half long.
DR. Adam Smith, a noted English
physician, recommends the use OF tea
in the following cases After a full
meal, when the system is oppressed ;
for the corpnlent and the old for hot
climates, and especially for those who,
living there, eat freely or drink milk
or alchohol, and in cases Of suspended
animation.
"A Frenchman has lately patented a
process for the manufacture of paper
from the sheath of the hop-stalk. By
removing this outer skin, and subject
ing it to certain chemical process, q
textile substance possessing the quail.
ties which make rags 50 valuable in
p&per.making-length, suppleness, and
delicscy Of texture-has been produced.
Pearls are apt to acquire blackish
hue if kept in contact with the akin, by
their capacity of absorbing the per.
SEPARATION. Soap, or any other greasy
substance, will injure them in q similar
manner by being absorbed. Pearls cut
in half tu'n quicker than whole ones.
The reason some keep their color longer
than others is on account of the cell be-
ing more minute.
The irrepressible curiosity-hunter
has already made his appearance in the
Yellowstone park. The department of
the interior is informed that some of
the most handsome and symmetrical
craters in the entire region have been
made almost unsightly by the large
masses of pearly incrnstations of silver
VIII ch have been knocked # by memen-
tO-hungrv visitors.
Any concealed alum in -four or
treat NAV be detected by allowing a
drop of alchoholic ex ract of logwood
to fall upon it. If the -four contains
alum IN the proportion of ! or per
cent. the color is grey blue, or grsvish-
violet; il 8 per cent. the spot is red
dish yellow, with an edge of grayish-
blue, such spots of blue being detected
in its disk by means Of lens. With
as per cent. the blue border is no longer
visible, but the spotsmay be discovered.
German writer's have recently ex-
pressed the opinion that any people
will deteriorate both physically and
mentally, should potatoes become their
principle food. Carl Vogt maintains
that the potatoe contributes very little
toward the restoration of wasted It's
sues while Mulder, the Dutch phvsi-
olOgist, gives the same judgment when
he declares that the excessive use Of potar
toes among the poorer classes, coffee and
tea, by the higher ranks, is the cause of
the Incidence of nations Leideofrost
maintains that the revolutions of the
last three centuries have been due to
revolutions in nutrition.
IRON IN PLANrs.-So far as investiga-
tons have shown, iron forms no essen
tial part OF the plant or animal, yet
without it all growth and assimilation
cease. If seeds are placed on little
cotton wool in Q solution containing all
that is essential to plant growth, with
the exception of iron, they will sprout
and grow until the iron contained in the
seed itself is exhausted the plant
then quickly bleaches and ceases to
grow. II little phosphate of iron,
which is almost totally insoluble. is
added to the solution, and occasionally
stirred up 20 that it may be kept in sus.
pension and thus come in contact with
the root, the plant quickly revives and
continues its growth. Iron is an essen.
tial constituent Of chlorophyl, the green
coloring matter of leaves. Although
found in all plants, and constituting an
essential part of their food, il has nevel
been thought necessary 70 supply it tC
them artifcially, all soils being sup
posed to contain sufficient for theil
wants. But NO one can have failed Il
observe the greater luxuriance of vege
tatioe on the strorg iron soils derived
from Se old red sand stone than OF
-tpf>Wnrcs soils which are compare
y ~ it.-Journal Of Chem
- -
Preacher and 4.
I have talke, WITH fro1es@on'
preachers in my day, who good man,
,ney were not sure they hafe told M